Agilent Measurement Journal - Issue 4 - 2008 - (Page 9)

O One of the best ways to maintain conﬁdence in the measurements provided by an electronic instrument is to follow its recommended calibration interval. Maintaining calibration — and up-to-date certiﬁcation — may also be required by internal and external quality auditors. These days, many companies no longer maintain internal calibration labs and instead are subcontracting or outsourcing their calibration work. Unfortunately, there is wide variation in the depth and quality of the calibrations performed by service providers. One way to gauge calibration services is by the quality and metrology standards the provider follows. Since 1987, the common denominator for quality has been the ISO 9001:2000 standard, which is part of the umbrella ISO 9000 standard and is administered by the International Standards Organization (ISO). ISO 9001 applies to products, services and software, and has been extended with several industry-speciﬁc standards. To use an analogy, ISO 9001:2000 certiﬁcation can be viewed as a “passport” required by all businesses. This passport can be endorsed with “technical visas” for speciﬁc topics in different countries or regions. For example, ISO 17025:2005 covers the “competence of test and calibration laboratories” globally while ANSI/NCSL Z540.3 is used for Department of Defense (DoD) activities in North America. resources and facilitate the movement of equipment from country to country. For multinational companies such as Agilent, this type of standardization allows consistent delivery of services across a global network of service centers. Within the worldwide deployment of quality and metrology standards, it is expected that requirements are understandable without the support of a specialist, do not conﬂict with one another, and are not susceptible to multiple interpretations. From a business perspective, the objective is to also see a positive return on investment from beneﬁts such as compliance with requirements through reductions in audits, increases in productivity and gains in competitive advantage. Convergence of standards is expected to also help instrument users such as contract manufacturers who must deal with a wide variety of standards that apply to the countries and industries they supply. Standardizing calibration certiﬁcates As a speciﬁc example, a calibration certiﬁcate is the main tangible proof of calibration usually scrutinized by auditors. As a result, service providers must apply special care to the design and ergonomics of the certiﬁcate itself. It is also necessary to ﬁnd a good compromise between worldwide standardization and speciﬁc requirements while ensuring consistency between new and in-service instruments. ISO 17025:2005 is one of a few standards that provide a detailed list of requirements for calibration certiﬁcates. Because Agilent participated in the design of ISO 17025, it was possible for the company to create a standard document in 1999. Currently, up to 30 pieces of information are included in the administrative part of an Agilent calibration certiﬁcate. One section presents information useful to the end user (e.g., type of service delivered, equipment reference, as-received status) while another section addresses the needs of auditors (e.g., traceability and quality data). From the very beginning, Agilent’s Calibration Certiﬁcate Working Group has been monitoring customer inputs on a weekly basis. Along the way, one issue arose concerning the inclusion of a “next calibration due” statement on the document. The Z540 standard seemed to require this usage while ISO 17025 forbade this kind of information because it must be deﬁned by the user’s quality system, not by the laboratory performing the calibration service. To provide appropriate ﬂexibility, Agilent lets the customer choose to include or exclude this sentence. The role of standards and guides The general objective of quality and metrology standards is to provide conﬁdence in measurements and to facilitate product acceptance; they also play a role in reducing technical barriers to trade. As applied to instrument service operations, the end user can expect to see standards requirements reﬂected within service deliverables, helping them satisfy the needs of internal and external auditors. This is especially important when all or part of the metrology process is subcontracted to a service provider: Essential documents such as calibration certiﬁcates, quality system certiﬁcation, accreditation information or traceability must fully address all relevant audit requirements. Taking a broader view, international acceptance of service deliverables will provide access to the best worldwide metrology Agilent Measurement Journal 9

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Agilent Measurement Journal - Issue 4 - 2008

Agilent Measurement Journal - Issue 4 - 2008 Delivering Confidence through Compliance with Standards Contents Emerging Innovations Trying Early Device Implementations at the IEEE 1588 PlugFest Achieving Greater Confidence in Measurement Accuracy through Consistency in Calibration Services Overcoming the Challenges of RFID Component Testing 3GPP LTE: Introducing Single- Carrier FDMA Ensuring Reliable Operation and Performance in Converged IP Networks Testing Storage Area Networks and Devices at 8.5-Gb/s Fibre Channel Rates Choosing an Appropriate Calibration Method for Vector Network Analysis Making Traceable EVM Measurements with Digital Oscilloscopes Exploring Terahertz Measurement, Imaging and Spectroscopy: The Electromagnetic Spectrum’s Final Frontier Interpreting Quoted Specifications when Selecting Digitizers

Agilent Measurement Journal - Issue 4 - 2008

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