In case you are not sure if the equipment you are currently using for your monitoring and measuring activities is the most adequate equipment or if you are wondering why such as expensive tool is used to inspect a certain part, then it may be worth for you to understand tolerances, accuracy and what the impact of the equipment on meeting your specification requirements is.

When you think about equipment that is used for measuring and test activities, you think about important equipment that is used to pass/fail product but may not necessarily find correlation with suppliers. However this very equipment – whether is calibrated in-house or off-site - does involve a supply chain one way or the other and therefore adherence to suppliers and supply-chain requirements is imperative.

This article was published by Quality Digest on 10/19/2009.

If you have ever found equipment that is out of calibration, then you know it is not something to take lightly. Whether you manufacture children’s toys or automobile tires, you know that the implications and ramifications of the decisions you make, can be devastating for your company. Although the requirements from the ISO 9001 standard in regards to equipment found out of calibration are simple and succinct, make no mistake that this is not something to take for granted. If you ensure that the processes for handling non-conforming equipment is in place and if you take into considerations the steps provided below, you will be ready to handle and perhaps be able to avoid out-of calibration conditions.

This article was published by Quality Digest on 10/05/2009.

This article was published on the November 2009 edition of the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG)'s Standard and Tools Newsletter.