Selecting the Method for Setting the Calibration Intervals of Metrological Devices

Nowadays, and regardless of the activity sector, ensuring product quality and customer satisfaction is the main focus of organizations. In this sense, and since measuring and monitoring equipment (MME) are essentially used in product conformity assessment, an efficient management of the calibration process of these instruments becomes crucial for organizational performance. Although there are several methods for defining calibration intervals, there is a lack of guidelines for selecting the most appropriate method for each situation. Therefore, this paper has as its main goal to present an approach to assist in the management of calibration intervals for MME. This approach is intended to identify, considering a set of factors associated with the characteristics of the measuring instrument and its condition and use environment, which method for setting calibration intervals has the greatest potential for each case. A case study was performed, using data from a set of measuring instruments of an organization that produces cork stoppers, which allowed conclusions to be drawn for each method under study. In the end, with the development and application of the approach, it was concluded that an appropriate choice of the method for defining calibration intervals allows a more efficient management of the measuring and monitoring equipment, in terms of aptitude and adequacy of its metrological capacity within the productive sector.