Transcat’s & Angel’s Approach around the Coronavirus: Taking Precautions & Preventing Health Risks

Angel’s Instruments Customers,

We understand that there may be a desire to understand Angel’s current approach around the Coronavirus, (COVID-19) across the United States, Canada, and other international customer locations.

Angel’s Instruments, a Transcat Company takes the health of our employees and customers very seriously, while remaining sensitive to the compliance and quality needs of a heavily regulated supply chain.

Angel’s Instruments is following the direction being given from the CDC and WHO. We have also adopted a temporary policy of suspending non-essential company travel. We are encouraging employees to leverage technology to connect with customers and maintain the flow of business our customers and partners have come to expect. Our corporate headquarters, sales and contact center, and all laboratories remain open for business. We are continuing operations for all technical, customer-facing travel.

We have included additional questions to our on-site field service calibration questionnaire to help our company and yours mitigate risk and to remain compliant as your facility requirements change. Our product distribution business is being proactive in gaining updated lead time information on delivery of goods and will communicate this in real-time on quotations, and via the web if there are notable updates to the supply chain.

We will continue to share any guidance when necessary.

Lee Rudow

CEO & President, Transcat

Function of Calibration

Why is calibration important?

Calibrating a device has 3 main purposes:
-Ensures readings from an instrument are consistent with other measurements.
-Determines accuracy of the readings.
-Establishes the reliability of the instrument i.e. that it can be trusted.

what-is-calibration

Comparison of a known value from a “standard” to an unknown value from the unit under test. Accuracy of the standard varies but the typical standard will be at least ten (10) times as accurate as the device being tested.

http://www.instrumentationtoolbox.com/2012/12/understanding-instrument-calibration.html#axzz49UyQCVvQ

Regular Calibration Provides Confidence

Accuracy changes for all measuring devices over time through normal wear and tear. Changes can also be caused traumatic events like electric or mechanical shock. Working environments with contaminants such as oils, metal chips or chemicals can also affect accuracy. Other significant factors are the quality of the instrument, frequency of use and skill of the user. The end result of no calibration is over confidence and can be a problem for any organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overconfidence_effect

Calibration Results

Calibration improves the reliability of measurements to improve product quality and consistency.

Calibrating your instruments saves time and money in re-work or replacement of bad products.

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http://angels-inst.com/

009-04, FY17

Top question asked from customers about NAVSEA standard item 009-04 dated 30 JULY, 2015 is:

Do I need accredited calibrations?

Lab accreditation is done by an external organization which verifies a lab can calibrate a specific measurement with a specific level of uncertainty.

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When a customer asks for an “accredited” calibration, they are asking that the lab to use equipment to generate data to that level of uncertainty, report those values and affix a special logo.

Requiring that a lab is accredited for a specific function, as stated in 009-04 on page 2 of 10 paragraph 3.1.7 , is not the same thing.

http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/SSRAC/NSI/FY17/009-04_FY17.pdf

 

Accredited calibrations are typically the most expensive services a lab offers.

To check if a lab is accredited for a specific function is as easy as looking them up on the web and reviewing their scope of accreditation.

http://www.a2la.org/dirsearchnew/newsearch.cfm

 

If a lab is not accredited for that function, it does not mean they cannot calibrate it just that they chose not to publish it on their scope for various reasons.

If you have any questions regarding this or any other of your calibration needs give us a call here at Angels, we’ll be more than happy to help!

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http://angels-inst.com/