Definition Calibration vs. Verification - Definition of

S

Sandra Shepard

#41
I am new to the cove, but I am hooked. We are a QS-9000 company and have struggled with the "calibration" vs. "verification" issue many times. I have a question:

Suppose the calibration technician has identified a measuring device in production as out-of-calibration. An electronic or maintenance technician adjusts the device using the manufacturer's manual. The cal tech then "verifies" that the device is within required limits using a primary standard.
Is the action taken by the electronic or maintenance tech a pert of the calibration or is it considered "repair"? Did the cal tech "calibrate" or "verify?
 
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K

Ken K

#42
Pass the aspirin please!

Quite the range of definitions...I'll give you one more direct from our assessor.

Verification: The process of verifying a piece of equipment is within tolerance between scheduled calibration.

Soooooo...If I send out a micrometer for yearly calibration, any checks I make on that micrometer during the year are considered verification.


As of now, all my calibration procedures covered under my proposed scope of accrediation will now be changed to verification procedures. Heck of a way to get out of calculating uncertainties, but it'll sure save my :ca: down the ISO Road.
 
S

Sandra Shepard

#43
I posted a question on June 18 and never got a reply. If there is anyone out there with an opinion, I'd love to hear it.

We have been told by one registrar that our company has a Calibration Lab and we need to have a scope, etc. We have been told by another registrar that based on what we do, it should not be classified as a Lab. At any rate, we are attempting to write scopes for all of our locations that have "verification" or "calibration" functions. Here are the questions that have been raised along the way:

Suppose the calibration technician has identified a measuring device in production as out-of-calibration. An electronic or maintenance technician adjusts the device using the manufacturer's manual. The cal tech then "verifies" that the device is within required limits using a primary standard.
Is the action taken by the electronic or maintenance technician a part of the calibration or is it considered "repair"? Did the cal tech "calibrate" or "verify"?
Does the technician have to have "appropriate background and experience"?
 
R
#44
Sandra,
I would consider correcting the device calibration. Checking it and not having to adjust it is verification to me because you are verifying it's accuracy to the standard. The lab tech should have appropriate background & experience.
 
D

D.Scott

#45
IMHO - The adjustment made by the maintenance technician is repair. The verification by the Cal tech, which should include all the appropriate documentation and records of maintenance, is in this case "calibration". I use the term "calibration" whenever there is a record in the calibration data records. For checks on the floor which have no documentation, I use the term verification. This may not be the correct usage, but for in-house terminology everybody understands what you are talking about.

Everybody who is assigned to "calibrate" or perform maintenance on a device should have the appropriate background and experience.

Dave
 
M

M Greenaway

#46
I would say that the whole calibration process includes the initial check against known standards, any subsequent adjustment, and then any re-check.

Everyone involved in this process (and any other process for that matter) would require appropriate background and experience - but relevant to the part of the 'calibration' they were undertaking. So your technician who merely adjusts the device does not need specific 'verification measurement' experience, or what some might call 'calibration' experience if thought of in the narrow context of measurement alone.

Just my very humble thoughts.
 
K

Ken K

#47
So your technician who merely adjusts the device does not need specific 'verification measurement' experience, or what some might call 'calibration' experience if thought of in the narrow context of measurement alone.

I would hope this technician has more than just a glancing understanding of calibration / verification. To adjust is one thing...to understand how and when and to what is another.
 
M

M Greenaway

#48
Ken

Sure thing - I was assuming he was adjusting the device under the 'control' of the calibration engineer - as was seemed to be the case in the original question posted.
 
R

Ryan Wilde

#49
I have to go with Dave on this one. If you are separating out activities, adjustment is a repair (or corrective) action, and quite often requires root cause analysis, effect analysis, and even product recall. The act of comparing an unknown (the measuring device) against a known (the standard) is the definition of calibration. Verification is the act of using the data from calibration (or in-service check) to determine suitability for a task.

All of that said, IMHO, it is best to use whatever terminology makes sense in your facility. The last place I worked could not deal with the concept of the standard definitions. To make life easier, I used the terms that had been part of the company culture for over 40 years in the quality manual and procedures, and included a glossary that defined OUR use of the terms. No assessor that we encountered (or they continue to encounter) has any problem with it. It is much easier to write a glossary that cross-references terms to the widely accepted norms than to change a group vocabulary to those norms.

As to whether or not you have a "Lab", if you are performing calibrations (comparing devices to a standard) you have a lab, regardless of whether it has doors or if it is a corner of the shop floor.

Ryan
 
S

Shannon - 2007

#50
Here's a specific question for you all.
I work in a manufacturing facility.
We have packaging lines that fill bags with product.
Our scales are calibrated monthly, by an outside vendor, using weights that are NIST certified.
Daily, we perform, what we call "verifications" of the scales.
Which is we verify that the scale is still functioning properly. We do this by placing a 50lb weight on the scale to see if it still reads 50lbs. These weights are not traceable to any standard.
During a recent audit, the auditor informed us that we needed to use weights that are traceable to a standard, and not just any old weight.
I told him that we are performing verifications, and not calibrations, therefore we didn't need to. He disagreed. His arguement was that we were making go/no go decisions based on these "verifications", therefore the weights needed to be traced to a standard.
FYI - If a scale failed our daily verification test, we take it out of service and utilize another scale until the scale in question can be calibrated.
So... here's my question:
Do I need to use weights that are traceable to a standard, when performing these daily verification tests?
 
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