A new name for our Force Calibration Laboratory
With a long-established history, the Avery Weigh-Tronix brand name is synonymous with weighing and calibration expertise. But if you scratch the surface, there are lots of areas of our business with interesting stories of their own.
Like our Force Calibration Laboratory.
Based at our Soho Foundry site in Birmingham, our Force Calibration Laboratory is renowned throughout the UK for its specialised loadcell calibrations which are carried out on a custom built, 10m high deadweight testing machine.
Taking centre stage in the lab and containing an impressive 76 individual weights, the machine can calibrate up to 50 tonnes and is extremely rare, as it’s one of only three in the UK!
The machine is so complex that in 2002, when it was moved from our previous Tamebridge site to the Force Calibration Laboratory at the Soho Foundry, it took nearly nine months to dismantle, move and rebuild!
Luckily the lab is managed by Mike Moran, who knows the intricacies of the machine inside out. He’s worked at Avery Weigh-Tronix for over 40 years and has worked with the deadweight testing machine for his entire career.
Interestingly, although technology has moved on hugely over the last 40 years, the principle of calibrating has remained the same. So, although the machine is almost 50 years old, it still performs as it should.
The Force Calibration Laboratory is equally as impressive as the machine itself. Designed and built specifically to house the deadweight machine, absolutely no detail was overlooked to ensure the utmost accuracy during calibrations.
Specialised temperature and humidity controls installed throughout the lab maintain the accuracy of the weights on the machine. And vibrations from the surrounding area are prevented thanks to a concrete pad which feeds directly into the bedrock beneath the building’s floor!
The accuracy of the machine is so precise, it is used to calibrate reference loadcells for customers like Rolls Royce and the National Measurement Office.
Our Force Calibration Laboratory gained UKAS accreditation in 1972, at the time being only the 54th lab in the UK to gain this prestigious accreditation, which we’ve upheld ever since.
From the 26th February 2021, the Avery Weigh-Tronix Force Calibration Laboratory has been renamed after it became part of Avery Weigh-Tronix’s UKAS accredited metrology calibration service, Calibration Select.
Despite this change, the UKAS laboratory reference number remains the same. Calibrations will still take place in the same laboratory using the same deadweight testing machine and technical expertise.
For more information please contact us on webinfo@awtx-itw.com or 0845 939 0020.
