Metrology and Measurement

Systems (MME 3110)

Semester 1, 2014-2015
Lecture 5
Quality assurance in metrology:
Calibration, Procedures and Requirements

Contents

Introduction
Calibration
Standards
ISO 9000 Quality Standards
* ISO 9000: Quality Management and Quality Assurance
Standards Guidelines
* ISO 9001: Quality Systems-Quality Assurance in
Design, Development, Production, Installation and
Servicing Functions
* ISO 9002: Quality Systems - Quality Assurance in
Production, Installation and Servicing Functions
* ISO 9003: Quality Systems - Quality Assurance in Final
Inspection and Test Functions
* ISO 9004: Quality management and quality system
elements
General approach to quality systems
ISO 14000:Standards for environmental management Systems

Introduction
Competition in the market-place is intense and
international.
Quality Assurance - Main factor in determining
whether a company succeeds or fails is the quality
in the goods and services that it provides
The ISO 9000 - series of standards established
that provide procedures for ensuring that an
effective quality system, which meets customers'
needs, is maintained.

Introduction
Measurements related to product quality are
an important part of quality control systems.
Assurance to customers of high standards in
quality control has therefore become of vital
importance.
Hence need for companies to implement
sound and effective quality control and quality
assurance systems for measurements as
accuracy in measurements is mandatory
To achieve this accuracy, calibration of the
instruments used to obtain measurements
must be carried out and at a predetermined
frequency.

Calibration
Measurement must be of high quality i.e.
measurement ensures that process variables
within a manufacturing process are maintained
within acceptable limits and also checks that
the final parameters of the product are within
specified tolerances how?
* using properly calibrated instruments
and transducers
* all measurement errors are identified,
quantified and compensated for.

Calibration
Calibration - comparing the output of the
process instrument being calibrated against
the output of a standard instrument of known
accuracy, when the same input (measured
quantity) is applied to both instruments.

A few standards do exist to ensure

effective calibration process.

Standard Laboratories
A few examples of organizations for accreditation
of standards laboratories include the following:

In the United Kingdom, appropriate National

Standards Organization for validating Standards
Laboratories is the National Physical Laboratory. Its
equivalent body in the USA is the National Bureau of
Standards
The UK Organization established a National
Measurement Accreditation Service (NAMAS) which
monitors both instrument calibration and mechanical
testing laboratories

Primary Reference Standards

This describes the highest level of accuracy that is
achievable in the measurement of any particular
physical quantity
All items used in Standards Laboratories as
secondary reference standards have to be
calibrated against primary reference standards at
appropriate intervals of time.
For e.g., the primary reference standard for dimension
measurement is defined by the wavelength of the
orange-red line of Krypton light, and this can be
realized in any laboratory equipped with an
interferometer.

Traceability
Calibration has a chainlike structure in which
every instrument in the
chain is calibrated
against a more accurate
instrument immediately
above it in the chain, as
shown in Figure.
The knowledge of the
full chain of the
instruments involved
in the procedure is
known as Traceability

Instrument Calibration chain

Typical Traceability

Typical calibration chain for micrometers

WHAT IS ISO?
A set of standards for quality management
and quality assurance systems developed by
the International Standard Organization
They provide a framework for quality system
development in all types of industries including
service organizations
It is just purely a management system that will
help us to run our business in a more organized
and systematic manner which will lead to a more
consistent quality of the service that we deliver
to our customers

ISO 9000 Quality standards

The term ISO 9000 is globally referred to as a
complete set of five documents which are
numbered ISO 9000 to ISO 9004.
Collectively they (ISO 9000 to ISO 9004) are
concerned with setting out procedures that
are designed to achieve high standards in
quality assurance.

They impose a requirement on suppliers of goods

and services to establish and maintain an
effective, economical and demonstrable system,
which ensures that what they supply conforms to
specified requirements.

ISO 9000 Quality standards contd.

ISO 9000 -The first document in the set (ISO 9000 to ISO
9004)-is not really a standard itself but consists merely of
guidelines for selecting and using ISO 9001 to ISO 9003

The ISO 9001 to ISO 9003 documents are the actual

quality assurance standards
ISO 9004, like ISO 9000 is not a standard but a document,
which provides guidelines for developing and
implementing quality systems
The ISO quality standards have now been adopted by
most countries around the world, but they are often
published in individual countries with slightly different
prefixes or codes so that they harmonize with pre-existing
national coding systems for standards

ISO 9001:
ISO 9001 - the standard of most relevance to
manufacturing companies. It lays down
procedures for ensuring quality assurance
in all aspects of manufacturing, including
product design, development, manufacture,
installation and testing, servicing functions
The requirements to be satisfied can be read
from the full standard (ISO 9001)

ISO 9002
ISO 9002: Quality Assurance in Production,
Installation and Servicing Functions

ISO 9002 is a subset of ISO 9001 intended for

companies that only provide a manufacturing,
installation and test function (i.e. no product
design). It also applies to companies that only
provide a service function- e.g. specialized
cleaning services)

ISO 9003
ISO 9003: Quality Assurance in final Inspection and
Test Functions.
It applies to companies that only provide a supply,
inspection and test service (i.e. no product
manufacture)
ISO 9001-9003 lay down procedures to be followed
when selecting, using, calibrating, controlling and
maintaining measurement standards and measuring
equipment.
A supplementary document, ISO 10012-1
(http://www.iso.ch/) defines the necessary procedures
in more detail and also gives some guidance about
implementation

ISO 9004
ISO 9004 consisting of four parts, which together
provide further guidance on developing and
implementing quality systems
Part 1 (ISO 9004-1) gives general guidelines.
Part 2 (ISO 9004-2) gives more specific guidelines
where a supplier is providing a service.
Part 3 (ISO 9004-3) gives more specific guidelines
where a supplier is providing processed materials.
Part 4 (ISO 9004-4) gives advice on how to implement
a system designed to achieve continuous
improvements in quality
The general requirements of quality system management, documentation,
audits, costing, training and the control of measurement and testing
equipment are covered

ISO 14000 Standards for environmental

management systems
The major difference between ISO 9000 and
14000 standards is in their application
The ISO 9000 is concerned with quality in
goods manufactured and services provided
ISO 14000 covers environmental concerns of
air and water pollution, waste minimization
/disposal and good practice in product use.

General approach to quality systems

For a quality control system to operate
successfully in a company, certain
conditions have to be satisfied.
The procedures instituted must be
orientated towards preventing quality
problems occurring, i.e. not being mere
fault detection-type systems

General approach to QA
When introducing quality control procedures, its
very important that employees at all levels in
a company are aware of the reason for them,
understand fully how to operate them, and cooperate enthusiastically in implementing them
Although a quality control manager must be
appointed to design and monitor quality control
systems, the control system is not a oneperson show. All personnel in a company must
be encouraged to share in the duty of
maintaining good quality and take pride in it

General approach to QAs

Quality control procedures should evolve and
develop over a period of time. Regular review is
necessary to ensure that quality control
procedures continue to be efficient and remain
the most appropriate as technological
developments take place

Reviews must also take changes in market

forces into account and fully monitor customer
satisfaction, need and expectations

Instrument Calibration Checklist

Changes in instrument characteristics are
caused by factors like mechanical wear, and
the effects of dirt, dust, fumes and chemicals in
the operating environment

Periodic recalibration is necessary because

the characteristics of any measuring
instrument change over a period of time and
affect the relationship between the input and
output

Instrument Calibration Checklist

During calibration process, the instrument
is tested over its whole range by repeating
the comparison procedure for a range of
inputs
The instrument used as a standard for
calibration process must be kept solely for
calibration duties and it must never be used
for other purposes

Instrument Calibration Checklist

All instrument characteristics are affected to
some extent by environmental conditions,
and any parameters given in data sheets
only apply for specified conditions
- Therefore, as far as practicable, these
same environmental conditions should be
reproduced during calibration procedures

Instrument Calibration Checklist

For proper management of calibration procedures,
it is important that the performance of all
calibration operations is assigned as the clear
responsibility of just one person

Assigned person should have total control over the

calibration function, and be able to limit access to
the calibration laboratory to designated approved
personnel only

Instrument Calibration Checklist

One of the clauses in ISO 9000 requires that
all persons using calibration equipment
be adequately trained and the training must
be adequate and targeted at the particular
needs of the calibration systems involved

Instrument Calibration Checklist

Over the longer term, the characteristics of
the working standard will drift, mainly owing
to ageing effects in components within it.

Process instruments which are used to

make quality-related measurements must
be calibrated from time to time against a
standard instrument (secondary
reference standard) of higher accuracy at
appropriate intervals of time

Instrument Calibration Checklist

Proper records should be maintained for
calibration procedures. A separate record
should be kept for every instrument in the
factory, whether it is in use or kept as a spare.
This record should start by giving a description
of the instrument and then stating the required
calibration frequency
When the working standard instrument has
been calibrated by an authorized standards
laboratory, a calibration certificate will be
issued

Documentation in workplace
This deals with the maintenance of
measurement systems and the operation of
calibration procedures

It must give a full description of the

measurement requirements throughout the
workplace, the instruments used, the calibration
systems and procedures operated

Documentation
Calibrate all measuring instruments under
specified environmental conditions so that their
measuring accuracy is known over the whole
measurement range
Establish the variation in instrument characteristics
under environmental conditions different from the
calibration conditions
Establish measurement procedures which
minimize the effect of environmental condition
changes on the measuring instruments

Documentation
Calculate the bounds of measurement error of an
instrument under normal operating conditions
Determine the rate of change of instrument
characteristics over a period of time by practical
experimentation
Hence to determine the frequency at which
instruments should be recalibrated and the
maximum possible measurement error when the
instrument has drifted furthest from its specification
immediately before calibration

Documentation
Combine all instrument measurement error
levels into a figure which expresses the
cumulative error level of the whole
measurement process (where a measurement
is composed of the outputs of more than one
instrument)

Document all measurement and calibration

procedures

Summary
Quality must be ensured in measurement

THE END