The company was keen to purchase the right equipment to ensure the lab met the demanding quality standards within the pharmaceutical industry, and chose Mettler products
ASAP Calibration Services is an independent, wholly owned subsidiary of Qinetiq, a leading international defence and security technology company.
It is one of the UK's largest calibration service providers, boasting the most extensive Ukas accredited technical capability of any commercial service provider in Europe.
The company's mission is to offer a one-stop solution to clients' calibration and equipment support requirements.
This is achieved by delivering a consistently high quality service that covers a broad range of parameters for both laboratory and on-site calibration, equipment repair, instrument sales, inventory management and consultancy.
ASAP has Ukas accredited laboratories in three locations - Romsey (head office), Farnborough, and Leigh.
These facilities operate in an expanding marketplace, driven by customer needs.
In order to meet demands, the team at ASAP evaluated the level of work being subcontracted.
It identified the opportunity to expand the mass metrology laboratory at Leigh, in order to bring some of this work back in-house.
This has involved purchasing new equipment in order to meet requirements.
During a visit to Mettler Toledo's Swiss headquarters in 1997, John Adams, ASAP's national technical manager, saw the build quality of Mettler Toledo equipment first hand.
So, when it came to buying new equipment for the metrology lab at Leigh, he knew who to contact.
He explains: "The reputation of their balances went before them - supported by the fact that approximately 90% of high grade metrology labs use Mettler balances".
The company was keen to purchase the right equipment to ensure the lab met the demanding quality standards within the pharmaceutical industry.
As a result ASAP bought a number of new comparators and masses to meet FI and E2 requirements.
Prior to purchasing the new equipment, the lab was accredited by Ukas to M1 class and the lab is currently under assessment to F1, E2 standard.
The equipment is used for the calibration of conventional weights and pressure deadweight tester weights.
It compares the unknown mass with a reference standard over a series of measurements then determines the difference between the two.
The equipment chosen for this task needed to have the smallest possible repeatability over a large weighing range.
When working at the E2 level, the performance of the mass comparators is critical to achieving a small uncertainty of measurement.
With the expansion of the laboratory, ASAP is now able to cover 90% of Ukas measurement requirements of its customers in-house.
It is also investing in software for the comparators to easily facilitate the reporting and certification process.
