ISO 9000 accreditation doesn’t guarantee instrument performance

Having ISO 9000 accreditation is no guarantee of claimed instrument performance, according to SIREP-WIB-EXERA (SWE). A worldwide group of major instrument organizations, SWE independently evaluates instrumentation to check if equipment meets its manufacturer’s specifications. “Instrumentation Focus” articles in Control Engineering International , May 1995 and May 1997, reported analyses of the averaged findings of instrumentation performance evaluated by SWE during 1990-94 and 1992-96.] In its analysis for 1993-1997, SWE reported little difference in the disappointing performance found during the two latest analyses. “Though instruments from accredited ISO 9000 manufacturers seem to have a modestly better performance over this five-year period, the annual sample sizes are not large enough to draw a firm conclusion,” says Dr. D.C. Cornish of SWE. “A majority of those instruments that failed their manufacturers’ specifications did so on only one aspect. Manufacturers with approved QM systems had fewer instruments that failed two or more such aspects. However, the lack of adequate manufacturers’ specifications still concerns users.”

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