Test Equipment Management (QM-IT)
Purpose
Test equipment is used in many companies for performing quality inspections. In order to ensure that the test equipment used always fulfils the defined performance criteria, most companies regularly test and calibrate their test equipment.
Using the functions in the component Test Equipment Management, you can manage equipment data, plan and schedule inspections, and perform calibration inspections for the equipment.
Implementation Considerations
You should use the component Test Equipment Management in your company if:
- Individual data is maintained for each piece of test equipment
- Test equipment is regularly calibrated
- Calibration inspections are planned and scheduled for different maintenance orders and maintenance strategies
- A results history is maintained for each piece of test equipment
Integration
The component Test equipment management links the following planning and processing functions of the application components Plant Maintenance (PM) and Quality Management (QM):
Plant Maintenance |
Quality Management |
Technical objects (PM-EQM) |
Quality planning (QM-PT) |
Preventive maintenance (PM-PRM) |
Quality inspection (QM-IM) |
Maintenance processing (PM-WOC) |
|
For certain planning and processing methods in a calibration inspection, you also require the cross-application component Classification System (CA-CL).
Features
The Test Equipment Management component includes many important functions for planning and performing calibration inspections:
Planning
When you plan a calibration inspection, you can:
- Create master records for each piece of test equipment
- Manage the equipment data and maintenance history in master records
- Group similar test equipment together for inspection processing
- Classify the test equipment based on the technical specifications in the classification system
- Link master inspection characteristics to class characteristics in the classification system, so that the system can record the inspection results for the measuring points of the test equipment using the relevant measurement documents
- Create inspection characteristics for operations in maintenance task lists
- Define inspection specifications for quantitative and qualitative characteristics (for example, target values, tolerances, repeat measurements and inspection catalogs)
- Define maintenance cycles in the maintenance plan (for example, to determine calibration intervals based on time or performance)
You can plan and perform a calibration inspection without using a maintenance plan by creating a maintenance order manually. For this, the inspection type must be assigned to the maintenance order type. When the maintenance order is released, the system automatically generates an inspection lot.
- Use time or performance-related maintenance schedules to monitor the calibration dates (for example, to determine how often a piece of test equipment was used)
- Monitor the equipment statuses (for example, whether or not equipment is released for use)
- Create and release maintenance orders, so that inspection lots are generated
Processing
When you process an inspection lot for a calibration inspection, you can:
- Record inspection results for each piece of test equipment
- Record items for a maintenance notification if you reject an inspection characteristic or confirm any other deviation
- Valuate each piece of test equipment in the inspection lot (for example, accepted or rejected)
- Confirm services for maintenance orders (for example, inspection times)
- Trigger automatic follow-up actions with the usage decision for the inspection lot (for example, update equipment statuses, change cycle modification factors, generate measurement documents)
- Update and valuate information in the Plant Maintenance Information System and the Quality Management Information System