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Quality 101: Tracking Gage Calibration with a Spreadsheet

by William A. Levinson

Posted: September 28, 2007

Learn how small shops can manage gage calibration via an Excel spreadsheet.
Shown here is the
conditional formatting
Problems can arise in factories that use 3 by 5 cards to keep track of gages. In fact, of cell backgrounds.
calibration problems are one of the top sources of nonconformances during ISO 9000 The operator clicks on
Format to select the
audits. Commercial software is available for managing a calibration program, but for small cell color. Source:
shops an Excel spreadsheet may do just as well. Learn how to program a spreadsheet to Levinson Productivity
remind personnel when calibrations are due. Systems P.C.

The Spreadsheet

Table 1 shows the layout of a simple spreadsheet for tracking gages and their calibration status. Colored cell
backgrounds serve as visual controls that make each gage’s status easily visible to the person who manages
calibration control.

The current date in cell B3 is given by the today function in Microsoft Excel. The lead time is entered by the
operator, and it is the desired advance warning prior to the due date. In this case, gages may be calibrated up
to 30 days before their deadlines. DUE with a yellow background appears when the gage is within 30 days of its
calibration deadline.

The gage status is calculated by the following formula in cell D6, which also was copied into the subsequent
cells.

=IF(2*(C6<$B$3)+1*(C6-$D$3<=$B$3)*(C6>=$B$3)=0,“OK”,
IF(2*(C6<$B$3)+1*(C6-$D$3<=$B$3)*(C6>=$B$3)=1,“DUE”,“OVERDUE”))

2*(C6<$B$3) equals 2 if the due date is less than (i.e., earlier than) today’s date. If this is true, the gage
calibration is overdue.

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C6-$D$3<=$B$3 if the due date is within $D$3 days (in this case 30 days) of today’s date. C6 must also
be greater than or equal to (later than or equal to) today’s date or else the gage is overdue. If both
conditions are met, then 1*(C6-$D$3<=$B$3)*(C6>=$B$3) is equal to 1.

Quality System Considerations

The Excel spreadsheet is easy to program and is usable on any computer with Microsoft
Office. Corel QuattroPro can be programmed similarly if the factory uses this software.

It is important to remember, however, that the spreadsheet is a quality record: a fourth-

tier document under the control of a third-tier work instruction or second-tier procedure.
For example, additional fields (columns) might be added to the spreadsheet to show the gage’s location, or the
name of the person performing the calibration. It is vital to remember that a column heading is an implied
instruction to enter information. Therefore, the spreadsheet and its controlling document must ask for exactly
the same data to comply with ISO 9000’s provisions; conflicting instructions from controlling and subordinate
documents constitute a nonconformance.

The same principle applies to how early the calibration may be performed; the controlling work instruction or
policy must specify how many days ahead of deadline the gages may be calibrated. If this differs from gage to
gage, a separate column must be added to give each gage a unique lead time. The cells in what is currently
column D must then be reprogrammed to reference each gage’s lead time instead of a universal lead time. As a
quality record, the calibration tracking spreadsheet also is subject to ISO 9000’s record retention provisions. The
importance of backing up this file cannot be overemphasized, and the backup file must be kept in a place where
it cannot be destroyed by an accident that erases the primary file, such as an offsite computer or in a computer
media fire safe.

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William A. Levinson
wlevinson@verizon.net
William A. Levinson is the principal of Levinson Productivity Systems P.C. (Wilkes-Barre, PA). For more information, call (570) 824-1986,
e-mail wlevinson@verizon.net or visit www.ct-yankee.com.

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