Almost every day, my desk is besieged with literature from consulting firms promising quick and easy "Quality Accreditation." Typically, this sales literature is also accompanied by a quote from a satisfied customer who swears that his or her recent quality accreditation increased efficiency by X% and sales by X%.
Eight things to consider when choosing a calibration lab:
- Choose an Accredited Lab.
- Check out the potential lab for its accreditations and accuracies.
- Review the actual certifications you'll be receiving and consider your own particular audit trail needs.
- Review the lab's quality manual and book of procedures.
- Visit the lab and find out the experience levels of the technicians who will be performing measurements on your company's equipment.
- Perform a "Round Robin" and check the accuracy of the lab you're considering against other labs or NIST.
- Check the financial status of the lab.
- Make sure the calibration lab you're considering maintains calibration records for as long as you need to have them for your auditors.