Calibration Just as advancements in tools and the
proliferation of the written word has helped shape the evolution of humans, advancements in calibration documentation shape the efficiency and productivity of plants using these technologies. By replacing manual procedures with automated, validated processes, efficiencies should improve. Reducing labour-intensive calibration activities will lessen costly production downtime, while the ability to analyse calibration results will optimise calibration intervals, saving time and increasing productivity. Every type of process plant, regardless of
industry sector, can benefit from using calibration management software. Compared to traditional, paper-based systems, in-house legacy calibration systems, or calibration modules of maintenance management systems, using dedicated calibration management software results in improved quality and increased productivity, and reduces the cost of the entire calibration process. Calibration software also gives users access to data and historical trends, and these insights help plant personnel to make better decisions. For example, when a piece of equipment needs to be upgraded it can be difficult to get approval based on speculation. Being able to show data of the inconsistencies and malfunctions makes the approval process much easier. In addition, as the volume of work for calibration technicians increases, having insights into the process can facilitate a more streamlined and efficient work schedule. This will in turn improve reliability, make it easier for technicians to manage their workflow, and contribute to a safer and more well-organised process. As we become a more advanced society our
need to share information progresses, as do our methods of collecting, manipulating, storing, retrieving, communicating, and disseminating information. While simply writing calibration data down with a pen and paper is still an effective way of collecting information, it lacks efficiency and hinders the ability of people further down the line to retrieve and process the information. While databases and maintenance management software are certainly steps in the right direction, they still miss the mark when it comes to disseminating data in a useful and streamlined way. Implementing calibration software makes it easier to collect, store, analyse, retrieve, and share information. Until the next technological leap forward, calibration software remains the most advanced solution available to support and guide calibration management activities.
Evolution of BEamEx caliBration softwarE in BriEf Here is a brief list of Beamex's main software products.
Beamex PDoc (1985) The very first calibration software Beamex released was the PDOC software back in 1985. The PCAL software automated the
documentation of pressure calibration by communicating with a bench-mounted pressure
Instrumentation Monthly June 2021
calibrator. It printed a calibration certificate on a narrow paper with the thermal printer integrated in the Epson computer. That was a software that was stored on a small
cassette and was used with a kind of a portable Epson computer. Later, a corresponding TDOC program was release for documenting temperature calibrations.
calDB1 / calDB3 (late 80's) CALDB – Calibration Database – was a DOS- based calibration database software and Beamex’s first one for personal computers. Later, an adder HISDB was introduced for reviewing the history of calibration results.
Beamex Qm6 Quality manager - calibration management software (1996) The Beamex QM6 was the company’s first calibration management software that run in Windows operating system. It had a database for instruments, references and calibration results. It had communication with documenting calibrators, so you could send calibration procedure (work order) to documenting calibrator and receive the results back to QM6 after the calibration was completed.
Beamex QD3 Quality Documenter (1996) QD3 was software for documenting calibration results. It did not have the same functionality as the QM6 but was a simpler version. It could anyhow communicate with documenting calibrators.
Beamex cmx calibration management software (2003) The very first version of the Beamex CMX calibration management software was launched already in 2003 and it was the company’s first Windows software. The first versions were pretty limited in functionality compared to what CMX is today. Over the years, the CMX technology and functionality have been developed continuously
and CMX is still very much under active development. Today, the CMX includes a huge amount of functionality, including seamlessly integrating with many maintenance management systems, and suits smaller customers as well as large enterprise installations. A lot of functionality has been developed
together with leading pharmaceutical customers related to the functionality required in the regulated pharmaceutical industry.
Beamex bmobile calibration application (2016) Beamex bMobile is a calibration application that can be installed on Android or Windows mobile devices. The bMobile can be used to document calibration results with a mobile device. The bMobile communicates with Beamex CMX
and Logical calibration software, so calibration work can be sent to bMobile and results received back to software.
Beamex loGical 1.x (2018) The first version of the Logical cloud-based calibration software was a simple documenting software that could read calibration results from a documenting calibrator and convert the results into a pdf calibration certificate. The Logical 1.x has been replaced with
Logical 2.x.
Beamex loGical 2.x (2020) The current Logical 2.x is a subscription-based and cloud-based calibration software as a service. It has a database to store instruments, references and calibration results. It can synchronise procedures to Beamex documenting calibrators and Beamex bMobile, and also synchronise calibration results back to Logical from mobile devices. Find out more about the history of calibration
and Beamex’s solutions here:
https://blog.beamex.com/the-evolution-of- calibration-documentation
Beamex
www.beamex.com 55
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78
