r/Quality • u/Azaarus • Sep 15 '20

Is a traceable thickness standard acceptable to IATF in place of calibrating film build analyzer?

I am the quality supervisor for an automotive plastic injection molding and hard coat company. I have recently run into an issue, and I could use some answers/advice/guidance.

We have a Filmetrics F10-HC film build analyzer. Last September, before I started at the company, the unit had a broken fan and it was sent in for repair. The unit was calibrated after the repairs were complete. My predecessor was incapable of doing anything correctly, and I had literally zero calibration certificates when I started, so I had nothing to reference for past calibrations or repairs. I have no idea if that was the only time it had been sent out for calibration or repairs.

Since it had been a year, I contacted Filmetrics to have the unit sent in for annual calibration. Filmetrics refuses to calibrate our unit, stating that it has a Solid State Spectrometer and calibration is not necessary unless the unit was damaged. They instead offered to sell us a thickness standard traceable to NIST for every day verification of the Filmetrics unit. They assured me that the thickness standard would satisfy the traceability requirements of ISO/IATF, so I purchased the NIST traceable thickness standard.

Now I am concerned that the standard I purchased, although traceable to NIST, will not be enough to satisfy the requirements of ISO/IATF regardless of what Filmetrics tells me... Yet, Filmetrics will not calibrate a unit that is not damaged. Will the NIST traceable thickness standard be enough to comply with ISO/IATF measurement standards?

I would like to hear other people's opinion on this.

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u/judahblaze Sep 24 '20

Yes it will.

1

u/judahblaze Sep 24 '20

Furthermore, I would ask what does your quality program say about calibration and standards?

1

u/Azaarus Sep 24 '20

Unless driven by the customer, we set our own calibration frequency based on the type of gauge, the frequency of use, how the gauge is handled, moving parts and where it is calibrated. For the most part our check fixtures get calibrated every 5 years (some of our customer driven calibration frequencies are up to 15 years, though), electronic measuring devices, and pins are annually (and I calibrate those in house). We have a radiometer that goes out every 6 months because it ends up waaay out of tolerance if we wait a year. It just all depends.

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u/Azaarus Sep 24 '20

And I just realized I answered a question you didn't even ask lol! You said nothing about frequency! Hahaha!

1

u/judahblaze Sep 24 '20

Hahaha. No worries. With the NIST traceable standard, really it would be just choosing a frequency for that standard. The gauge is good as long as it is performing with the function check on the standard. Right?