ONO SOKKI's
Quality Assurance and Traceability

Quality
Assurance System
In line with our policy on quality, which aims to "enhance quality
as a means of endorsing the 'customer-first principle,' ",ONO SOKKI
has been establishing quality control activities on a corporate-wide
scale.
As a result of these activities, the Utsunomiya factory and the Technical
Center at the head office, which includes the development and engineering
division, were certified as conforming to the ISO 9001 Quality System in
March 1996.
ONO SOKKI not only aims to maintain this certification, but will
also strive to improve and enhance its quality assurance system, as is
required by the ISO 9001 Quality System, in order to continually deliver
better quality products to customers.
As a result of our achievements, ONO SOKKI was named Japan's first
official supplier of sound level meter's in September 1997.
Furthermore, in October 1997, ONO SOKKI obtained ISO 14001 certification,
the standard of environmental management systems. This demonstrates that
ONO SOKKI also attaches a great deal of importance to environmental preservation.
*ISO 9001 Quality System Certificate awarded to ONO SOKKI. |
Control
of Measuring Instruments
Quality control of measuring instruments is extremely important.
It is required to ensure that their measurement results are accurate.
ONO SOKKI has prepared a complete line of the reference equipment
and systems needed to calibrate their measuring instruments, as well as
the required measurement environment. It has established a business unit
to set down the standards and procedure manuals needed for instrument calibration
and to ensure calibration work is carried out smoothly. |
Establishment
of Reference Standards and Calibrating Equipment/Systems
In order to guarantee the accuracy of a measuring instrument,
the instrument must be calibrated at regular intervals. Public institutions
such as the Japan Electric Meter Inspection Corporation (JEMIC) and Japan
Quality Association (JQA), carry out calibrations on electric measuring
instruments. For mechanical measuring instruments, public institutions
such as the Japan Society for the Promotion of Machine Industry and other
regional institutions of metrological certification, carry out the calibrations.
ONO SOKKI produces an extremely wide range of measuring instruments.
In order to make calibration work more efficient, ONO SOKKI has set up
its own reference standards and calibrating equipment/systems. By asking
such public institutions to calibrate them (or manufacturers if the institutions
will not calibrate these standards or calibrating equipment/systems) and
then using the calibrated standards and calibrating equipment/systems as
primary standards, ONO SOKKI carries out in-house calibration for the secondary
standards and factory-use measuring instruments. |
Establishment
of Traceability
All measurement results of measuring instruments must be based
on the same standard. It is therefore essential that these measuring instruments
can be traced to the standards maintained and controlled by the nation.
In Japan, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and
Technology (AIST) defines the basic units
of measuring standards and maintain and control these standards.
Public institutions, such as JEMIC, JQA, the Japan Society for
the Promotion of Machine Industry, and regional institutions of metrological
certification, are assigned these units (standards) from AIST, and
use them to calibrate standards and calibrating equipment/systems submitted
by the private sector.
ONO SOKKI has established its own in-house calibration system using
the reference standards and calibrating equipment/systems calibrated by
AIST, JEMIC and JQA.
Note: The term traceability is defined by the
Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) in the JIS Z8103 standards (glossary
of measurement terms) as "the ability to show that a standard or an instrument
has been calibrated by a higher-order standard which is calibrated by a
still higher-order standard, and on and on, thus the standard or instrument
is eventually related back to the established national standards." |
ONO
SOKKI's Traceability System
ONO SOKKI's traceability system is as shown in the following diagrams.
All standards are calibrated at fixed intervals in compliance with the
control provisions of the ISO 9001 Quality System for measuring instruments.
Click the button below. The system diagram is divided into part 1 and part
2.
*Note that the traceability system is shown in its
simplified form. |
Reference
Equipment Room, Precision Instruments Room and Acoustics Lab
The accuracy of a measuring instrument is, to some degree, affected
by operating environment factors such as temperature and humidity. ONO
SOKKI has built a references room (for the standards of electrical measuring
instruments); a precision instruments room (for the standards of mechanical
measuring instruments); and an acoustics lab (for acoustic and vibrometric
measurements); which are all controlled to a constant temperature and humidity.
Thus, ONO SOKKI is fully equipped with work environments for precision
calibration.
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| Reference Room |
Acoustics Lab and Anechoic Chamber |
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Control of Standards and Calibration of Measuring Instruments
The control of standards and the calibration of measuring instruments
are carried out by the assigned, qualified measurement management personnel
as required by the qualification provisions of the ISO 9001 Quality System.
For calibration of each individual measuring instrument, a calibration
procedure manual is created for each instrument to help minimize deviations
in the calibration results produced by different calibrators. |
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