Quality Magazine - March 2009 - (Page 45) homegrown systems can be time consuming and prone to error. In achieving certification to ISO 9001 or ISO/TS 16949 or accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025, for example, an organization may find that a paper-based or homegrown system for gage calibration management will create inefficiencies, and in some cases may be in opposition to the supplier requirements of a prospective customer. “Someone doing business with Chrysler for instance, there’s no way they’re going to get by with just a spreadsheet,” says Devin Brent Ellis, client solutions director, quality management division, for CyberMetrics Corp. (Scottsdale, AZ). “Chrysler is going to demand that they have a commercial calibration package; they’re going to be very interested in how they’re keeping history.” Calibration management software affords traceability, providing instant access to gage history. And because the software automates gage management, there is less chance that a gage will miss calibration or be mishandled. Calibration alerts are sent to operators warning impending need of calibration. Some packages will provide work instructions to ensure that the gage is correctly calibrated. Furthermore, a good software package will keep up to date with revisions to an organization’s applicable standard, as well as provide a checklist of procedures relevant to a particular standard. “When a paper record is lost, it may not be discovered as missing, or if a gage shows up where its paper records are misfi led, time is spent searching for the missing records,” says Robert Fruit, assistant manager, MeasurLink department, for Mitutoyo America Corp. (Aurora, IL). “Continuous records about the gage are part of ISOcompliant systems. Properly backed up computer records are fast to search, and records are not likely to go missing.” And because it automates compliance to an organization’s applicable standard, use of calibration management software can expedite third-party assessments. In the same way that it gives operators instant access to important information, such software allows third-party assessors to easily and quickly view calibration records, corrective actions and other documents that will determine This calibration management package shares central open database connectivity (ODBC) with the company’s statistical process control (SPC) software. This gives the SPC software the capability to interact with the calibration management software. Source: InfinityQS International This calibration management package is sold modularly as part of a larger management system package; other packages are calibration specific. Source: Pilgrim Software whether the requirements of a standard are being fulfilled. CONSIDERING A NEW SYSTEM When an organization is ready to make the switch to commercial calibration management software, it should conduct a needs assessment to define its current and expected measurement needs. For example, the organization should be aware of the number of gages needing calibration, the number of facilities and personnel that will need access to software and whether any gages will need to be calibrated by an outside vendor, as the case may be with a coordinate measuring machine (CMM). In addition, the level of data collection and analysis functions desired from a software package should be established, such as SPC, gage repeatability and reproducibility (R&R) or repair manage- www.qualitymag.com March 2009 | QUALITY 45 http://www.qualitymag.com
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