Calibration
Calibration is the documented comparison of an instrument's readings against a known reference, and any adjustment needed to bring it back within tolerance.
Calibration is the documented comparison of an instrument's readings against a known reference, and any adjustment needed to bring it back within tolerance.
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Also called: equipment calibration, calibration interval.
The three get used interchangeably and should not be. Verification checks whether an instrument is still within tolerance and produces a pass or fail. Calibration measures the actual deviation against a reference and documents it. Adjustment is the physical correction, which may or may not be needed.
The distinction matters when an auditor asks for records, because a pass/fail check is not a calibration certificate and will not be accepted as one.
A calibration is only as good as the reference it was measured against. Traceability means that reference is itself calibrated against a higher standard, in an unbroken chain up to a national or international standard.
A certificate without traceability documents that someone compared two instruments of unknown accuracy. This is why calibration certificates carry the reference standard's own identity and calibration date — and why they should be attached to the equipment record rather than filed in a drawer.
Start with the manufacturer's recommendation and the requirement of whatever standard applies to you. Then adjust on evidence: instruments that come back consistently well within tolerance can often have the interval extended, and instruments that drift need it shortened.
Usage and environment matter more than calendar time for many instruments. Something knocked around a workshop drifts faster than the identical instrument on a bench, and scheduling both annually treats them as equivalent when they are not.
Caveat: where calibration is a regulatory requirement — medical devices, legal metrology, accredited testing — the interval is generally not yours to choose. Follow the applicable standard.
An instrument out of calibration produces measurements that look fine and are wrong, so every decision and every product it touched between calibrations comes into question.
Itefy schedules recurring calibration like any other maintenance, notifies the responsible user when it is due, and stores certificates as documents on the item. Read more.
Whatever the applicable standard requires, and otherwise the manufacturer's interval adjusted for how hard and how roughly the instrument is used. Instruments that consistently return well within tolerance are candidates for longer intervals; drifters need shorter ones.
No. A service record says work was done. A calibration certificate documents measured deviation against a traceable reference, and only the latter satisfies an auditor asking about measurement accuracy.
A maintenance schedule is the plan of what servicing each item needs, at what interval, and who is responsible for doing it.
DefinitionPreventive maintenance is servicing equipment on a planned schedule — by time or by usage — to reduce the chance of it failing unexpectedly in use.
DefinitionA service history is the complete record of maintenance, repairs and inspections carried out on a specific item, with dates, work done and cost.
DefinitionAn equipment condition report is a dated record of the physical and working state of a specific item, used to track deterioration and settle damage questions.
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