As a calibration software vendor to third party calibration labs, we had the opportunity to learn from and contribute to the success stories of a bunch of calibration labs across the globe. From our experience thus far, the successful ones have a few things in common which make them stand out amongst the competition.
Our customer success team in Metquay has managed to put together the following good practices which any commercial calibration lab could adopt to achieve growth and customer satisfaction.
All of them have an impressive quality system in place
For most of the calibration labs in the market, the quality system starts and ends with the quality manual. The quality manual is off course an important document that dictates the quality policy of a lab, however, that’s not all! The way you implement and practice the guidelines in your quality manual is what is going to differentiate you from your competitors.
Also, its most important to have your quality system aligned to your customer's quality requirements.
Well, how do you make sure you meet those requirements from your customer? here are some quick tips
Get yourself accredited to ISO 17025.
Gather and retain customer requirements from purchase orders, statement of work, etc. and make it available for your technicians ( a good calibration management software can make your life a lot easier here).
Conduct periodic and regular internal surveillance audits.
Track non-compliance from internal/external audits and take necessary corrective actions ( most importantly maintain the records so that you could share it with your customers on demand).
They have a team of high-quality calibration professionals
The most crucial component of any quality management system is the people who practice it. It's most important to have a high-quality team in place and to keep them motivated and skilled.
Set up a customer success strategy where your team is aware of the customer requirements as well as your quality process. At each step of their work, they should be able to ensure your lab's quality policy and your customer quality requirements are aligned thoroughly.
Also, these tips would come handy while you showcase your team’s capability to your customer
Maintain a competency matrix for employees.
Maintain training records.
Have system in place to ensure regular up-skilling of your calibration technicians.
Have a system for staffing, leave planning, work assignment, etc.
They invested in comprehensive commercial calibration management software & makes the most out of it.
It's important to have a comprehensive commercial calibration management software in place to manage your lab process. A good commercial calibration management software can help you deliver high-quality service in lesser turn around while saving costs.
Here are the most important features to look for while making an investment decision on a commercial calibration management software
Flexible, Intuitive and scalable Calibration certificate preparation module.
Features to help you define your uncertainty formulae, pass/fail criteria, CMC budgets, etc.
Customer self-service portals where customers could log in and download their certificates on demand.
Features to maintain and validate calibration procedures.
A robust and reliable asset management module.
Maintain traceability of Calibration standards to UUT and vice versa ( forward and backward traceability).
Methods to validate the calibration data as and when the technician enters it.
Regular data backup routines.
Read more about ISO 17025 calibration certificate requirements here
To understand in detail about the features to look for in a calibration management software read the following artices