The ability to accurately measure a product’s weight has a significant impact on maximizing operational efficiency in industrial settings. By leveraging reliable scales and consistent maintenance practices, industries can maintain high standards for quality and safety compliance while driving down costs over time.
A traditional scale uses two plates suspended at equal distances from a fulcrum and uses Hooke’s law to determine mass or weight. Other types of scales use a spring that either extends or compresses depending on the amount of mass loaded.
Materials
The most accurate way to measure and control the materials used in manufacturing is by weight. Whether the material is an ingredient or raw material, weight is the most accurate measurement for controlling its flow and dispensing. Using apps like Tulip allows manufacturers to create digital work instructions that ensure all scales and measuring devices are calibrated correctly. Having this visibility helps businesses improve production processes and increase product quality.
Measuring level or inventory by weight offers many advantages over volume measurement methods. It is noncontact and does not rely on optical reflection, light scattering or stratified ingredients with differing dielectric constants. It is also unaffected by bridging, foaming or rat-holing and is not affected by conductive or sound absorbing materials.
Weighing systems are at the heart of your process controls and play an important role in petrochemicals, fertilizers, commodity chemicals, fine chemicals, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Our team of engineers will help select the right load cell design and mounting hardware to fit your application.
Equipment
A quality weighing system must be properly installed and protected from environmental factors that can impact accuracy. Using vibration dampening pads or climate control solutions can help. Choosing load cell designs and mounting hardware that can withstand your specific environmental conditions is also essential.
Maintaining proper temperature is another critical factor. This includes avoiding air drafts near the weighing instrument, and allowing time for cold objects to warm up before they are handled. A regular check on the weighing equipment’s stability will reveal any need for on-site repairs or adjustments.
Identifying key manufacturing metrics and ensuring that any new data systems capture this information accurately and seamlessly is also crucial. Xtrem Software offers a user-friendly interface and advanced analytical tools that can be utilised to uncover insights and drive continuous improvement in your weighing process. A seamless integration with your weighing equipment will allow for preventative maintenance and reduce downtime. Ensure that any updates to your data system are tested on a test system before implementing them in production, and make sure that staff are familiar with the system’s capabilities.
Calibration
To ensure your weighing equipment is accurate, it must be regularly calibrated. This should be done by a professional calibration facility that is ISO/IEC 17025 accredited and uses only the highest quality class weights.
The weighing instrument is calibrated across its entire range in several steps using increasing and decreasing test loads. This results in a more accurate calibration over the whole range and reduces the cost of the test load sets.
In addition, the weighing instrument can be verified for linearity in a few simple steps using known calibrated test weights. This is the best method to validate your scales and yields an accuracy of up to + 0.15% of the applied load.
When performing a mass calibration, the test objects and the balance must be in thermal and environmental equilibrium. If not, convection currents can cause erroneous readings. For this reason, the weighing procedure SOPs always provide instruction that the weighing instruments and the test weights are to be in contact with each other.
Recording
Weighing involves quantifying the matter that makes up different objects and then using that number to transport, record or use them more effectively. From weighing pharmaceutical drugs to calculating the amount of fuel needed by an airplane, mass measurements are critical across numerous industries.
A key part of weighing is the ability to detect and minimise sources of error. These can include balance drift, air currents, thermal instability and magnetic or electrostatic fields. The magnitude and significance of these errors depends on the accuracy required for the measurement.
Routine testing of weighing instruments is a crucial step in quality assurance and regulatory compliance. USP General Chapters