Twenty-first century calibration

The global market for sales of electronic test and measurement equipment has increased in size considerably over the past 30 years and is estimated at 9000 million (US) dollars. Meanwhile, the maintenance costs industry about $2000M of which $1200M is for provision of calibration services; a market that has developed almost entirely during this period. In many world-wide markets, certification against ISO9000 has become an initial requirement of prospective suppliers. In the UK alone, 45 thousand entities have such registration in 1996 and, for some, regular calibration of their measuring equipment is a new practice driven by the standard. Yet many instrument users are unfamiliar with the intricacies of calibration and concentrate upon their core competency. Consequently, they look to other companies offering the specialist skills and resources necessary; vendors that are independently assessed against ISO9000 or, less likely, against technical competency criteria based on ISO/IEC Guide 25 (or European Norm EN45001) such as UKAS accreditation. The author discusses these developments and looks into the likely future trends in this field