Choosing your calibration service provider

Written By: Osama Kamel        EES Lab. Tech. Manger          Date: Aug 2024

Choosing calibration service provider is not a straightforward process, the best choice is to return the equipment to its manufacturer for yearly calibration, as they can provide any adjustment, or repairs required before starting the calibration process.
But what if this choice is not possible, how do we choose a local calibration service provider?
There are two types of calibration labs: accredited and non-accredited, it is a better choice to go with an accredited lab.

You can find the accredited labs in your country published on your national accreditation council’s website or; EES is accredited by the EGAC (Egyptian Accreditation Council)

Depending on your location you will find many accredited labs; it’s better choose an accredited lab in the parameter you need to calibrate with the lowest uncertainty, it is better to review lab accreditation scope and check its CMC “Calibration Measurment capability” which shows measurement ranges and uncertainties as per below table

Choosing an accredited lab does not mean that your job is done, it is the responsibility of the process owner to ensure that the accuracy level and the uncertainty level are accepted; the applied calibration procedure is suitable or not.

ISO17025:2017 Clearly mentiones the design rule used to confirm if the calibrated device is pass or fail

Results can show that the calibrated device is within the accepted accuracy, but when considering calibration process uncertainties, it fails.

·       Choosing a supplier with lower CMC as possible will help in gaining accepted results in your calibration certificate

·       Taking into consideration that the unit under test could lead to higher uncertainty value in calibration results due to its low resolution or bad repeatability results

·       We also must check if the lab is accredited to perform calibration onsite of the customer or only in its premises, so we must send the equipment to the lab

·       Some labs claim fast turnaround time, this is not an advantage as the calibration  process requires 1-3 days on average , so if you get a very short time for calibration may be its a wise decision to attend the process to confirm that it meets the expected level of service you need