Requirements for In-House calibration of measuring devices.

[blj1180]

I am trying to setup an in-house calibration system at my workplace. I have no clue if we would be required to be ISO 17025 certified or not. We only use Micrometers, calipers and bore gauges. I would like to eliminate the need to send our equipment off to a certified lab for recertification every year. Would it be feasible to do verification using certified standards. Any information or if someone can point me to the right publications to find the information it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Nichole F]

I'd recommend consulting the applicable standards or regulations for whatever industry your company works within. I work in medical devices so I cannot speak for other industries, but the general expectation I've encountered is that measuring equipment is calibrated to a recognized standard. What is the risk of an incorrect measurement due to a faulty calibration? Calibration can be an unwieldly beast which is why third-party calibrations are expensive. I went through the ISO 17025 certification process with a company several years ago and it takes a lot of time, resources, and effort.

Unless you have an industry or customer requirement, not all equipment has to be calibrated annually. Many times the equipment manufacturer will not even provide a recommended calibration schedule because the need for recalibration will greatly depend on how frequently the item is use, the environment in which it is used among other factors.

 

[ChrisM]

Generally in places where I have worked, some slip gauges are sent for external calibration, and micrometers, verniers etc are "calibrated" against these daily/weekly/before each use etc. You just write a one-page procedure or instruction to address what you are doing. you need not have a complete 100+ pieces set of slip gauges that you send out for external calibration, choose to suit your requirements.... maybe only 2 or 3.
The internal "calibrations" that you carry out are really more verification checks that the instruments are reading correctly, but this is usually perfectly acceptable

 

[SeanN]

Would it be feasible to do verification using certified standards.

Quick answer: yes. But you need to align your QMS with what you want to do, starting with scope, SOPs, infrastructure, etc. It's real calib. with certs, not just verification. i worked in an ISO 17025 certified lab before and we calibrated our own pipettes, timers, thermometers...

 

[ScottK]

I always make a distinction between calibration and verification where verification is verifying that a tool measures standards traceable to a national standard within set tolerances, and calibration is the act of making adjustments to a tool to ensure it measures correctly. Many places I've worked we've done the verification of hand tools in-house, but if found to be out we'd send to a third party to be recalibrated. And our standards always went out for third party lab for recertification.
Never had a problem on that with a registrar, notified body, or customer auditor.

Of course you need proper documentation and such to define devices, timing, what to do if something if found to be out, etc.

You don't need ISO17025 for this. In my experience ISO17025 is really for organizations that are calibrating thing for other parties or if you have a separate calibration lab in-house.

 

[dwperron]

I am trying to setup an in-house calibration system at my workplace. I have no clue if we would be required to be ISO 17025 certified or not. We only use Micrometers, calipers and bore gauges. I would like to eliminate the need to send our equipment off to a certified lab for recertification every year. Would it be feasible to do verification using certified standards. Any information or if someone can point me to the right publications to find the information it would be greatly appreciated.

This question is impossible to answer without a lot more information.
My first question is "Why are you calibrating your tools?" Do you have a requirement internally in your Quality system, is it a customer requirement, is it a best practice?
This information would help define the scope of what you are trying to accomplish here.

 

[Ed Panek]

Almost anything is possible with a strong enough argument.

While ISO/IEC 17025 certification adds a high level of formal credibility to a lab’s competency, it is not mandatory unless:

Your customers or regulatory body requires ISO 17025 compliant calibration certificates.
You are performing calibrations for third parties as a service.
Your industry has a specific compliance framework (e.g., aerospace, FDA, automotive IATF 16949) that mandates it.

For internal calibration of equipment used in production or inspection, what matters most is traceability and documented competency, not formal accreditation.

 

[blj1180]

This question is impossible to answer without a lot more information.
My first question is "Why are you calibrating your tools?" Do you have a requirement internally in your Quality system, is it a customer requirement, is it a best practice?
This information would help define the scope of what you are trying to accomplish here.

After further research I think I would be fine with just verification of our measuring devices. I will use certified blocks to verify our equipment. Now I need to put together what our procedures would be. Do you have any idea where I might find a guide for what the procedures should look like?

 

[blj1180]

I always make a distinction between calibration and verification where verification is verifying that a tool measures standards traceable to a national standard within set tolerances, and calibration is the act of making adjustments to a tool to ensure it measures correctly. Many places I've worked we've done the verification of hand tools in-house, but if found to be out we'd send to a third party to be recalibrated. And our standards always went out for third party lab for recertification.
Never had a problem on that with a registrar, notified body, or customer auditor.

Of course you need proper documentation and such to define devices, timing, what to do if something if found to be out, etc.

You don't need ISO17025 for this. In my experience ISO17025 is really for organizations that are calibrating thing for other parties or if you have a separate calibration lab in-house.

Do you happen to have an example of the procedures that was used. I'm going to use certified blocks to verify our calipers and micrometers in house.

 

[Scanton]

I know it is a verification as I make no adjustments to the mostly digital gauges that I am checking however everyone knows it incorrectly as calibration, in the same way they incorrectly call a caliper a “Vernier”, who am I to judge.

I calibrate my micrometers, calipers, height gauges, drop clocks etc in house using a set of carbide blocks that I don’t let anyone else use for any other purpose.

The carbide blocks are more expensive however I get them calibrated every 5 years at an ISO/IEC 17025:2017 UKAS certified lab and they haven’t moved (worn) a fraction of a micron in 20 years.

I have air conditioning in my office to set the temperature and control it at 20° C +/- 2° using a calibrated thermometer for verification.

I use gagelist.net (other recording systems are available) to record my results which I generally undertake every six months, recording the individual block measurements, temperature, gauge set ID and pass/fail against each block.

Anything I can’t calibrate is sent to an ISO/IEC 17025:2017 UKAS certified lab at set intervals based on the devices use.

I’m sure others have less and more complicated systems, however this has worked for me for a long time and hasn’t failed external audit by customers or certification bodies auditing against ISO 9001 and IATF 16949.