Today, in addition to using IEC and ISO standards, the United States regularly updates its own national regulations for performance and calibration. These regulations are enforced by agencies like the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This helps to create standards that are applicable for safety and efficiency across the country. All quality calibration service providers can show evidence that they and their equipment are accredited by organizations like NIST. We highly recommend that you only work with accredited suppliers.

To find the right one for you, start by writing out a list of your requirements. Make sure to include not only the details of your instrument or machine, but also requirements like your budget and whether you can deliver your instrument to the service provider, or you need the service provider to come to you (on-site calibration). Once you have jotted down your requirements, start browsing the calibration companies we have listed on this page. Pick out three or four service providers in which you are most interested, then reach out to their respective customer service lines. Discuss your application at length which each of them. Make sure to write down notes or request a written quote. Once you have done this, compare and contrast your conversations. Determine which service provider will best serve you and go with them.

Calibration services offer customers a number of benefits. First, regular calibration is the best and only sustainable method for maintaining instrument accuracy. In fact, in many industries, leaders not only recommend regular calibration, but require it to meet safety and efficiency standards. In addition, by maintaining instrument accuracy, calibration services help hold up fair trade and honest business practices around the world. By eliminating a large portion of the margin of error for important measurements, like those related to pollutants and allergens, calibration services also help keep society safe and healthy.

Throughout the th century, calibration services proved themselves essential to a number of industries, especially the oil and gas industry. In the s, concerned parties formed two of the most powerful and important standards organizations, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Those who carry out calibration services rely heavily on the literature put out by IEC and ISO to keep them informed on up-to-date standards of alignment and metrology, or the science of measurement.

During the Renaissance and Industrial Revolution, inventors created all sorts of measurement devices, such as Torricelli’s mercury barometer in . The creation of these devices eventually gave rise for the need to have a way to make sure they were accurate. During the Civil War, people first began using the word calibrate in reference to the caliber of a gun, or the measurements of its inside barrel, and bullet outside diameters. As a result, gun manufacturers began referring to calibration as the process of measuring gun barrels and bullets to make sure they were well-matched. Eventually, this term bled over into other accuracy and measurement applications.