ISO9001 Exclusion 7.6 Control of Monitoring and Measuring Equipment

[drgnrider]

What would you suggest is calibrated?

A vehicle would have some sort of required inspection(s)... Might be my over-thinking, as we have items in our calibration system to note when they are due for inspection... relating it in those regards.

 

[AndyN]

A vehicle would have some sort of required inspection(s)... Might be my over-thinking, as we have items in our calibration system to note when they are due for inspection... relating it in those regards.

I believe you may be! If I lift the hood of my car and check the brake fluid, cooling system and so on, those inspections don't require any equipment or calibration. Even if I checked the thickness of the brake pads/shoes, it's not the thickness I'm concerned about, but the presence of friction material.

Calibration should be excluded...

 

[zancky]

You have to go back to basics. What's the process or product being measured and then what equipment is used? If the organization want accurate, repeatable results, then the equipment needs calibration.

Perhaps you could explain how the theory fits in practice?

sorry for my bad English.
i know it is a borderline reasoning, but:
They are monitoring their process by the skill assessments, the trip reports and may be by something else. those tools may be seen as monitoring "device".
When they rate the skill and trip report they perform a "measure".
How to be "sure" they are performing a correct measure ? comparing the results with the customer surveys data and changing the ranking rules, insert new question into the form etc in case of discrepancies (that's may be seen as "calibration")

 

[AndyN]

The challenge of service is that the process must be controlled, because unlike product, you may never get a chance to "rework" non-conformity. It's a "once in a life time" deal. You had better ensure the process gives great performance...

 

[somashekar]

sorry for my bad English.
i know it is a borderline reasoning, but:
They are monitoring their process by the skill assessments, the trip reports and may be by something else. those tools may be seen as monitoring "device".
When they rate the skill and trip report they perform a "measure".
How to be "sure" they are performing a correct measure ? comparing the results with the customer surveys data and changing the ranking rules, insert new question into the form etc in case of discrepancies (that's may be seen as "calibration")

Your English is good zancky...
People skills and reports not equal to equipments.
There is still nothing here that one can pick up and verify against a higher accuracy system and say they match and hence good for use.

 

[serviceco]

some good discussion, thank you.
Taking the definition of "equipment" literally we do not have any physical equipment that measures any of the product. We do inspect vehicles and this is covered in 6.3 and there is no equipment used in the inspections, they are basically going through a checklist. I dont think we need to calibrate the checklist becuase we follow a DMV checklist.

Here is how we monitor the product:
Staff fills out a trip report at the end of day
We seek customer feedback in person and by email
We ask customers to review their experience online
We train our staff to certain standards and assess their skills before sending them into the field.

I guess it comes down to how you interpret "equipment". If trip reports, surveys and skills assessments are considered such then maybe we need to include theis clause. We do change the forms and checklists from time to time to ensure we are getting accurate information so i guess that would be considered calibration?

This is my first experience going for ISO9001 certification. If we did exclude it and the auditor found it unjustified, would it be considered a major or minor nonconformance and would it hold up the certificatiion process considerably or would it be an easy fix?

 

[AndyN]

some good discussion, thank you.
Taking the definition of "equipment" literally we do not have any physical equipment that measures any of the product. We do inspect vehicles and this is covered in 6.3 and there is no equipment used in the inspections, they are basically going through a checklist. I dont think we need to calibrate the checklist becuase we follow a DMV checklist.

Here is how we monitor the product:
Staff fills out a trip report at the end of day
We seek customer feedback in person and by email
We ask customers to review their experience online
We train our staff to certain standards and assess their skills before sending them into the field.

I guess it comes down to how you interpret "equipment". If trip reports, surveys and skills assessments are considered such then maybe we need to include theis clause. We do change the forms and checklists from time to time to ensure we are getting accurate information so i guess that would be considered calibration?

This is my first experience going for ISO9001 certification. If we did exclude it and the auditor found it unjustified, would it be considered a major or minor nonconformance and would it hold up the certificatiion process considerably or would it be an easy fix?

It the auditor finds a problem with your exclusion and justification - let's say at the "stage 1", tell the CB you don't want them back for the stage 2!