Emerson Exchange 365

A Benefits Filled Approach to Calibration Excellence by GSK

As a follow-up to a recent blog article by Jim Cahill on Reducing Time-Consuming Calibration Activities  I located a Pharma Pro article  New Approach to Instrument Calibration Improves Efficiency by Don Brady, Technical Manager of GSK Global Manufacturing Supply IT that listed the benefits to the calibration excellence approach that Jim described.  The article provides more details of the approach and benefits of the integrated calibration management approach using the DeltaV AMS solution in conjunction with Beamex portable calibrators and CMX software.  As the article points out the team was focused on the following areas to achieve calibration excellence.

• Instrument diagnostics to reduce the number of calibrations on non-critical, non-safety-related instruments based on data generated by those devices;
• Paperless calibration by automating calibration procedures to shorten the time required and eliminate manual support functions; and
• Calibration analysis to identify instruments for less frequent calibration while still meeting strict corporate and regulatory requirements.

The article goes on to describe the approach to tackling each problem.  The results are telling as provided below.

• Time per calibration reduced by at least 15 minutes, equating to hundreds of hours saved doing thousands of calibrations
• 21,000 sheets of paper eliminated each year
• More than 500 hours per week of manual data entry time eliminated along with potential errors
• 8% reduction in scheduled calibration attained through data migration from legacy system
• 234 calibrations eliminated yearly by extension of calibration intervals
• 33% of instruments not directly related to quality or safety removed from scheduled calibration and done on-demand, producing an annual saving of approximately 300 hours.

Those are some great results and a great solution!  Share your calibration stories and challenges and the following links provide some more resources.

• AMS
• CMX
• GSK
• Calibration excellence
• Beamex

Chris Amstutz

• 15 Aug 2012 9:19 PM
• Cancel

5 Replies

• Sami Koskinen

  

  • 21 Sep 2012 8:18 AM

  Chris – Thanks for the post. The YouTube video Introduction to a paperless calibration system describes the system that GSK uses as part of their Calibration Excellence program discussed in the post. The big cost savings came from moving from a manual system to a paperless system. You can download the full case study at http://www.beamex.com/en/Solutions/Customer-Case-Stories/GlaxoSmithKline.

  I’d like to hear about other calibration challenges that end users are facing.

  • Cancel
• Chris Amstutz

  

  • 23 Sep 2012 2:52 PM

  In reply to Sami Koskinen:

  Thanks for the followup video link and the full case study.  Was this only for cGMP critical devices or all the facility devices?

  • Cancel
• Sami Koskinen

  

  • 24 Sep 2012 9:54 AM

  In reply to Chris Amstutz:

  This solution cover also non cGMP critical instruments. Giving you an opportunity to remove lower criticality instruments from scheduled calibration to calibration on demand.

  • Cancel
• Nick Garrett

  

  • 24 Sep 2012 2:14 PM

  In reply to Sami Koskinen:

  Rephrasing part of Sami’s post, “none cGMP” should say “non-cGMP” – the solution covers all instrument categories at the facility.  

  Non-cGMP critical instruments don’t have scheduled calibration intervals, relying on event-based triggers from the Emerson AMS instrument condition-monitoring system for calibration on demand. The cGMP critical instruments do have scheduled calibration intervals that are supplemented by event-based triggers from the AMS system.  

  The Beamex CMX calibration management system has some neat analytics that support making informed decisions about adjusting Calibration intervals up or down as necessary.

  • Cancel
• Chris Amstutz

  

  • 27 Sep 2012 12:21 PM

  In reply to Nick Garrett:

  The other great part of this solution is that it's DCS-agnostic and will work with any control system including Ovation which is good news for those on platforms other than DeltaV.

  • Cancel