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JUNE 2007 NEWS

 

Hexagon Metrology Switzerland Opens Spacious New Metrology Center Featuring Latest Technological Advancements

Following several months of construction work, one of the largest metrology centers in Switzerland was opened at the Leica Geosystems location in Unterentfelden. Leica Geosystems, with its rich tradition dating back almost 200 years, has been part of the Hexagon Group in Sweden since 2005. The new "Hexagon Metrology Precision Center Aarau-West" showcases the most modern metrology equipment from the entire Hexagon Metrology product portfolio.

Over 70 Hexagon Metrology customers from all over Switzerland came to the Open House Day and used the opportunity to experience different measurement equipment first hand and see for themselves the level of quality maintained by the company. Andrew Barclay, General Manager, Hexagon Metrology Switzerland: "With our brands such as Brown & Sharpe, CE Johansson, CimCore, DEA, Leica Geosystems (Metrology Division), Leitz, Sheffield, Romer, TESA and Wilcox, Hexagon Metrology is able to offer to our customers not merely products but indeed custom-tailored solutions for all of their measurement tasks. The vast diversity of our products, their uncompromising quality and our superior support make us truly unique on the international metrology market. We are showing both traditional and portable coordinate measurement machines in a facility whose temperature is being kept constant to the tenth of a degree. Measurement objects can be inspected with accuracies on the order of magnitude of just a couple of microns."

The new "Hexagon Metrology Precision Center Aarau-West" is located only 5 minutes away from Aarau and can be easily reached by public transport and via the motorway. Over the course of the next few months, product presentations and various training courses will be offered. The Hexagon Metrology Precision Center Aarau-West can be reached under +41 62 737 6737. Facility tours, consultations and product demonstrations can be booked following advance notification.

 

Ashghal Hosts Presentations for Private Sector

Public Works Authority (Ashghal) recently hosted two presentations for the private sector by experts in calibration and construction technology, respectively.

The first presentation was made by Col Adel Fakhro, director of Qatar Armed Forces Calibration Centre (QAFCC), a centre of excellence in the field of instrument calibrations. Col Fakhro elaborated the calibration facilities and mechanism of the equipment at the centre. Whereas 70% of the service was provided for military service institutes, the remaining 30% service went to other laboratories in public and private sectors. The major institutions that used the centre’s services included Qatar Airways, Qtel, RasGas, and QatarGas, he said.

Abdelkader Keyrouz, head of technical and training division of Advanced Construction Technology Services (ACTS), the Middle Eastern branch of the American Concrete Institute International (ACI), gave a presentation about the training facilities that could be given to material engineers and technicians in the laboratories. The presenter stressed the importance of having trained personnel in laboratories in the wake of the constructional boom in Qatar.

The presentations were part of Ashghal’s efforts to support private laboratories to abide by Ashghal policies. They were organised by Ashghal’s department of quality, safety and environment (QSE).

Earlier, QSE manager Khalid al-Emadi spoke about the Ashghal policies with the private laboratories. He said Ashghal had set up guidelines for private laboratories to ensure their quality, including accreditation for ISO 17025 as a long-term goal.

Following the presentations, the department manager also held discussions with the representatives of private laboratories to understand their problems. Suggestions for solutions were made. The QSE department had earlier arranged a presentation for private laboratories by a French company regarding the most updated equipment in material analyses.

 

GE Sensing Demonstrates New Automated Calibration Facilities

GE Sensing demonstrated the new automated calibration facilities at its UKAS-accredited Groby, Leicester, laboratories during open days on the 5th, 6th and 7th June. The event allowed customers and potential customers the opportunity to tour the company's extensive facilities and hear of the latest developments in calibration, and in measuring instrumentation in general, at a series of seminars which were held each day.

The new, state-of-the-art calibration facility is unique in the world and has recently been added to the company's UKAS accreditation.

It features automated pressure calibration, developed within GE Sensing, including the latest quartz Bourdon tube technology, and has the capacity to calibrate up to 36 pressure instruments, in various ranges, at the same time. This means that the new equipment offers a significant reduction in calibration turn-round times, so that customer instrumentation is subject to much shorter downtime.

The seminar programme included an introduction to the calibration facility and an overview of the facilities and services available from GE Sensing. There was also a presentation on the future generation of pressure measurement instrumentation.

GE Sensing's Groby Laboratory offers calibration of pressure, temperature, mass and electrical parameters, all accompanied by UKAS certification. It also offers an extensive repair and recalibration service both for GE Sensing and other manufacturers' equipment, as well as equipment rental, on-site calibration and installation and commissioning.

For more information about the Groby, UK lab visit http://www.gesensing.com/toolsupport/superlab.htm.

 

National Metrology Services Inaugurated

Competitiveness and Communications Minister Censu Galea inaugurated the Malta Standards Authority’s National Metrology Services (MSA-NSA, www.msa.org.mt/metrology/) in Kordin, where a total EUR313,000 has been invested in meeting refurbishing requirements.

The investment was made in a two-phase development programme – Lm100,000, or EUR313,000 for phase One in 2004; and Lm35,000, or EUR81,528, for 2007, to accommodate metrology equipment tendered to the tune of EUR939,000 of acquired funds for metrology through pre-accession and transition facility funding. MSA-NMS has in the last year alone produced 500 calibration certificates. Over 400 calibration certificates had been issued in 2005, and a client base of over 90 clients has been built up from the start-up in 2004.

Year on year, approximately 35 per cent of work volume is generated through new business sources annually with an approximate 30 per cent increase in volume of calibration services annually.

This it does by work it carries out for the government, its entities, laboratories and manufacturing and services industries, which result in the saving of thousands of liri which would otherwise have gone abroad.

MSA-NMS forms an important link in providing accreditation laboratories with the necessary local traceability, ensuring contained costs and making accreditation possible to allow them to open up their markets.

MSA-NMS also provides calibration training in mass measurement and has developed courses for temperature measurement work. This knowledge transfer assists industry in reducing calibration costs both through local traceability and through technology transfer of the best internal calibration systems to use. A significant volume of work stems from the pharmaceutical industry.

The national metrology services also conduct collaborative work with Heritage Malta, and has carried out a mapping study for temperature and humidity at the level one Hal Saflieni Complex and is currently working on a joint project with Heritage Malta to acquire EEA funding to install a network of temperature and humidity sensors for remote monitoring of the site. MSA-NMS is the technical advisor to Heritage Malta on this project.

 

L.A.B. 2007 – Trade Fair and Conference for Analysis, Bio and Laboratory Equipment in the UK

Lab 2007 will take place from 2-4 October 2007 at Excel London International conference and exhibition centre. Global companies such as Eppendorf, Buchi UK, Science Basic Solutions, Metrohm, Retsch and Plastiques Gosselin have signed up to the exhibition.

There will also be booths representing brands such as Thermo Scientific, Fisher Scientific, and VWR.

The exhibition is aimed at manufacturers and users of analysis instruments in industry, research and development and public services.

Lab 2007's targeted 3000 visitors, of which 1500 will attend the conference, will include professionals from the pharmaceutical and chemical industries as well as the food and drink, medical, environmental and public service sectors.

With an array of industry leading speakers, the LAB conference programme will be an invaluable education tool for laboratory industry professionals. Designed for the busy laboratory manager or scientist each track lasts a single day, and is competitively priced at £75 plus VAT. Complimentary lunch and coffee breaks are provided for all conference delegates in the exhibition hall.

Tuesday 2nd October
Track A: The Pharmaceutical Laboratory
Track B: Laboratories in the Chemicals Industry
Track C: Laboratory Equipment Validation

Wednesday 3rd October
Track D: Laboratory Equipment in Hospitals and Healthcare
Track E: The Food Science Laboratory
Track F: Laboratory Safety and Biosafety

 

GE Sensing joins with Tamimi to better serve Saudi Arabia region Partnership will open Sales, Service and Training Centre in Al Khobar

GE Sensing and the Tamimi Group are partnering together to form Saudi Arabian Sensing Solutions Co. (SASSCO), which will serve Saudi Arabia and is a further demonstration of GE’s commitment to on-going, significant investment in the Kingdom.

SASSCO is on schedule to unveil its first dedicated calibration, repair and training centre in the Middle East, when its new service centre opens in September 2007. The facility will offer state-of-the-art calibration equipment for pressure and moisture sensors, and will be the only resource in the region capable of calibrating the Panametrics range of moisture meters.

It will also provide on-site repair service for these products and can upgrade existing customer equipment by the fitting of specific, manufacturer’s software.

Training from GE Sensing and GE Inspection Technologies will be an important function at the centre. Typical NDT (non-destructive testing) courses will cover the use of GE’s ultrasonic, remote visual inspection, radiography and eddy current equipment. In addition, the centre will provide a base for GE’s qualified field services personnel and will have the capability to carry out basic repairs on simple NDT equipment, such as flaw detectors.

As Brian Hempenstall, Regional Service Manager for GE Sensing, explains, “Saudi is one of the most important oil and petrochemical regions in the world. This is an industrial sector that relies very heavily on sensing instrumentation for pressure, temperature moisture, gas and flow. It is also an industrial sector where non-destructive testing is critical to safe asset management and to maintaining production outputs. GE Sensing and GE Inspection Technologies is resourced and focused to provide solutions in both these areas of technology. The creation of our new calibration, training and repair facility will ensure that we can now move even closer to our customers in the Kingdom to ensure they receive the very best, both in terms of equipment and service.”

GE Sensing is a leading innovator in advanced measurement and sensor-based technology solutions. GE Sensing designs and produces precision instruments and systems that measure temperature, pressure, liquid level, humidity, gas concentration, and flow rate for the most demanding customer applications. GE Sensing serves customers around the world in the aerospace, healthcare, transportation, process and industrial businesses.

Druck, General Eastern, Kaye, NovaSensor, Panametrics, Telaire, Thermometrics and Ruska are now part of one team, under one name: GE Sensing. For more information, visit: www.gesensing.com

GE Inspection Technologies designs, manufactures and services radiographic, ultrasonic, remote visual inspection and eddy current equipment to inspect, monitor and test materials and equipment without disassembly, deforming or damaging them. Its products are used in a wide range of industries, including Aerospace, Power Generation, Oil & Gas, Process and Automotive. The company has 11 application centers around the globe and offers a range of services including repair, on-site RVI inspection services, calibration, training and upgrades. GE Inspection Technologies has 1,300 employees at more than 25 facilities in 25 countries worldwide. To learn more about GE Inspection Technologies visit www.ge.com/inspectiontechnologies.

 

Bonner New Director Regulatory Affairs for the European Compliance Academy (ECA)

As the European Compliance Academy released today, Richard M. Bonner, Consultant to the Pharmaceutical Industry and Qualified Person in Europe, accepted the nomination as Director Regulatory Affairs. "I am flattered the ECA Chairman asked me to take this role, and I am happy to say yes".

Mr. Bonner has been a member of the ECA Advisory Board. He is also a Member of the Advisory Board of the European QP Association which is an interest group initiated by the ECA. As a former Senior Quality Adviser for Eli Lilly and Company in the UK, he also focused on quality assurance issues for the ECA. As Director Regulatory Affairs, Mr Bonner will be ECA's interface to international regulatory agencies and assure appropriate recognition for the organisation. He follows Mike Edgington in this function, who passed away in January 2007.

Founded as an independent organization in 1999, the European Compliance Academy's (ECA) goal is to facilitate the move towards a harmonized set of GMP and regulatory guidelines. It supports the Pharmaceutical Industry and Regulators through providing information on and interpretation of new or updated guidances. For that purpose the ECA developed a range of tools like the GMP Guideline Manager CD-ROM, and also organizes international education courses, webinars and conferences around GMP, regulatory compliance and currently discussed subjects.

For further information on the ECA please refer to www.gmp-compliance.org.

 


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