One of the unique problems facing manufacturing is the control and tracking of items not associated with a product bill of materials or permanently assigned to personnel or departments. This class of items, called gages and fixtures, is becoming more important due to quality tracking requirements, legal/governmental validation requirements and cost requirements.

ISO 9000 Procedures

The Gage and Fixture Module builds upon the CRIBWARE functionality of classical inventory control, real-time control, tracking and kitting. The CRIBWARE Gage and Fixture Module incorporates:

Serial Number Tracking

Adding a gage or fixture's serial number to the data base permits the identification, tracking and control of gages and fixtures. This serial number is tracked at upon use and triggers the procedures for the automatic scheduling of inspection/calibration.

Procedure Documentation

The CRIBWARE System provides an on-line, real-time source of procedure and detail documentation. This file is attached to a unique or serialized gage or fixture. It may be edited, deleted, added or duplicated by CRIBWARE commands.

Automatic Scheduling

The Gage and Fixture Module permits automatic scheduling of inspection and calibration by date, usage and frequency. Scheduling by date permits the selection of a specific date or number of days in the future. Usage schedules calibration/inspection activities according to the number of issues. Scheduling by frequency is determined by the frequency of gage/fixture activities. It is possible to use all three techniques at the same time.

Calibration/inspection History

An on-line, real-time record of all inspection and calibration activities is recorded when performing a calibration/inspection activity. This historic data retains the actual measured value across all parameters for a calibrated item and the calibration standard that was used for measurement. The CRIBWARE System compares each actual value with its specified or nominal value.

Out of Calibration Warning

The CRIBWARE System warns against issuing an out of calibration item during check out. When calibrating a gage or inspecting a fixture, CRIBWARE will display a warning if an attribute is out of specification.

Parameter Documentation

Up to 10 attributes and parameters may be recorded for each gage or fixture. This information is referenced for each unique gage or fixture at time of calibration/inspection.

Comprehesive Reporting

Calibration/inspection reports show history for all the times the serialized item has been checked. Calibration certificates are readily available for hard copy printout

Calibration Standards

Assigning attribute standards provides a record of the standards used to calibrate or inspect each attribute of a gage or fixture when performing calibrations and inspections.