How to add control chart for calibration maintenance of equipment? - LabCollector

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How to add control chart for calibration maintenance of equipment?

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Creating reports containing regular calibration checks for equipment can be very useful for any lab.  It can also prove important in attaining the standards for ISO 17025.
These reports generally contain information about how the calibration checks were performed over a period of the time interval and what were the values obtained.
In such scenarios, a control chart displaying the values for the calibration over time with statistical analysis can prove very useful.
LabCollector allows you to create such control charts done for equipment maintenance.
You need to follow the below steps to create control charts.

1. Creating a maintenance 

2. Adding custom field

3. Creating a control chart

1.Creating the Maintenance

For example, if you have to do a monthly speed calibration test for normal benchtop centrifuge using a tachometer.
To do so, go to the Equipment module and click on the record you want to create the calibration test for.

Click on the record name and go to the Maintenance icon.

After clicking on the “Display maintenance”, click on to create new maintenance for calibration you want. Check or KB to see how to add maintenance.
In this example, let’s say you want to create monthly maintenance for speed calibration for a centrifuge.
You can add the maintenance type (For example, Speed calibration test occurring with interval of 1 month.)

2.Adding a custom field

After you have calibrated the equipment you can add the value of the calibration in the respective field.
For such a scenario you can create a custom field (click the link to check our KB) for maintenance tab by going to Admin–>Data–>Custom field–>Equipment. Choose the and click on to create a field for “Speed Measurement” for calibration and while choosing you can select the decimal option like below.
Here you have options to choose the values for the calibration. For example, if you are testing a simple centrifuge speed which has the lowest speed of 100 RPM and highest of 5000 RPM (rotations per minute).

Note
Kindly be aware that the options emphasized in red (refer to screenshot above) can solely be accessed upon purchasing the “compliance” pack. Please, don’t hesitate to reach out to our specialists at [email protected] for further information.
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Tips/Hints
Also, please remember to save this new field under the maintenance tab.

Once you have saved the new field after entering the required settings.
This new field will be seen in your Equipment Module when creating new maintenance for a record under the ‘add maintenance tab’, like below.

If the value you add is Above the Warning value, then you will receive an alert.

3.Creating the control chart for Maintenance

After you have created various monthly maintenance for speed calibration of equipment, here, for example, centrifuge, they will look like below.
You will all the speed calibration under the “Type” and time between 2 intervals under “Interval” (here it is monthly), and the measurements taken for the speed during each calibration maintenance.

When you want to plot a control chart for the above values, shift the scroll bar to the right. and you will see the control chart option.

Once you click on the control chart option you will need to select the calibration “Type” and data set you need to use, here it is “Speed Measurement” for centrifuge equipment.

Once you click on execute, the control chart will be shown.


The control charts for Speed calibration test of the centrifuge with

  • The X-axis shows the number of readings.
  • Y-axis shows the data set. In the above graph its speed of centrifuge in RPM.
  • The colored lines represent the sigma values (6σ) that is the standard deviation. The more number of standard deviations between process average and acceptable process limits fits, the less likely that the process performs beyond the acceptable process limits, and it causes a defect. This is the reason why a 6σ (Six Sigma) process performs better than 1σ, 2σ, 3σ, 4σ, 5σ processes. The detailed explanation of standard deviation is shown above in the chart.

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