When to start calibration cycle - Electronic test equipment rental company

G

GregH

#1
I work at an electronic test equipment rental company. We do in-house calibrations of spectrum analyzers, oscilloscopes, etc. Management wants to change our process to start cal cycles when the equipment is rented. For example, if we cal something with a 12 month interval today, but it ships in two months, the next due date will 12 months from the ship date. Does anyone else do this? Can I justify this to my customers?
 
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Hershal

Metrologist-Auditor
Staff member
Super Moderator
#2
That's a hard one. I suspect the practice is common in the rental industry.

The U.S. Navy always operates a pool. They take the position that the clock starts at the end of cal.....not when it goes out.

In theory, if a unit has only sat for a short amount of time, then starting the clock at ship date is OK. However, I have cal'd quite a few items where I would not count on the item to be in just a day later, much less two months.

Perhaps the best answer is to cal just before it ships, then ship and cal dates are the same.

Just my thoughts. Hershal
 
J

JerryStem

#3
What are the odds that any of this equipment would be out of cal after sitting for awhile? If you can typically come back in 4 months and nothing's changed, then you're probably ok.

If these things tend to drift over time, it's a harder sell.....

Jerry
PS- Perhaps a "quick check" just before it ships, to confirm everything? Maybe a smaller version of a calibration?
 
G

Graeme

#4
It depends ...

With electronic equipment in particular, delaying the effective start of the calibration interval has the potential for trouble. A number of electronic components can and do change with time -- although generally not as much in newer equipment than things did several decades ago.

Referring back to the Navy system that Hershal mentioned, here's another thing they do. If an electronic item is not going to be used for a while (maybe a month or more, but there's no hard rule) it gets a different label: "Inactive - Calibrate Before Use". The theory is that it's better to calibrate it right before it's needed. On the other hand, many physical/dimensional/mechanical tools can be calibrated and not used for a while. Generally they are sealed (for example, dipped in hot wax) so that any use of it is detectable. They have to be turned in on the due date, but if the seal is intact then it's just a paperwork exercise.

(Exception - if your'e a nuke, everything gets calibrated (with data) before and after every use!)

If I had the luxuries of time and extra available equipment, I would do an experiment. Run some random calibrations on equipment where several months have elapsed since calibration but it has not been used yet. (In a rental environment you have the advantage of exact knowledge of that interval. Many of us would have to take someone's honorable word that no, that thing hasn't been used since it was calibrated.) It may take a while to get statistically valid results, though, depending on your inventory level and usage rate. But at least you would be collecting data. Without data, all we can have are opinions.

Note that the results would have to be stratified so that you are evaluating comparable equipment - just as in interval analysis. In other words, compare spectrum analyzers and oscilloscopes separately instead of together. If you have a lot of units of the same model, break it down further by model.
 
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