How often are your instruments calibrated?  Are they all calibrated at the same time?  Is it on a regular schedule or is it intermittently?  Not every piece of equipment needs to be calibrated in the same way at the exact same time.  In fact, if your company is treating all of its instrumentation calibration equally, it may be wasting money rather than saving it.  An effective calibration history trend analysis can evaluate the ways that your instrumentation has been calibrated in the past, the results, and potential future strategies in order to come up with a calibration schedule that best suits your needs.

Calibration Frequency

An effective analysis can determine which instruments need to be calibrated more frequently and which ones can be calibrated less frequently.  Some people have a tendency to assume that more often is always better, and while over-calibrating an instrument won’t harm it, it can be extremely wasteful in terms of time, materials, and manpower.  Work smarter instead of harder.  Determine how often instruments need to be calibrated and stick to that schedule.

Misplaced Priorities

While some manufacturers calibrate too often, many others don’t calibrate often enough.  As demands for instrumentation increase, many manufacturers find that their resources are spread thin when it comes to regular calibration.  For that reason, instruments that are considered “high priority” are calibrated regularly while “lower priority” instruments may not be calibrated as often.  Unfortunately, even seemingly minor systems can have a huge impact on processes if they are not accurate.  An effectively-managed calibration history trend analysis can ensure that all of your company’s instrumentation has been properly calibrated to ensure the continued financial success of your company, the safety of your highly valued employees, and the satisfaction of your customer base.