Quality System
Quality System & Standards
The standards, traceability and management arrangements that govern the work described on this site.
Overview
Calibration services coordinated through this site are performed by laboratories accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2017. Documented procedures at those laboratories cover request review, method selection, measurement, result review and release, and a complaints-and-appeals process for disputed results. Quality managers evaluating a supplier can request the relevant scope of accreditation and procedure summaries in support of an audit.
Standards Referenced
Work described on this site is performed under ISO/IEC 17025:2017.
Any accreditation named on this site belongs to the laboratory performing the measurement. It covers the quantities and ranges written into that laboratory's published scope and nothing beyond them. Work falling outside that scope is still carried out, but it is reported as non-accredited and marked that way on the certificate, so the status of every line is readable from the document itself.
The documentation a quotation arrives with is explained on the accreditation documentation page.
Metrological Traceability
Measurements are traceable to the International System of Units through the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Each certificate states the reference standards used for that calibration, along with the reported measurement uncertainty for every parameter checked. For CMM calibration, this includes length measurement error and probing performance values recorded against the method specified under ISO/IEC 17025:2017. For gage calibration, reported values include the measured deviation from nominal, not only a pass or fail determination, so a plate or block that is regraded or retired can be supported by its own calibration history.
Traceability is recorded per measurement, not per site: the certificate names the reference standard used, its own calibration status, and the chain by which that standard is linked to the SI unit. Where a reference is found out of tolerance, the work performed against it since its previous calibration is reviewed and affected customers are notified.
Equipment and Maintenance
Equipment categories supported include bridge, gantry and cantilever coordinate measuring machines, portable articulated arms, granite surface plates, gauge blocks, and ring and plug gauges. Each instrument is checked against the performing laboratory's scope of accreditation before a request is accepted, confirming that the specific make, model and range fall within that laboratory's capability. Requests outside an available scope are declined; the requester is notified so an alternative can be arranged, and the method is never performed against an unlisted scope.
Each reference has its own identity, controlled storage and use, and a recalibration interval set in advance and pulled in when drift data says it should be. Equipment that is damaged, overloaded or suspect is pulled from service and marked, and comes back only after a check and a written release.
Management System
The work sits inside a documented management system:
- 01
Controlled documents
Procedures carry issue and revision status.
- 02
Retained records
Retained for a defined period and retrievable against a certificate number.
- 03
Audit and review
Internal audit and management review run on a schedule.
- 04
Corrective action
Nonconforming work and improvement actions are tracked to closure, and their effectiveness is checked afterwards.
Impartiality and Complaints
Risks to impartiality are identified and kept under control, and results stand on the evidence regardless of who benefits. Complaints and appeals enter the management system formally — the process, including the response commitment, is set out on the complaints policy page. How results should and should not be read is covered on the disclaimer page.
Compiling records for a supplier-qualification file?
Scope, method statements and traceability detail are supplied with the quotation.