How many pieces per year do you calibrate?

[USMCPMEL]

Lets see what kind of discussion we can get going here?

[flew-da-coup]

I have no idea. 

[USMCPMEL]

I used to keep track.  I had weeks at onsites that I was putting out about 120 items between oscopes and multimeters.  Last year I kept track was close to 3500 pieces.

[K-Rock]

That's a lot of torque wrenches and pressure gages!
My busiest period was 1,500 in 3 months when TDY to FASTCAL in Suadi.

[USMCPMEL]

Nope very few of those actually that year was probably real close to zero.  I was doing all electrical at that time plus a few like maybe %5 phys d.

[OlDave]

You guys must not work anywhere near a GLP/GMP regulated environment. By the time you document everything including both before and after data, print the cert, sign the cert, have the cert reviewed, it is very common for the paperwork to take longer than the actual calibration.

[mdbuike]

I'd say 750 to 800 a year of hard calibrations..but I work in all areas but K5..Signal Generators (up to 50 GHz), Spec An's, K1/K8, 'scopes, and my favorite and fastest growing area, fiber optics..I do all the fiber for ACC, and I swear, bases are buying 2-5 new pieces a quarter, if not more..and I see more as the planes are ripping out thier copper for fiber, probably because it's more EMP resistant, and you can put more redundant lines in for a lot less weight..

Have a Merry Christmas,

Mike

[flew-da-coup]

You guys must not work anywhere near a GLP/GMP regulated environment. By the time you document everything including both before and after data, print the cert, sign the cert, have the cert reviewed, it is very common for the paperwork to take longer than the actual calibration.

I actually do sometimes. We do several Pham. Companies. Any ISO 17025 calibrations are no different and we do alot of them.

[OlDave]

I actually do sometimes. We do several Pham. Companies. Any ISO 17025 calibrations are no different and we do alot of them.

Then you know kind of what I mean. Take a refigerated centrifuge for example. Checking the rotational speed of it is a piece of cake. Its letting it cool down and stabilize to check temperature and checking the automatic timer to ensure its shutting off correctly that drags on. Not to mention the time spent gowning up and gloving up to satisfy the PPE requirements for the lab, or the deconning of all your equipment when you egress the lab.

[flew-da-coup]

I actually do sometimes. We do several Pham. Companies. Any ISO 17025 calibrations are no different and we do alot of them.

Then you know kind of what I mean. Take a refigerated centrifuge for example. Checking the rotational speed of it is a piece of cake. Its letting it cool down and stabilize to check temperature and checking the automatic timer to ensure its shutting off correctly that drags on. Not to mention the time spent gowning up and gloving up to satisfy the PPE requirements for the lab, or the deconning of all your equipment when you egress the lab.

Nothing worse than gowning up for a clean room.

[OlDave]

Nothing worse than gowning up for a clean room.

Never had the pleasure of having to work in a clean room. But there you only stand the chance of ruining a few million $$ worth of product. I'm referring more to a BioSafety Level 3 lab. Working with and around equipment that has been exposed to various infectious agents and other fun stuff that have a very low survivability rate....

[scottbp]

Nothing worse than gowning up for a clean room.

Or suiting up to enter a contaminated zone in a nuclear power plant. There you're not concerned about you contaminating the area, but rather keeping the area from contaminating YOU. 

[Broken_Wings]

oooh off topic i like this.

On the new topic I have no experience but there are some air locks I've been in where some febreeze would be nice or a high flow fan to blow the smell out. That's a biohazard, no?

[flew-da-coup]

Nothing worse than gowning up for a clean room.

Or suiting up to enter a contaminated zone in a nuclear power plant. There you're not concerned about you contaminating the area, but rather keeping the area from contaminating YOU. 

LOL, I have done that too. I worked for Georgia Power.

[mrrob007]

Nothing worse than going into a HOT zone.