Please tell me any bad vibes with A2LA.I believe they will accredit anyone who pays the fee.
For what it's worth, I can't speak to their accreditation practices but I have attended two of their training classes (intro to 17025 and meas. uncertainty) and they were first rate.
I have been through several of thier audits and i do not understand why people say that. I think they do exactly what they say they are going to do. The audits I have been to are very thorough.
No issues
I've been through quite a few A2LA audits. They always seemed to be the only ones you actually had to know what you were doing to get through. Most others, I've found, are simply paperwork drills. The auditors seemed to actually know what they were talking about.
Quote from: griff61 on 01-07-2011 -- 18:37:20
I've been through quite a few A2LA audits. They always seemed to be the only ones you actually had to know what you were doing to get through. Most others, I've found, are simply paperwork drills. The auditors seemed to actually know what they were talking about.
Exactly very well put.
I think everyone is right.....
They will accredit anyone who pays the fee, but the audits are top notch and they do dig quite a bit and really know what they are talking about.
What you really have to pay attention to though, it what is actually listed for company "X" on their Scope of Accreditation. For example, it could be "DC Volts +/- drive a car through" or "DC Volts +/- omg this uncertainty is awesome".
Seriously, you tell them how good you are, then you prove it to them during an audit and they say either OK, you are that good, or sorry Chuckie, you are only at "X" and adjust your scope accordingly.
Unfortunately, I believe some companies use it just to throw that pretty logo on their certs and to say that they are accredited.
In my honest opinion, it is a GREAT thing for the commercial calibration world, provided the customers (both other cal labs and Joe Normal customer) know how to read a Scope of Accreditation and determine if the cal lab can meet their needs. I won't go into my opinions on military labs (green suit, civilian, or contract) being accredited......
A lot of customers like to be able to say they are dealing with an Accredited Lab, that doesn't nescessarily translate in to them paying for or receiveing Accredited Calibrations. I guess it does provide some assurance of competency in any case.
I've been through 10 AFMETCAL and 1 A2LA audits and while the A2LA auditors appear to be competant and knowledgable, their audits do not dig near as deep as an AFMETCAL audit. But in A2LA's defense, they are in the business of accrediting labs, not failing them.