Calibration Trucks are serving companies in the regions
Their mission: to calibrate all the instruments the company’s technicians bring. That means, check whether the instruments measure correctly and readjust them if necessary. “The Calibration Truck is a great help to us”, said Assefa Molla, General Manager of the textile factory with about 1,000 employees. “Since our measuring instruments will work better, we will be able to produce better quality.” The calibration experts mainly focus on air condition and air pressure sensors in the factory, but also on weighing scales.
“All of us depend upon measurement every day, and so do industries”, explained ecbp Quality Infrastructure Manager Erik Ruh. “But the performance of measuring and testing equipment degrades during use. This is why they have to be readjusted from time to time.” Previously, Ethiopian companies had to bring their instruments to Addis Ababa to have them calibrated. Now, the Calibration Truck comes to them.
Two new Calibration Trucks were put into service at the end of 2007 by ecbp and the Quality and Standards Authority of Ethiopia (QSAE). When officially handing over the trucks, the German Ambassador to Ethiopia, Dr. Claas Dieter Knoop, praised them as a “visible sign of the important Ethio-German cooperation in the field of quality management.” He also pointed out that correct measurement was crucial for producing high quality goods – and how this was important for Ethiopian companies which were increasingly becoming competitive in international markets.
Equipped with state of the art measuring instruments, the trucks belong to the first of their kind on the whole continent. They are fully air-conditioned, count with a metrology data logger, an autonomous power supply unit and have many other special features. “With our instruments, we can offer calibration services for mass, temperature, length, pressure, and electrical energy”, said Ephrem Tsegaw, one of the experts traveling on the truck. “We compare instruments’ performance to international standards and readjust them if there is a deviation. If readjusting is not possible for technical reasons, we make a report for the company so they can include the deviation in their calculations.”
Being able to serve the companies on the spot is a big advantage to the companies, said Wondwosen Fisseha, QSAE calibration expert: “Companies don’t have to interrupt their production process to send their instruments to Addis Ababa, and there is no risk that their equipment could be damaged during the journey.” And he added: “Many companies in Ethiopia lack knowledge regarding calibration. The truck will help to raise their awareness about this important issue.”
But the two Calibration Trucks are not only aimed at raising awareness among companies, Erik Ruh pointed out: “The trucks will also contribute to the education of Ethiopia’s population when they stop at market places all over the country and when the experts explain, using simple examples, the benefits of correct measurement before providing calibration services to balances and other instruments.”