Field Notes Vs Lab Coats: The Difference Between Field and Lab Calibration

What are the key distinctions between field and lab calibration? In this episode of Measure Matters, Sally Pitman sits down with Sales Application Specialist Marshall Andrews to break down key differences and cover important factors to consider when choosing between the two.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to Measure Matters, the podcast where we dive into all things metrology and calibration. I'm Sally Pittman, the content specialist here at MENSER. And today we're unpacking the differences between two essential classes of calibration, field and lab. Today I'm joined by Marshall Andrews, one of our sales application specialists with a wealth of product knowledge. He's here to shed some light on the key distinctions between field and lab calibration, the circumstances that can influence which route you choose, and even highlight an exciting new product. It's a topic that impacts a lot of metrology professionals. So let's jump right in. You're listening to Measure Matters, a podcast by Mencer. All right, Marshall. So before we get started, um I happen to know that you're a bobcat from Texas State. Is that is that true?

SPEAKER_01 0:45

That is true. I am a Texas State Bobcat, graduated way back in the day, age of the dinosaurs, I guess, uh in 2019.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Age of the dinosaurs.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Right. I got my degree in manufacturing engineering from Texas State back then, and then um joined the Navy afterwards. And after a short stint there, uh came here at Menzer. So now I'm an application specialist here at the company.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

So how did you go from the Navy into such a niche industry?

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Um, yeah, great question. So it's actually it's not what you know to you know. Um so I've always knew I wanted to get back into um my engineering background. Um so finding some sort of company where I could blend um that skill and trying to find a job too, where I love talking with people, I love the soft skills. So finding a way that I could blend uh my technical expertise in engineering and um kind of a sales background. I grew up somewhat of a sales family for my dad. Um, and then I also knew I wanted to be in the hill country. So trying to find a way to blend all these different pieces together. And luckily, Menzer was up on that list and you know, talking about it's not what you know, it's who you know. Um I had um some family friends through the company that was uh were able to get a good referral for me. And um, so it's really important to network and and meet great people in life that can help push you forward in your career.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Yeah, that's awesome. Sounds like you've got all the things you were looking for, hopefully. Um, so for anyone who's kind of new to the conversation, what exactly is calibration and why is it such a critical process across so many different industries?

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Yeah, great question. So um essentially calibration is um comparing an instrument or device under test to a reference standard or a primary standard. Um, you know, your goal there is to verify the accuracy and document any errors. And then occasionally what you need to do if the device under test is out of spec is you um need to correct it. And so um doing these things, then the importance behind it is um for things like safety, uh quality in your products, um, compliance, and um process efficiency. So um bad measurements um due to incorrect readings can lead to you know safety concerns in the sense that maybe uh an instrument's reading um one PSI, and this might be an extreme case, but maybe it's reading one PSI and it's actually experiencing 100 um pounds on it. That's again a very extreme case. Um, but you know, if a technician goes up and tests that and doesn't realize there's much more pressure on it than expected, it could lead to injuries. Um, you know, with product quality, a bad reading can lead to an entire batch of um whatever's being manufactured and having to be discarded and the loss of revenue there. Um, so a good simple phrase I like to think about is you know, calibration gives you the confidence that the instrument is telling the truth.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Gotcha. That makes a lot of sense. So it's all about knowing that your instruments are really reading what is the actual pressure or whatever it might be. Yeah, that makes sense. Um so before we jump into strategy, can you walk us through some of the fundamental differences between field calibration and lab calibration?

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Yeah, so um I'd say that the big difference between the two, the main difference would be um your environment and the purpose. So, like in lab calibration, it's done in an extremely controlled environment. And here you're focusing on the highest um accuracy, low uncertainty, um, and repeatability. And so um this is again better for tighter uncertainty requirements. Whereas in field calibration, you're looking for um you're taking that calibration um device and going uh to the field where this instrument is installed rather than removing it. And so this is focused focused more on like convenience and downtime efficiency, et cetera. Um and so that's a lot better for your operational maintenance efficiency, having to reduce those effects. So um a good way to think about it is you know, your lab environments more for your control and your field environments more for um your practicality.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

Gotcha. That makes a lot of sense. So it kind of comes down to like convenience environment. And what was the third the third point you said again?

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Uh convenience environment, um, and the the purpose, like what are you doing with this? Um, how are you um using your device under test?

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Gotcha. Okay, it makes a lot of sense. Um, so lab calibration is treated a lot of the times as like the gold standard. Um so from your perspective, what makes the lab environment so uniquely capable of delivering that gold standard as opposed to field?

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Uh, another great question. So the lab kind of touching on what I just talked about. So the control over the environment itself, the control over the invariables, um, being uh temperature within the lab, um, cleanliness. So you don't want to um take a dirty sensor, come in and calibrate it. These um instruments like our 6050 we have here on the desk are very sensitive to contaminants. Uh so making sure that not only the lab is clean, uh clean, but also the devices you're you're calibrating are clean. Um, vibration. So a cool fact about our cow lab here at Minster, when I was um green, um learning all the different things around here, um, I found out that there's actually a section of our cow lab that the foundation is cut out from the rest of the foundation of the building. Um, and that's because um you don't want vibration from either us walking around, the the manufacturing operations going on the rest of the building. You know, we live here in San Marcos, so you know all about the trains. Uh, you know, we got a train track about probably half a mile up the road from here, but even vibrations from the train um that far away can affect these calibrations can show up in the reading. So um considering vibration um in there as well, uh as well as setup consistency. So the importance of the orientation of device you're testing, you know, maybe it's vertical, horizontal, that can um have effects, as well as the the height of your calibrator versus your um the device under test, the head height is what we call it that all can also affect reading. And then the last piece, you know, um pressure stability. So another cool thing, I'm not sure if you've seen our Cal Lab yet, but actually to enter it, you got to go through two sliding glass doors. Um, and the reason being, so you walk in one door, you have to wait for that first door to close before it allows you to walk in the second. And the reason being because there's a pressure gradient between the two sides, whether it's high or low on one side. Um, but if they both open up at the same time, the pressure can uh fluctuate drastically, and that can absolutely show up in readings, especially when we're dealing with low pressure calibrations. Um, so fewer outside variables um allow us to get a much better um accuracy and repeatability when doing these calibrations. Um so the coist is the best choice. Uh lab calibrations are the best choice when we're considering um um higher uncertainty. So when uncertainty matters the most. Um and also when we need to make sure we have a good documentation and these calibration certificates. Uh so a good phrase I like to think about is that you know, in metrology, um, control equals confidence in what our um DUT is re-enarrangement is going to read. Um so the lab allows a product like our 6050 to perform at its best.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Okay. And that confidence really does come down to repeatability. Is that is that right? And that controlled environment helps.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Repeatability and also um lowering the uncertainty because if we've out all these different variables that are fluctuating the pressure, it's it's hard for us to be um be certain on what the the true readings are. So so again, uh lower uncertainty, the high accuracy, and then the being able to repeat those data points again and again accurately.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Um, so then on the flip side, for field calibration, what do you think are the most compelling factors that might influence people trying to, you know, go on site for their calibrations?

SPEAKER_01 8:11

Uh the biggest piece for field calibration is going to be your downtime. Um, you know, um, for all these processes that require the instrument to be involved, if I have to remove that instrument from, you know, your your gas line or or your skid or whatever it may be, um removing that shuts down that line. And um, you have to remove the instrument and you have to ship it out to a caliber. Maybe you're fortunate enough to have a calibr on site. Uh, you have to wait on the turnaround time for that to be calibrated and then you know reinstall it afterwards. Um, so it's a ton of downtime, ton of potential uh loss and revenue there, um, et cetera. And so being able to take a field caliber calibrator like this, taking it directly to the instrument where it's at, um, running your calibration verification, troubleshoot, whatever it may be, um allows for your operations and uh maintenance teams to handle these um situations faster. And also um instead of having to um worry about the downtime of the line, all those other factors, logistics, et cetera, that I just pointed out, um, allows you to lower the total cost for these calibrations. Um, and then you know, field calibrator like this, not only for calibrating, as I just kind of mentioned, too, it's extremely useful for troubleshooting, um, uh routine verification, different maintenance checks on these devices. Um, and so like a good phrase uh that I like to say for these is that um field calibration brings the the capability of a um of a calibration like the 6050 to the field, to the instrument in its place where it's being used.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Uh so you just referenced here the CPH 6670. Can you talk to me a little bit about that? Is it a field or a lab calibrator?

SPEAKER_01 9:48

Uh this is one of our field calibration products and um different than the 6050, this is a lightweight portable device. So this makes it a lot easier for our customers to take this directly to the field and calibrate these instruments. Um, a few other features that that make this more capable for field calibration is that um for those that are watching, you can see here it's in a um plastic pelican case. And so it's it's a lot more rugged. Again, lightweight more portable. The 60-50 weighs, way too much to be carrying around. Um lightweight more portable, and also a key feature with this is that it also has an internal pump and um um a vacuum pump. So it's got pressure and vacuum sources inside that can generate pressures from negative uh 0.9 bar all the way up to 70 bar. Um, whereas the if I, you know, 6050, for example, I would actually have to hook up um pressure and vacuum sources to it. And so it's gonna need an entire environment around it to operate as um as you need it. So this is everything you need is internal. Another beautiful thing about this too is that it does have switch testing, which the 6050 does as well. And you have um you can do loop calibrations, and this has uh the ability to source and measure um pressure or voltage and um lamps as well. So um, you know, it's not meant to be a lab setup. This then one of the downsides of this, of course, is you sacrifice um accuracy and certainty with these products uh when you take it to the field. Um, but it's it's meant to be practical. So again, it's meant to be taken on-site and calibrate these devices where they're at.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

That makes a lot of sense. So it's all about kind of weighing like what kind of accuracy versus what kind of convenience works best. Yeah, that's pretty cool. And do you think that uh this product strikes that balance? Like I know it's not as accurate, but do you think it kind of strikes a good balance between the two?

SPEAKER_01 11:33

Yeah, and that's kind of interesting you brought that up. So there is sort of a spectrum, so to say, between lab calibrators on one side and and field calibrators on the other. You know, on one side with the lab calibrators, you're gonna have um very high uncertainty, um, but low portability, low um efficiency, et cetera. And then the field calibrators, you're gonna have those other trade-offs, you know, uh high efficiency, being able to reduce downtime, uh, et cetera. But the issue is again, you're sacrificing uncertainty here. So, you know, we have products like our CPH 6670 on that far end for portable calibrations. We have the CPH 7000, 8000 that um all of them do a few different things, some better than others. You have our 6050 on the the right hand side, I would say, for the the lab calibration. We also have the CPC 8000, etc. Um, two sides of the spectrum, you know, there is um we have customers all the time asking, hey, um, you know, is there potential to get a field calibrator, you know, left side versus a or with excuse me, a um uncertainty um an accuracy capability of a lab calibrator. So we get that lab calibration um um potential in the field. And so there's an interesting market there, you know, um there's really I I don't know anything on the market that kind of fits that bill. So, you know, maybe there's potential to jump in there one day and see if we can blend these two and and meet in the middle where they're at.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Great. Um, so you kind of mentioned the impact of downtime, like more so the in uh the operational impact of downtime. So, how should businesses think about that or take that into consideration when they're choosing between sending equipment to get calibrated in a lab versus just bringing it on site? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Um, so I like to think of downtime and it I believe it should be included in the calibration costs. I'm not sure if if companies truly look at it that way. Um, and the reason why is because again, as I talked about earlier, when when you have to remove a device, um, you you have to take it out of the line. That line shut down. So, you know, that product's not getting moved out, moved through. Um, so you have to consider the the loss of revenue during that downtime for um loss of sales. Um, you also need to worry about the you know the logistics again. So having to pay to ship it out, you have to pay for the the labor, the text to uninstall it, um, to reinstall it, you have to pay for the the again the calibration itself. And so you know the the downtime and how that plays in is you have to consider all these factors um into the true calibration cost. So you know, maybe a customer looks at um is like, oh, it it's cheaper to calibrate uh to ship it off. It's a couple hundred dollars for a calibration. Maybe we ship it off and have it that way um versus paying a couple, you know, um a couple thousand for one of these field calibrators and one offsets the other. Um, but no, when you really start adding up the true cost of um the downtime and the cost of calibration, especially if you do this over thousands of sensors in a facility, um being able to take something like this directly to them and um getting rid of the downtime and in the other um effects that that um drive costs, um, this would be a much better option in those cases.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

Okay. That makes a lot of sense. So it's kind of it really is like a case-by-case depending on your needs, your environment, all the different factors. Absolutely. Um awesome. Well, as we wrap up, I was hoping you could kind of just sum up some of the main takeaways between the differences and uh making the choice. Um, and if there's anything else you want to say about the new CPH 6670, I'll let you take it away.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Yeah. Um, you know, just kind of in summary, um I like to think about, um, especially when I'm looking at these two and maybe even trying to pick um which one's gonna be right for my um from uh what calibrating I need to do in my my factory, my my facility lab, et cetera. Um I like to think about kind of three different things really. The one of the first things to look up as an application specialist, I want to know what their accuracy is of the devices they're calibrating. So um typically something we we do here in the industry, the the standard what we is uh we call like the four to one rule. So what that is is we try to have a primary standard or reference standard that is um has an uncertainty that is four times better than the device that we are um calibrating. And so if the the customer has a very um high um uncertainty device, or I guess low uncertainty in that case, high accuracy device um that this might not meet the needs of, you know, of course we're gonna have to push them to um you know something like a lab calibrator that's gonna help meet those standards. Um so determine what the actions, if they're lower accuracies, um, you know, then your options are kind of open. Maybe you could do one or the other. Another thing I like to look at too is again the the downtime and logistic piece, you know, if I take this instrument out of the process, it does that severely impact the um the process line and in the manufacturing of goods or um whatever you're doing with that instrument. So if that answer is yes, then um field calibrator CPH 6670 is going to be uh the ticket for you. And then the other um little piece I like to look at um would be um you know your scope of work. And so um exactly um what are you doing with these sensors? Um so you know, a good example, maybe like an application for a CPH 6670. Um, you're we're in an oil and gas field, um, you know, they have a pipeline, um, removing that sensor, a few things to consider. One, maybe it's a you know again low uncertainty sensor, it's moving fluid through it so it's contaminated. Um, and removing that sensor is also going to shut down that pipeline, huge loss in revenue, et cetera. So it's it makes a ton more sense based on that application scope of work to use this CPH 6670. Whereas let's do let's do aerospace, for example. Um, their six-pack, which is their their air data gauges that pilots will use to determine you know, altitude, airspeed, um, etc. Um, in that case, those are usually very, very clean instruments, they're just seeing thematic um air pressure. And um, the uncertainty of those instruments are crucial. You know, we need to make sure those pilots are um getting very accurate readings so you and I stay safe as we as we fly through the clouds and then those spaceships, right? And so um in that case, you know, they're gonna need a lab calibrator with that that level of um uncertainty to calibrate those devices.

unknown 17:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

And then, yeah, so that's how I kind of look at picking between the two. And again, in summary, um, if I'm looking for something with utmost confidence and and highest level of uncertainty, I'm looking at a um lab calibrator. And if I need something more practical, if I'm worried about efficiency, I'm gonna look for something like a field calibrator. You know, I just want to say too, um, first off, thank you for having me on. I know this is uh season three, episode one, I guess I'm the lucky first guest.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

You're the lucky first guest.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Super exciting. And um, it's been a blast kind of talking about these two products and and things that we have going on here at Menzer. And um, again, I'm the application specialist here, so I'd love to hear what um all of our customers are doing out there in the field. And should they have any other questions or um want to inquire more about our products or just want to talk about applications and what um and get them steered in the right direction or to bounce ideas off myself or some of our engineers here. Um I'd love for them to reach out to us. Um, they can reach us at sales at menser.com or they can call us here if they want to talk to a real person, which is pretty cool. Um, not a not a robot. Um they can call us here in San Marcus. You know, our number is 512-396-4200, and we can get you a hold of somebody, um maybe myself, and um love to talk pressure with you.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Awesome. Well, thanks so much. We really enjoyed having you on and excited to see uh the rest of the season. We were lucky enough to have you as our first guest for season three. Um, so thank you so much for watching, and we'll be back with our second episode. Let's go.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

Eat them up cats, right?

SPEAKER_00 19:21

Eat them up cats. Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed today's podcast. To listen to more topics, you can visit info.menster.com forward slash podcast. And if there's a topic you're interested in hearing, leave a comment on our YouTube channel or reach out on any of our social platforms. Thanks for listening. You stay classy metrology lovers.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

Crushed it. I feel like we crushed it, right? Well, exactly.