Side by Side comparison of calibration softwares?

[ScottBP]

Most threads on the subject of calibration softwares tend to deal with in-house labs that maintains instruments and gages used in production or inspection at some sort of manufacturing facility, but not much is said of outside vendors that provide calibration services for those manufacturers. The company I work for is a smaller player in a field dominated by giants such as Transcat and Davis/Inotek. In order to stay competitive with the big guys, we are looking at replacing our aging in-house system with something that is more up to date and can give our customers what they are looking for, namely

- A way to check on equipment status via the web
- The ability to provide the results of calibrations electronically (i.e. as-found, as-left, estimated uncertainties and forward/reverse traces for each test point) whenever they request it, instead of handing over a stack of print-outs at the end of the job
- The ability to do field calibrations that are not limited in any way (that is, no different from what we do in the lab)
- The ability to control electronic instruments via IEEE-488 interface, and communicate with instruments that use the various process networks, such as Fieldbus, HART, etc.
- True multi-discipline support for all areas of metrology, such as DC/Low Frequency AC, microwave/telecommunications, pressure, mass, force, flow, torque, dimensional, optics, analytical equipment (such as gas detectors, pH meters, densitometers, etc.)
- Tracking of the inventory and status of multiple branches of our company, and the work done for our hundreds of customers.

One of the best arguments for using a commercial software package was made by Wes Bucey in this thread:

https://elsmar.com/elsmarqualityforum/threads/8504&highlight=mudcats

Somehow, I passed this thread by when it first appeared because I thought it might be referring to "recall of nonconforming product" which nonconformance is discovered after shipping to customers or installation in the field.

I expected the automotive and aerospace guys to be all over it.

I am surprised to learn it seems to be all about maintaining a calibration and certification system for instruments and gages used in production or inspection.

Contrary to Atul's suggestion, I would NEVER waste the time and energy to write my own program in Access or any other relational database (yes - the ONLY way to go - avoid flat databases like Excel as if they had plague.) Guys who only know Excel are like little kids with hammers - everything starts to look like a nail.

Even the most expensive commercial software product is less expensive than the time it takes to define and structure a program then write it and maintain it and train others how to use it (most homegrown programs are woefully lacking in user documentation.) This is the whole basis of outsourcing - letting work go to entities which have the best core competencies. If you are a painter, do you make your own brushes and sandpaper? Do you weave your own drop cloth?

I liken use of commercial software for this purpose to use of a Standard for structuring a Quality Management System. Why try to reinvent the wheel?

I am old enough to remember when we (and every other manufacturer) had paper-based file systems with ticklers, file cabinets, cross-indexes, physical inventory records, etc. and a staff dedicated to creating and maintaining those records and files and indexes (a staff apart from the folks who actually inspected, calibrated, and certified the instruments and gages.) Software allows one individual to take care of this record-keeping process as a routine part-time assignment.

Most people know I don't publicly recommend one brand over another because features which make a product good for one use do not guarantee universal applicability. The choice of one brand over another is relatively simple, since most reputable software companies will provide a working demo. Outside calibration and certification vendors can easily generate reports compatible with commercial software so there is no redundant data entry by your staff. Most programs even have a feature for printing out updated I.D. labels and tags for each instrument and gage. The first time you press a button on the keyboard and an entire report prints out showing the status and location of every instrument and gage in your inventory, you'll say, "Why would I have ever considered doing this on my own?"

Now one of the worst arguments that I've heard about off-the-shelf softwares is that you have to continually keep updating and upgrading them, often having to pay for support and updates (or "keep feeding the monkey", as I've heard before in reference to maintaining software packages), but the way I look at it is that we have to pay to keep everything else up, from periodic recertification of primary and reference standards that can't be done in-house to maintaining accreditation status through consultants and auditors, and besides that, the cost of support (e.g. a yearly subscription to updates) would be less than the salary of someone who does nothing but maintain an in-house designed system.

On to the available softwares... We have MET/CAL, but find that it is limited mainly to doing electrical calibrations, and is cumbersome and confusing to program or otherwise setup for other metrology fields. We tried Gage Insite, and found it to be more geared towards an in-house quality control lab at a manufacturing facility (like gage r&r studies on dimensional equipment). Blue Mountain Software seems to be geared mainly towards the in-house lab of a pharmaceutical facility. So far, it seems Edison Mudcats covers more of what we are looking for than the other available softwares, but is still a new player in the field.

I 'm looking for some good points to bring up in meetings, but I'm not good at doing side-by-side comparisons or cost to benefits analyses or whatever. Maybe someone else had to do a similar upgrade and has done some research before hand. Or, maybe somebody else has been successful at getting the above mentioned softwares to do multiple disciplines. I'm not looking for a recommendation, but has anybody ever done side-by-side comparisons of available softwares to see what each is capable of, ease of use, what their limitations are, initial cost and cost of maintenance, etc.?

 

[Hershal]

I would suggest a side-by-side of MudCats (Edison), GAGETrak (Cybermetrics), and Blue Moutain (Blue Mountain).

I believe each has a demo available, all three are widely recognized, even though MudCats is relatively new, and so should not affect any accreditation you may have.

Each also has technical support and can recommend an appropriate package once they know the parameters.

Hope this helps.

Hershal