UKAS Calibration Services

MWS Accredited Laboratory Number 9617

MWS carries out UKAS calibration services to ensure your weighing equipment is tested and calibrated to national standards. The UKAS service we offer gives you the assurance that your equipment is operating at its optimum capability and accuracy is being delivered as required by your processes.

What’s included in our UKAS service

  • UKAS Survey
  • Each scale or balance is cleaned and checked for correct functionality
  • Label with traceability information
  • As Found and Definitive Certificates in PDF format
  • Any damage, faults or findings are reported on the standard service report

UKAS Survey

The survey should always be carried out and is done to ensure the customer gets the uncertainties based on the operation of the machine and clarifies any parameters or tolerances as well as ensuring we have the capability for the machine to be serviced (adjustment instructions etc).

UKAS Calibration

The MWS calibration team visits clients’ sites to carry out routine preventative maintenance and traceable calibration. MWS has ISO 17025 UKAS accredited weights, temperature gauges and barometers for assessment and recording of the room parameters prior to calibration.

All documentation is produced in electronic PDF format available from our Calipro system. This ensures clients can easily request or download their own certificates in the event of them being misplaced. Where requested, certificates are uploaded to the MWS online portal for easy retrieval.

UKAS Calibration

We provide UKAS services across the UK from our two service centres located in County Durham and Leicestershire.

North East Regional Cover

  • Newcastle
  • Durham
  • Middlesborough / Teeside
  • Billingham / Wilton
  • Leeds
  • Darlington
  • Northumberland
  • North Yorkshire
Midlands Areas Covered

  • Leicestershire
  • Nottinghamshire
  • Northamptonshire
  • Warwickshire
  • Derbyshire
  • Lincolnshire
  • Staffordshire
  • Bedfordshire
  • Worcestershire
  • West Midlands

Prior to booking MWS to carry out your calibration of scales or balances, we will ask you whether you want the calibration to be traceable to ISO 9001 or ISO 17025 UKAS standards.

A lot of customers get confused by the myriad of options available to them, none more so than the options of UKAS or ISO 9001 traceability. We are available to give you free advice on what standard you need to be working to and then provide a quotation for this work.

This short guide will help you establish what level of traceability you require.

The requirement for traceable calibration

The International Bureau of Weights and Measures state a calibration as the following, “the documented comparison of the measurement device to be calibrated against a traceable device”. In the real world this means the reference standard (in our case a weight) must have been calibrated to an even higher standard than the level being performed by an engineer.

The International Bureau of Weights and Measures is an intergovernmental organisation headquartered in Sèvres, France. The common abbreviation for the this organisation is BIPM.

Traceability of the weight calibrations must lead back to a national standard, ideally a calibration centre such as Tyneside Standards (who MWS use) or Norfolk Trading Standards who are both capable of high level weight calibrations.

The weights are tested and drift monitored over time to provide historical traceability back to the national standard.

Unless there is the traceability of the reference weight then the calibration certificate is void and worthless as the weight cannot be determined as being accurate and within the parameters required by the weights class.

How is UKAS calibration different to ISO 9001?

UKAS calibration can be considered traceable just as ISO 9001:2017, however, the main difference between the two standards is that UKAS calibration procedures are carried out under an ISO/IEC 17025 quality system by a laboratory that has been audited and accredited by UKAS.

To become UKAS accredited, laboratories have to meet a very high level of requirements.

Due to the high level of the UKAS standard, there are a raft of areas that are audited against; these include employee training, procedures and the labs facilities. UKAS audits once a year to ensure these high levels are being upheld and surpassed.

Why do I need UKAS?

Here are some scenarios where it maybe required for you to choose a UKAS calibration on your balance or weighing machine.

Industry: Industries where safety is a critical aspect such as aerospace, automotive, oil and gas, and pharmaceuticals would likely require UKAS calibration due to the extra level of stringent tests required.

Quality: External auditors may suggest or require your business to have traceable calibrations to UKAS standards. It’s not uncommon for businesses to be instructed to get UKAS calibrations, however, it can be challenged if you feel that these are not required.

Customers: Depending on the industry, your clients may require you to have a UKAS accredited calibration laboratory carrying out your traceable certification. For example, one of our clients manufacturers cable ties and as these are then used by the automotive industry, their client instructed them to have traceability of the calibrations to UKAS standards.

Further advice?
If you require any further information on what calibration standard is suitable for you then please do not hesitate to contact a member of our service team who are experienced in UKAS work and can give you advice on what your options are.