Do more with less and generate ROI with an Integrated Calibration Solution

Process instrument calibration is just one of the many maintenance related activities in a process plant. The last thing you want to do is to have your limited resources wasting time performing unnecessary calibrations or using time-consuming, ineffective calibration procedures.

Yet, you need to make sure that all critical calibrations are completed, ensuring the site stays running efficiently with minimal downtime, product quality is maintained, while the plant remains regulatory and safety compliant, and audit-ready.   

Most often you can’t just go and hire an army of external calibration specialists, so you need to get more done with your existing resources.

In this article, let’s examine at what an “Integrated Calibration Solution” is and how it can help you with your challenges – make your calibration process more effective, save time and money and improve the quality and integrity of the results. We will also discuss how it can quickly generate a great return your investment.

If any of that sounds interesting to you, please continue reading …

Or just download the free pdf white paper here:  

Improve the whole calibration process with an Integrated Calibration Solution

It is not enough to just buy some new calibration equipment or calibration software - that does not make your calibration process leaner and more effective. Instead, you should analyze at all the steps of your calibration process, and with the help of a suitable solution and expertise, find ways to improve the whole calibration process.

Let’s quickly look at a typical calibration process from the beginning to the end and explore how an integrated system could help:

Typically, work is planned, and work orders are created in the maintenance management system. With an integrated solution, these work orders move automatically and digitally from the maintenance management system to the calibration software. There is no need to print work orders and distribute them manually.

The necessary calibration details are handled by the dedicated calibration software and it sends the work orders to the mobile calibration equipment. Again, this happens digitally.

While the technicians are out in the field performing the calibration activities, the results are automatically stored in the mobile devices, and users signs off the results using an electronic signature. From the mobile device the results are automatically transferred back to the calibration software to save and analyze.

Once the work orders are completed, the calibration software automatically sends an acknowledgement to the maintenance management software and work orders are closed.

So, the whole process is paperless and there is no need for manual entry of data at any point. This makes the process far more effective and saves time. This also helps minimize mistakes typically related with manual data entry, so it improves the quality and integrity of the calibration data. Furthermore, calibration results are safely stored and easily accessible in the calibration software for review for example in case of audits and for analysis purposes.

As mentioned, improving the calibration process is not just about buying some new equipment or software, but the project should also include improvement of the whole calibration process together with the new tools supporting it. Implementing a new process is a project with a formal implementation plan, ensuring that the new system/process is adopted by the users.

The key benefits of an integrated calibration solution

Here are listed some of the key benefits of an integrated calibration solution:

Improve operation efficiency – do more with less

• Automate calibrations and calibration documentation. Eliminate all manual entry steps in the calibration process. Use multifunctional tools to carry less equipment in the field and lower equipment life-cycle costs

Save time and reduce costs – get a great ROI

• With automated processes, get more done in shorter time. Don’t waste time on unnecessary calibrations. Let the data from the system guide you to determine the most important calibrations at appropriate intervals.

Improve quality

• With electronic documentation, avoid all errors in manual entry, transcriptions and Pass / Fail calculations.

Guides non-experienced users

• Let the system guide even your non-experienced users to perform like professionals.

Avoid system failures and out-of-tolerance risks

• Use a calibration system that automatically ensures you meet required tolerance limits, to avoid system downtime and expensive out-of-tolerance situations.

Be compliant

• Use a system that helps you meet regulations and internal standards of excellence.

Ensure safety

• Ensure safety of the plant workers, and customers, using a calibration system that helps you navigate through safety critical calibrations.

Safeguard the integrity of calibration data

• Use a calibration system that ensures the integrity of the calibration data with automatic electronic data storage and transfer and relevant user authorization.

Make audits and access data easy

• Use a system that makes it easy to locate any record an auditor asks for.

What do the users say?

 Here are just a few testimonials on what the users have said about the Beamex Integrated Calibration Solution:

“With the Beamex integrated calibration solution, the plant has experienced a dramatic time savings and implemented a more reliable calibration strategy while realizing a 100% return on investment in the first year.

Using the Beamex tools for pressure calibrations has decreased the time it takes to conduct the calibration procedure itself in the field by over 80%.”

• DC Water, Washington, D.C., USA

“Time is of the essence during an outage and the Beamex Integrated Calibration Solution allows technicians to maximize the amount of work accomplished in the shortest amount of time, while effectively performing vital tasks and managing workflows.”

• Senior Control Engineer, Alabama Power, USA

“After the incorporation of Beamex’s integrated calibration solutions, calibrations that would take all day are now performed in a couple hours.”

• E&I Technician, Monsanto, USA

“With this software integration project, we were able to realize a significant return on investment during the first unit overhaul. It’s unusual, since ROI on software projects is usually nonexistent at first.”

• Business Analyst, Salt River Project, USA

“After implementing the Beamex CMX calibration management system, GSK will be able to eliminate 21,000 sheets of printed paper on a yearly basis, as the entire flow of data occurs electronically, from measurement to signing and archiving.”

• GlaxoSmithKline Ltd, Ireland

Related posts

If you like this post, you could like these posts too:

• Data Integrity in Calibration Processes
• How to implement calibration software 
• The key aspects of building a calibration system business case 
• Top 5 reasons why companies update their calibration systems
• How a modern calibration process improves power plant performance
• How often should instruments be calibrated?

Check out the Beamex solution

Please check out the below link for the Beamex integrated Calibration Solution, which is a combination of calibration software, calibration hardware, various services and expertise:

Beamex Integrated Calibration Solution (Global web site)

Beamex Integrated Calibration Solution (USA web site)

Download the free white paper by clicking the picture below: