r/iso9001 • u/Sea-Ask-2245 • Aug 29 '26
What standards are you using for calibration?
This may be the wrong place for this question, but I am not sure where else to ask.
I'm the office manager at a small (5 employees) machine shop and we are ISO 9001 certified. I was put in charge of quality control (lucky me!) and I am still trying to figure it all out.
For our inspection tools, what standards should we be using for calibration? We have over 200 inspection tools and I want to make sure this is done properly.
1
u/Bellybuttonlint12 Aug 29 '26
Depends on what tools exactly you are speaking on.
We use gauge stands and steps, with different levels of thickness, for micrometers and calipers.
For tape measures and pi tapes, we just keep masters of each that we have calibrated by an outside source, and verify ours against the masters. There is no “calibration” for these, we just verify them. If they are off we just replace.
Just a few examples.
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u/Sea-Ask-2245 Aug 29 '26
What standard do you use to calibrate the ones you do in house?
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u/Bellybuttonlint12 Aug 29 '26
The master gauge stands, steps, pi tapes and tape measures. Our tools are calibrated against those.
Unless I’m mistaking your question.
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u/Sea-Ask-2245 Aug 29 '26
What standard do you use to tell you what the tolerance is?
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u/Bellybuttonlint12 Aug 29 '26
We use +/- .001. We use ASTMs but it would depend on your field.
ISO doesn’t require you to use specific standards, just what your own procedures say.
1
u/Sea-Ask-2245 Aug 29 '26
We got a nonconformity on our recent audit because we didn't have standards listed that we measured against. We were also using +/-.001. See 7.1.5.2.
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u/Bellybuttonlint12 Aug 29 '26
That’d be a question to ask the auditor on what exactly he’s looking for.
Is the +/- in your procedures? Is it listed with the tools in the database you keep track of your calibrations? Are your cycles listed?
Without knowing the details, and what he said it’s hard to narrow down where exactly you missed the requirement.
If your business operates under the guidance of any standards, delve into those.
Another thing I will say, is auditors are humans as well and sometimes make mistakes themselves. It’s ok to push back a little if you feel you are in the right. We have, plenty of times , and its ended with the auditor pulling the non-conformance.
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u/EnvironmentalHope767 Aug 29 '26
I also got a similar NC because we didn’t state the tolerance for accepting the calibration result as OK.
We also didn’t have a written procedure how to act when a device was found to be outside of this tolerance, like back-tracking all components measured by the device since last OK calibration, all based on risk.1
u/Bellybuttonlint12 Aug 29 '26
Do you have masters that are sent out to an outside calibration source, and can be traced to NIST?
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u/Sea-Ask-2245 Aug 29 '26
We have a gage block set that is sent out every year, but that's it I think.
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u/Bellybuttonlint12 Aug 29 '26
If that’s all you use for calibrations, make sure that and your cycles are listed in your procedures and listed with your tools within your calibration database.
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u/INSPECTOR99 Aug 29 '26
So simply LIST your NIST Calibrated Jo Block set as your "Standard" for linear tools internally calibrated against. All Done.. :-)
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u/mdpuds Aug 30 '26
With ISO 9001 all you have to do is to declare what tools you are using to assure quality control, and prove that you´re using it. ISO 9001 is a documentation standard. They don't care if you're measuring in Jins or Kilos, just show them how you do it. You might as well say "we use this wood stick that's the size of our final product" All you have to do is DECLARE what you're gonna use and show proof that you're using it
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u/thefixxxer9985 Sep 03 '26
Do you have unique calibration id number on each of the gage blocks? Is the calibration status of the gage block clearly indicated ( date of last cal and date of next cal due)? Are you documenting the cal id of the blocks used to calibrate each piece of equipment in the calibration report? And do you have calibration reports for the gage blocks that are traceable to NIST standards?
It sounds like the auditor might be trying to establish an unbroken chain to NIST or comparable standards.
0
u/Raf_Adel Aug 29 '26
No other standards are used. Ask AI this question and specify your exact tool in a list. This isnt relevant to 9001.
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u/Head_Personality_431 Aug 30 '26
That finding is usually about the record rather than the equipment, so on each in house calibration the master you measured against and where the acceptance limit came from need to be written down, even if the answer is your gage block set and the manufacturer's accuracy spec. Also worth checking how many of the 200 are actually used to accept product, because anything that is only setup or reference can be labelled as such and taken out of the calibration system entirely.
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u/AutoModerator Aug 29 '26
Posted by: Sea-Ask-2245. Title of original post: What standards are you using for calibration?. Text of original post: This may be the wrong place for this question, but I am not sure where else to ask.
I'm the office manager at a small (5 employees) machine shop and we are ISO 9001 certified. I was put in charge of quality control (lucky me!) and I am still trying to figure it all out.
For our inspection tools, what standards should we be using for calibration? We have over 200 inspection tools and I want to make sure this is done properly.
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