Calibration Stickers or Other Methods of Identifying when Gages are Due?

Q

quality.shesha

#21
Sorry for such a long write up. I thought let me share my experience and understand whether we too can implement any other suggestions…. apart from what we are doing…
Here we go,

Let me share some thoughts what I gained from my experience as a calibration incharge in a company who are basically a non-ferrous foundry and machining facilities with a turn over 2crores INR a month...They are an automotive, electrical component… supplier in INDIA and Abroad....

Monthly we had a order for nearly 120 different types of parts.... Each of them nearly had at least 8 gauges (major gauges- go & no-go, snap, some width gauges, profile...) so it was around 960 gauges and around 100 instruments.... each gauge (instruments & attribute) had different frequency of calibration, depending upon its tolerance, usage (mean to say order of that component) for e.g if the plug gauge is for a tolerance of 0.20mm tolerance we had fixed a frequency of 3 months once calibration. And ...if it was for the same 0.20mm tolerance and a monthly production of 200000 components then its frequency would be once a month………

The way the gauges were issued to the user department was on the basis of the monthly plan. Once the monthly schedule was released for production all the gauges required for that particular month were taken out (as they were kept under lock and key) and we used to go thru our database and see whether the gauge required the calibration or not. If the due date was not going to fall in the middle of the month then the gauge were issued and if it was going to fall in the middle of the month then the gauge were calibrated and then issued to the user department with a colour code on it. The gauge can only be used if the gauge had a colour code on it for that month. All over the shop the colour code board were displayed showing which colour for which month meant the gauge is calibrated. All the gauges were issued to the Tool Crib. The gauges had a unique identification code, which would say the gauge was for which item or component and for what operation. The gauge could be used with no fear on the shop floor. A copy of the calibration result would be given to the Tool Crib for reference purpose. At the end of the month (30th or 31st) all the gauges were taken back from Tool Crib (exactly counting what was given earlier in order to avoid missing calibration dates) and the new gauges were given for the next month schedule…

So the whole story is saying unique identification code, colour coding, and exact release of gauges for that month production…

Any comments or suggestions are welcomed! :)
Thanks for your time in reading this and your comments are valued.... :)
 
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A

Andyk68

#22
There are some really good suggestions here, i particulary likes the ones that put the onus on the operator to ensure that they are using a calibrated piece of equipment. Although I believe it should be ultimately down to the Quality department, or whichever dept deals with calibration in your establishment, there are always going to be times when things go wrong or get overlooked. At the moment I am responsible for calibration in our plant, but like many other people on here i dont have the luxury of claiming its my only job, so things get missed.
 
Q

qualitytrec

#23
For calibration in a gage shop and a metal stamper i used the following.

Calibration Logs with the Serial Numbers of the tools the owner of the tools (many were personel tools owned by the journeymen), and the dates for the next calibration. I gave a copy to the tool owner or posted on the "crib" for shop owned tools. People could quickly find if their tools were in or out of calibration. To coincide with this I used gagetrac in one place and made my own database in the other. Most people who purchase their own tooling don't want someone else to put stickers all over them. I used no stickers and do not plan on ever using stickers or marks on the tools.

FWIW,
Mark
 
P

potdar

#24
There are some really good suggestions here, i particulary likes the ones that put the onus on the operator to ensure that they are using a calibrated piece of equipment. Although I believe it should be ultimately down to the Quality department...
Thanks Andy,

To enable this system, the onus does remain on the calibrator. They have to put a system in place by which the operator can know the current status of the gauge.
 
A

Andyk68

#25
@Markasmith, If you dont mark your guages, how do you tie them to a calibration record? We now etch a number on a non essential part of a micrometer. Previously we just put a number on the box however, with each area havin several pieces of equipment the same it was all to easy to put them back in the wrong box.
 
G

Grizz1345

#26
Most of the tools in my system have serial numbers. This makes it easy to link them to their calibration record. For personal tools I make it clear to the owner that I need a way to identify their tools. Again most have serial numbers and so there is no issue. Thread gages I use a vibro peen to etch the tool ID number on the handle. When necessary I prefer to use an electro etch and a stencil to mark a tool. It is neat and professional looking. I have yet to have an employee object to this method of marking tools. Hope this helps
 

BradM

Staff member
Admin
#27
There are some really inventive methods for identification here. Thanks to all for providing details and solutions.

So far we have always used calibration stickers on the equipment. The equipment seems to always be spread out (not always where it needs to be), so it's difficult for the calibration group to "corral" the instruments due. Having calibration stickers on the equipment at least enables the user to assess their own equipment, and help to get it back in for calibration.

I like the no calibration sticker. However, I think it would be difficult overcoming the culture at our company. We would have to devise a much stronger system to inform groups of their instruments.

Too (obviously open for another discussion; another thread) we have a lot of For Reference Only/ no calibration required instruments. Not having stickers could be confusing for us.
 
D

Dean Frederickson

#28
I have a question about calibration stickers I hope this is the right thread to post it. For the first time last year the company I work for had some gages sent out for calibration, these are thread gages, plug gages, ring gages, micrometers, calipers, that are occasionally used in the front office, these gages and tools have been around for years (some are newer than others). None of these gages or tools needed any adjustments or repairs. I am changing the cal. frequency to every two years, what do I do about the cal. stickers that were put on with a due date of one year after they were calibrated?
 

BradM

Staff member
Admin
#29
Hello Dean!

Most calibration/ recall systems that I have seen use their own calibration stickers on equipment anyway. That's their way to show the equipment meets the internal requirements and is OK to use. So you would remove the vendors sticker and write your own information. Minimally, you should have some identified sticker within your system you could change it out on these instruments for cases like this. Every so often, the vendor makes an error on the sticker, and you need to fix those also.

Many of the vendors I have dealt with will put what recall date on the sticker you want. If you call and talk nice to them, they may remake you a sticker and send it to you. :)
 

CarolX

Super Moderator
Super Moderator
#30
that are occasionally used in the front office
Dean - I have a silly question. Are these gages used for product acceptance? If not, why are they in the calibration system?

My engineers all have a set of calipers they use for a variety of reasons - but none for product acceptance. I have a sales engineer that keeps a set in his car - just in case he needs them at a customers facility. All of these are marked "for reference only". I have never had an issue with this from a customer, internal auditors or our registration auditor.
 
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