Are you looking for ways to cut costs in your business? For companies with logistics departments and even home-based entrepreneurs shipping goods around the country, scales are an essential tool. How long was it since you last calibrated your scales? Balancing or “calibrating” your scale ensures it gives you accurate results. Without accurately calibrated scales, you’re relying on guesswork. Scales become less accurate over time, requiring calibration to maintain consistency and accuracy. Scheduling calibration and maintenance of your scales ensure your scales always deliver accurate results.
You might not realize it, but an uncalibrated scale can cost your business money. Calibrating your scales saves your company cash.
Why is it Risky Using Non-Calibrated Scales?
Keeping your scales calibrated provides you with accurate measurements, decreasing the chance of a weigh bill mistake that costs your company time and money. Calibrating your scales ensures customer confidence, and it also helps your company save money on unscheduled downtime, process and audit issues, and recalls. Changes in the operating environment may cause an undetected drifting of your weighting results. Left unchecked, it leads to increases in random weighing errors, degrading performance.
To reduce calibration risk, periodically schedule your scale calibration and maintenance to avoid these issues. Improve Processes and Profits – Keeping your equipment in sound working order improves your organization’s profitability and consistency with processes. Enhance the Employee Experience – If you have employees working with scales, ensuring they have accurate equipment improves EX.
What are the Benefits of Calibrating Your Weighing Scales?
Having your scales calibrated offers your organization the following cost-benefits. Save Cash on Processing – With calibrated scales, you avoid issuing rework and waste due to inaccurate results. You’ll also prevent discrepancies with your freight forwarders. You get accurate information allowing for sound decision-making in several scenarios. Accurate and Reliable Weighing – Your calibrated scales assure compatibility of weighing results in multiple locations. Make sure you don’t end up with discrepancies with suppliers and freight forwarders.
Stay Compliant – With calibrated equipment, you get smooth facilitation of internal and external audits.
Know When It’s Time to Calibrate Your Scales
Scales are not a lifetime investment. Eventually, all electronic scales reach an expiration point where service and reliability drop significantly.
Wear and tear occur on all mechanical and electrical components. However, it’s possible to offset the effects of drift with regular maintenance and calibration of scales. Set up a calibration schedule and stick to it.
How Often Should I Calibrate My Scales?
In most cases, you’ll need to calibrate your scales at least once a year. It’s best if you rely on the expertise of professional calibration companies for accurate results.
After the technician completes the calibration, they’ll issue you with a certificate valid for one year. It’s essential for business owners to schedule the next calibration date ahead of schedule and note it on their calendar. The calibration intervals between servicing may also vary depending on the industry. Some industries use scales more often than others. If your business relies heavily on scales, you might need to schedule calibration every six months.
How Do I Know My Scales Produce Accurate Results?
If you’re using scales in your business, you might not realize they need calibration. It could have drift already, and there’s no way of knowing unless your customers, suppliers, or forwarding agents tell you your measurements are inaccurate. Routine testing is essential to ensure your device isn’t experiencing any drift to ensure you get accurate results from your scales. Using premeasured weights to test your scale’s accuracy is a great way to check for drift. If you find inaccuracies in the results, make sure you arrange for calibration with a reputable technician.