Ballpark VS. Bullseye: Why Calibration Labs Matter

From food and pharmaceuticals to automobiles and appliances, the range of reliable products we count on every day have one thing in common: calibration.

A multitude of measuring devices are used in industry. By ensuring that those instruments deliver precise measurements, calibration works behind-the-scenes to promote safety, quality and compliance. For example, having industrial equipment, such as ovens, properly calibrated is especially important within the aerospace, food service, medical, and automotive industries.

Calibration touches nearly everything in the world we live in. Without calibration, there would be greater risk of product defects, equipment malfunctions, and safety hazards.

What is Calibration?
In any situation where precise measurements matter, calibration is a must.

The calibration process compares actual measurement values produced by a measuring device to an accepted standard to determine the accuracy of the instrument. If test measurements obtained during calibration do not fall within a defined acceptable range, cleaning, repairs or other adjustments can be made to bring the equipment back in line with the known standard.

From the design stage to production, calibration helps ensure a reliable manufacturing process that consistently produces quality products within tight measurement specifications. Otherwise, the safety and satisfaction of consumers is at risk, as well as the company reputation. Accurate measurements also help ensure compliance with important environmental regulations. Precise measurement is also critical in the world of research and development — innovations that drive society forward.

Why Calibration Matters
Any measurement device, instrument or equipment will become less accurate over time, as parts and components drift away from their design specifications due to wear and tear and other factors

Routine calibration helps to ensure that measuring equipment continues to measure precisely to its specification. The frequency of calibration depends on the type of device or instrument, manufacturer recommendations and industry regulations. Daily calibration is required for some instruments, while other devices may only require calibration annually.

Benefits of Calibration
By helping to ensure precise measurements, calibration offers a number of important benefits:

• SAFETY: Without routine calibration, a product may not perform as designed, which can put health and safety at risk. For example, inaccurate results from an improperly calibrated blood glucose test could lead to inappropriate medical treatment; or an uncalibrated food thermostat could lead to undercooked food and subsequent illness.
• QUALITY: Calibration is a component of quality control and quality management, and it directly contributes to mitigating operating risks. Properly calibrated equipment helps ensure reliable measurement data that is critical to creating quality, replicable products and to building customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• COST: Calibration helps cut costs by reducing the risk of manufacturing errors and costly product failures or recalls. Proper calibration can also help extend the life of manufacturing equipment and increase production efficiency.
• COMPLIANCE: Regulatory agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Federal Drug Administration (FDA), require calibration to ensure that measurement equipment meets industry standards and regulations. Proper calibration helps companies avoid compliance issues that can negatively impact the bottom line and their public image. Accurate measurement also helps ensure compliance with important environmental regulations.
• INNOVATION: Reliable measurement is critical to the research and development process in government and industry —a critical step in advancing the technology, products and services that benefit modern society.

Calibration You Can Count On
Partnering with the right team of trusted and knowledgeable professionals — like the calibration experts at Industrial Inspection & Analysis (IIA) — will help ensure that your measurement equipment yields accurate data and complies with regulatory standards, as well as vendor specifications.

Across the U.S., IIA offers a multitude of calibration services through our ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratories. Our testing professionals calibrate hand tools, dimensional equipment, magnetic particle machines, and rectifiers, and our team also conducts testing for hardness, force calibration, and surface plates.

Specializing in dimensional calibration, we use state-of-the-art calibration equipment in an environmentally controlled lab for the ultimate accuracy. Temperature, humidity and dust controls are maintained within the lab to provide for stable measurements on all your gages.

The Speed You Need
IIA understands that your measurement equipment is vital to your daily operations, and that downtime can be costly. We are committed to providing a fast turnaround on calibration jobs to minimize disruption to your operations and workflow. Our experience and technical expertise — plus 24-hour operations — ensure a rapid response to your calibration needs.

Standard & Specialty Equipment
Calibration of check fixtures, master tools, and other unconventional gages requires extraordinary means — a depth of experience and the right equipment. With decades of experience serving a range of industries, our calibration experts have worked with gages, meters and everything in between. We are equipped to meet the most stringent requirements to accurately and properly calibrate even the most unusual, purpose-specific gaging devices.

IIA is a premier provider of calibration services for a wide range of measurement equipment, including the following:

• Angle Blocks
• Articulating Arms
• Calipers
• Check Fixtures
• CMMs
• Hardness Testers
• Incubators
• Magnetic Particle Machines
• Master Tools
• Optical Comparators
• Spline Gages
• Surface Plates
• Tachometers
• Temperature Gages
• Vision Systems
• Voltmeters

ISO/SEC 17025 Accredited
All calibrations are traceable to the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) and comply with ISO standards. IIA offers competitive pricing, certificates that include full data for each item calibrated, and a proprietary electronic recall system so your equipment is never out of calibration.

Calibration + Repair Services
When you partner with IIA for calibration services, the relationship does not end there. We are a full-service provider, so if we calibrate a machine, we also service that machine. Our turnkey calibration and maintenance services help to streamline operations, appointments, and auditing processes for the customer. No more delays waiting on the equipment manufacturer!

We provide expert repair services for many hand tools offered by major manufacturers, such as Mitutoyo, Starrett, Brown & Sharpe, and Mahr Federal. Our experienced repair personnel fully disassemble, clean, service and repair basic hand tools such as calipers, micrometers, dial and test indicators, height gages and many more.

Calibration at Your Location
Our resources include mobile labs that bring IIA’s world-class calibration and repair services to your door. If you want to avoid the time, expense and inconvenience of shipping a measurement tool — or it’s too large or fragile to transport— on-site services offer the ultimate convenience and speedy response times.

In addition to dimensional equipment, our on-site specialties include temperature uniformity surveys, Rockwell hardness testers and calibration of force equipment. including load cells, dynamometers and Universal Testing Machines.