# 07 – June 2015 – Trescal Group Newsletter

Metrics

calibration solutionsto improve your performance

> meeting with - p. 2 George Bastings, Trescal Singapore

> laboratories - p. 3 The new face of Trescal Spain

> quality france - p. 3Combining precision and agility

> expertise - p. 4-5Radiometry / Photometry

> case studies - p. 6-7Defense industry

> coming open days calendar - p. 8

In this issue

> case studies

defense industry

> expertise

shedding light on Photometry / radiometry

METRICS

Trescal Group In-house Newsletter

metrics.news@trescal.com

Director of publication: olivier delrieuManaging Editor: catherine bourdoncleEditorial comittee: catherine bourdoncle, françois prospert, francis richard.Design and Production: agence 9Photo Credits: trescal, fotolia, Javier larrea.Acknowledgments: george bastings, xavier bonnière, adrien dugast, Jimmy evans, marie-christine fauchoux, federico levenson, Jim luff, françois moïse, christian Vizzachero, adam webb, Jan wrang.

Speaking in the name of all my colleagues, I would like to express how glad we are to introduce this new issue of Trescal’s group newsletter, Metrics.

For more than a year now, Trescal’s footprint in the United States has been consistently growing with laboratories in Baltimore, Charlotte, and Newark. This dynamic mirrors Trescal’s strong growth objectives and its goal of being as close to its customers as possible.

Trescal’s progress as a global organization is key in supporting our customers on both sides of the Atlantic ocean. The Trescal team in the South of the US that I represent is proud of being involved in such a collaboration. In our area, the recent developments in the Dallas laboratory and the refurbishing of Atlanta’s laboratory were significant in ensuring service excellence to our customers.

This new issue of Metrics highlights the global excellence of Trescal’s laboratories all around the world and will include a special on Photometry and Radiometry, as well as a focus on our expertise in the Defense industry in the sector-specific pages.

happy reading!

EditorialAdam WebbSoUThERN oPERATIoNS DIRECToR, TRESCAl USA

George holds a Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, a Masters Degree in Formal Methods of Software Engineering and obtai-ned a Chartered Engineer status in the mid-1990s. he worked with the top defence calibration laboratories in the UK Ministry of Defence (later QinetiQ) “Aquila” and its outstations in the UK and transferred into Trescal from the takeover of the QinetiQ calibration and measurement group in August 2009.

Initially working as the Process and Quality Manager for Trescal’s UK Managed Services group, as part of a small management team, he has developed on-customer-site accredited calibration and measurement capabilities. his key customers included Rolls-Royce Aerospace, UTC Aerospace Systems, Airbus and a number of other Aerospace companies.

Trescal’s laboratory at Rolls-Royce Seletar in Singapore is a real suc-cess story for George. “From a personal point, my work on providing direct measurement advice and specific consultancy to the Trent 900 / 1000 Engine Test Bed facility at Seletar has been one of the most technically challenging and rewarding accomplishments to date” said George.

Now an ISo 17025 (SAC-SINGlAS) accredited facility, the laboratory is well placed technically to serve as the centre of excellence for Rolls-Royce Asia, a requirement and vision set out with Reg Marsden (Rolls-Royce Company Chief Metrologist).

George has near future ambitions to deliver measurement, technical excel-lence and advice to industry. “having recently been based directly within a state of the art manufacturing facility (Rolls-Royce Seletar) it has shown me the importance of measurement directly within the manufacturing environment”.

The success of the Trescal on-site customer laboratory for Rolls Royce will have global consequences for Trescal according to George. “In par-ticular the measurement and calibration lessons learnt from the Engine Test facility at Seletar Singapore are now being transferred globally both within Rolls-Royce and further afield through working with test bed specialist CENCo International alongside Trescal”.

> meeting with

george Bastings

chief technology officer and quality manager for the trescal uK programmes group, george bastings, for the last 18 months has been deVeloping accredited calibration and measurement capabilities within the trescal on-site laboratory based at rolls-royce seletar singapore.

singapore

Since the 1st of September 2014, Mark Webb has taken over George’s position as Singapore’s laboratory General Manager and as Asia’s Business Development Manager.

a warm welcome to our new members and lots of success to those who are taking on new responsibilities!

june 2015 – # 07 – METRICS – 3

> laboratories

the new face of trescal in sPain

operating in Spain for over 10 years, Trescal made considerable developments in the country in 2014. Building on its first acquisitions in 2001 in Madrid, with the Tektronix and Fluke Calibration labo-ratories, followed by ITM in Zaragoza in

2004, Trescal has strengthened its pre-sence on the Iberian peninsula by acqui-ring three new cali-bration laboratories: Siemsa in Madrid and two Tecnalia labora-tories in the Basque Country. Trescal and Tecnalia have also signed a collabora-tion agreement in which they commit to developing joint R&D programmes and to presenting the

other party’s service offering to their res-pective clients.

Each of these acquisitions has allowed Trescal to strengthen its expertise in various metrological fields: the Siemsa

laboratory brings its prowess in tempe-rature / humidity and gas flow metering, while the two Tecnalia laboratories in Bilbao and Vitoria provide expert know-ledge in the field of electricity and the widest high-voltage coverage of all Trescal laboratories. The Bilbao laboratory is also a leading laboratory in the field of liquid flow metering.

For Federico levenson, the new Director of Trescal Spain, “Grouping our two Madrid laboratories to create the largest metrology laboratory in the Madrid region perfectly illustrates Trescal’s ambitions for the Iberian penin-sula”. Through its acquisitions, Trescal is now able to offer its clients the largest technical coverage available on the Spa-nish market. Mr levenson is proud to note that this new skills spectrum puts Trescal Spain “at the forefront of Trescal subsidiaries worldwide”.

What role does the Quality division play within trescal France?First and foremost, our mission is to encou-rage people working for Trescal to use the quality management system to guarantee that our clients are satisfied. As a result, we work to support agencies to manage performance development, for example, as well as working alongside our clients in a genuinely advisory role, particularly when preparing for audits.

How is its work organised?The Quality and Technical Divisions cover two main areas of work. The first task, which falls under the Quality Division, is to guarantee compliance with organisa-tional and management standards such as ISo 9001 and ISo/IEC 17025. These standards guarantee that there is a rigo-rous process around the management and processing of measuring instruments. The second area, covered by the Technical

Division, is of course development of and compliance with standards and best prac-tices. This is at the heart of Trescal’s work, and the team led by Thierry Feuvrier sup-ports our laboratories in terms of deve-loping new ways of measuring, drafting procedures, and providing technical sup-port both internally and to clients.

What is your biggest challenge on a daily basis?The same as for the whole company: the main challenge Trescal is facing today is the permanent need for our clients to optimise their costs. Most of the time, this means reducing metrological instru-ment assets, so every time an instrument is returned to Trescal, its turn-around time must be reduced as far as possible. To deal with this constraint, Trescal must permanently have ad hoc resources at its disposal and be capable of stepping in while complying with our procedures,

which require us to combine both flexibi-lity and precision.

and in terms of accreditation, what is the Quality division’s roadmap for the months to come?our main aim is to maintain our accredi-tations and to have our extensions appro-ved. It’s essential to maintain the trust our clients have in us! looking at things more generally, the big challenge ahead of us is the publication of the new version (2015) of the ISo 9001 standard. We will have three years to adopt it, and the main focus in terms of strategy is the need to implement specific preventative action according to the risks and opportunities identified.

The renewal audit scheduled for November 2015 will allow us to take stock of the situation with the auditor and will help us to measure our progress.

> quality

an interView with Marie-cHristine FaucHoux, quality director, france

“comBining Precision and agility”

france

spain

madrid

Bilbao

Vitoria

Zaragoza

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4 – METRICS – # 07 – june 2015

For over a century the use of artificial lighting has been an essential part of everyone’s lives whether it be at work or home. however, behind the simple flick of a switch lies a range of techno-logy and regulation. The development of Compact Fluorescent and lED lighting requires knowledge of the “colour” of the white light output through measurement of the spectral content. The visible part of the electro-magnetic spectrum (wave-length 380 to 760 nanometers) is called Photo-metry, whilst Radiometry covers the part of the spectrum not visible to the human eye above and below these wavelengths.

industrial applications, sectors concernedPhotometric and radiometric measurement

in industry is crucial in many sectors: any manu-facturer of a product that has colour requires uni-formity in production e.g. paint, textiles, print, television and all information monitors, such as aircraft cockpits, vehicles dashboards and in film production. White light is also a key element at the workplace and for street-lighting for prac-tical and safety reasons, as well as in shops to ensure products are suitably illuminated to dis-play their colour, and in photography or in televi-sion studios. Ultra-violet (UVA) is extensively used in the detection of structure fatigue where it is used to illuminate cracks in material, whilst laser, being a very strong and stable source, is widely used in telecommunications to convey data wit-hin fiber optics as well as between two distant points when physical connection is not suitable.

optical technologies are increasingly used in other Metrology fields including temperature using equipment such as pyrometers, infra-red thermometers and heat cameras or length with interferometry, non contact measurements for CMM, arms or laser trackers.

Regarding those multiple applications, Trescal serves hundreds of customers with significant ones being those in the Telecom sector (produc-tion and maintenance), the automotive indus-try, life sciences and the Aerospace industries. Although calibration operations remain a small “niche” for Trescal they have shown constant growth for the last 3 years.

measurement unit / capabilities and instruments

Photometry concerns mainly equipment and devices measuring luminance, illuminance, intensity, colour (chromaticity), reflectance and gloss. Several of Trescal’s labs like Madrid (Spain), Antwerp (Belgium), San Francisco (US) and Bor-deaux (France) with colour measurement capabi-lities in addition, are able to calibrate the most usual tools but Yateley (UK) is by far our best lab with a large scope of UKAS accreditations.

Jim luff, the Yateley laboratory manager explains: “In Photometry the basis of measu-rement is the SI unit candela (cd). It quantifies the visible radiant energy emitted in a particu-lar direction and is generated with a black body

> expertise

shedding light on radiometry / Photometry

autHors:Jim luff (uK), francis richard (group).

contributors:christian Vizzachero (france), adrien dugast (france).

polaron reference tungsten lamp

june 2015 – # 07 – METRICS – 5

radiator (Planckian)”. This primary standard is practically disseminated by transfer standards consisting of tungsten filament lamps that radiate visible energy with a similar spectral content. “The use of tungsten lamps is the basics of the facility at Yateley and as a consequence the measurement accuracy achievable is the best commercially, UKAS accredited, available in the United Kingdom and much of Europe” stresses Jim luff. A Photome-tric bench is used to perform calibrations where the accurate position of a transfer standard in rela-tion to a light-meter produces a known illumina-tion. The transfer standard is operated at a Colour Temperature of 2856 Kelvin, which is the standard called “Illuminant A”.

In Radiometry, Trescal’s UVA activity is focused on Radiometer calibrations at 365 nm in Yateley and Bristol (UK). Infrared calibrations, including laser technologies for communications industries, are performed in:• Zoetermeer (The Netherlands): our RvA accredited lab,

calibrations within the range 850 to 1625 nm (power, loss, wavelength, PMD generation, reflection);

• Stevenage (UK) with a huge range of traceable capabilities for laser sources, optical spectrum analysers, wavemeters, attenuators, oTDR;

• Paris (France), Yateley and Donibristle (UK), able to undertake laser energy calibrations.

proJectsIn a domain where automation is not easily

implemented, Trescal relies on investment (e.g.

recently a reference integrating Ulbricht sphere in Bordeaux, spectroradiometer, monochromator source and gloss surface specular reflectance stan-dards in Yateley), specialisation and rationaliza-tion of the technical skills (in the UK for instance) where training plays an important role.

Projects for new manufacturers agreements like the one with Exfo in the Netherlands and duplication of our current capabilities to others areas are also part of a short term strategy to face the growing expectations of our customers.

“Spectrophotometry uses the charac-teristics of light to analyse the composi-tion of materials and measure its effect on a material”, Xavier Bonnière, produc-tion manager in Rungis (France), begins. “Whether it means passing light through materials, making it reflect there, at an angle or otherwise, spectrophotometry is a method which measures the absorbance or concentration of a given element in the material being studied”.

Spectrophotometry is used in a wide variety of industries and, in particular, in the pharmaceuticals industry. For example, it enables to determine the rate of sugar in a component or the density of a liquid; in another register, colorimetry, it is used to check compliance of colours to predefined references.

Standard measuring technologies make use of light by projecting it on to the material to be analysed and observing its effect. Different types of instruments are used to achieve this, such as colorimeter,

spectrophotometer and turbidity meter (which measures the opacity of a liquid). A spectrophotometer is used to measure the absorbance of an element when light emitted passes through it. Sensors provide a comparison between the light trans-mitted (entering) and the light absorbed (exiting) by the element under test. The spectrophotometer is pre-set to a given wavelength and, knowing the reaction of the various compounds to that wave-length, a comparison can be made with the element under test. The use of a colo-rimeter allows to assess a colour beyond what is possible with just the human eye. “To check that the blue in a component is indeed blue, for example, we use a colori-meter, which sends filtered white light to the element being examined. We have dif-ferent filters to select certain wavelength ranges”, explains Xavier Bonnière.

To calibrate these instruments, Tres-cal uses reference standards, such as filters for the quality of the light used and the accuracy of the wavelength.

For colorimeters, in particular, Trescal has a set of different colour references tra-ceable to the (IS).

Calibration in the field of spectro-photometry are conducted in com-pliance with standard ISo/IEC 17025 and the European Pharmacopoeia guideline. Trescal is involved in standardization with Xavier Bonnière having worked on a guide for the calibration of spectro-photometers. Today, Trescal in France carries out 75 % of these operations on site, due to the great fragility of the ins-truments checked, which are extremely sensitive to vibration.

xaVier bonnière, production

manager at rungis (trescal france)

focus on spectrophotometry

monocromator source

> dossier

Since January 2009, Trescal has been calibra-ting and repairing the measuring equipment for the Ministry of Defense (MoD) of a Scandinavian country. In so doing, it has worked directly for the Air Force, the Army and the Navy.

The MoD had some specific needs regarding the calibration of its equipment, which were detai-led in the public request for tender in 2009.

The most important need was to be able to monitor all the MoD’s equipment, and get an over-view of their location and status, which, the MoD was still not able to have at that time. The MoD the-refore needed an Asset management solution that would be accessible online, with a booking system and a tracking system. Gaining control over their instrument inventory was a prerequisite in order to identify correctly the real volume of operations needed, and to optimise the number of calibra-tions per year. Another need from the MoD was for the chosen supplier to be able to calibrate a large range of equipment in a broad range of domains, especially for its oldest equipment that were not guaranteed anymore by their manufacturers.

Trescal’s answer was based on two key factors: its Asset Management expertise, and its profi-ciency in all metrological domains and equipment.

Trescal was able to offer a tailored asset management solution for the MoD, fulfilling all the criteria requested by the client: a booking system (TEMS) and a tracking system that were both accessible online. “We had a simple model but we fine tuned it to provide our client with all those services” commented Jan Wrang, head of Trescal Denmark.

This implementation was of great value for the MoD, as they could significantly optimise their number of calibrations by 50 % in 2014. Trescal has helped its customer in removing old and obso-lete equipment and by carrying out calibration services for a realistic and relevant pool of active instruments enabling efficiency and improving customer’s performance.

Trescal’s extensive expertise was particularly valuable because the technicians were able to provide support on the MoD’s oldest equipment, beyond oEM support time period.

When speaking of his experience working with the MoD, Jan Wrang said “This contract with the MoD has proven to be a great success, for them, but also for Trescal, as the contract was renewed in 2014 for 4 years, and now represents 30 % of Tres-cal Denmark’s turnover”.

case studiestrescal and the defense industry

Jan wrang, general director trescal denmarK

a tailor-made asset management system across three armed serVices

6 – METRICS – # 07 – june 2015

Trescal has developed a strong exper-tise in the defence sector through its acquisition of Aeroflex, a company with a 50-year long expertise in the defence industry and QinetiQ lab, a lab with exten-sive experience in the defence industry. In addition, Trescal’s extensive calibration capabilities are particularly well suited to the defence industry’s demands, which require wide-ranging calibration skills.

Trescal’s work with the Military Air-craft and Information arm (MAI) of BAE Systems is a case in point of the diver-sity of the work Trescal can do for the defence sector. For MAI alone, Trescal has established an asset management sys-tem, ensured compliance to higher accre-

ditation standards and is in the process of creating an on-site calibration laboratory.

The asset management system Tres-cal established centralizes MAI’s asset databases in its 3 factories in Wharton, Simsbury, and Brough. Whereas the fac-tories used to rely on individual excel spreadsheets across small departments, which only few could access, now eve-ryone within BAE Systems can access the database. The advantages are mani-fold. For one, BAE employees can now identify where a single asset is at any-time. Second, better service quality has ensued because employees are now confident that the items on the shop floor are calibrated and ready to use. Third, having a single control manage-ment system in place has enabled MAI to fulfil one of the requirements to obtain AS 9100 accreditation.

Trescal advised and implemented MAI on the best calibration standards

to use for increased tolerance levels and quality alike. As such, MAI adopted BSI 969 standards for its aircraft plug gauges, which in turn enabled them to be ISo AS 9100 compliant, and go beyond quality requirements.

True to its philosophy of being as close to the customer as possible, Trescal will soon be building on-site calibration laboratory at Warton near Preston to sup-port 3 aerospace factories. The facility will be calibrating MAI’s legacy equip-ment. This service is particularly valuable to MAI because it ensures maintenance and repair well beyond the 5-10 year repair and maintenance support typi-cally provided by manufacturers. Tres-cal’s know-how in repairing equipment, making equivalent parts, as well as its ability to source parts from an extensive network of alternative manufacturers are ideal in the defence industry, which can require the repair and maintenance of equipment that is 20-30 years old.

In 2013, Trescal won an important public sector tender from the directo-rate responsible for the design and pur-chase of armaments systems within the Ministry of Defence in a major European country. That contract, which lasts for four years, involves Trescal being res-ponsible for the calibration and verifi-cation of this directorate’s instruments across some twenty locations.

having previously dealt with a range of partners for its metrology requirements, the client now benefits from having a single contractor to meet a precise need: harmonising and unifying metrological traceability processes in its various esta-blishments and looking after the repair of its equipment resources. François Moïse,

in charge of the contract, gives details of the problem, to which Trescal has provi-ded a solution: “Whether it was involved in in-flight testing or missiles, each of these establishments previously had its own metrology laboratory. It was essen-tial for the new partner to be able to carry out extremely demanding calibration pro-grammes, in order to supply services at the same level. To achieve that, we had to be able to respond to all needs, particu-larly in the fields of electricity, tempera-ture and hygrometry”. To this was added the necessity to demonstrate the depth of technological competence required by the client’s procedures. As is often the case in the defence sector, the metrologi-cal capabilities required (TUR) actually go beyond standard practice.

To strengthen the quality of its res-ponse to that tender, Trescal enlisted the assistance of the French national labo-ratory (lNE). That partnership enabled it to link the depth of technological com-petence of the national laboratory to

Trescal’s own laboratories and logistical resources. “A special team of engineers was set up, with the particular involve-ment of the staff of Thierry Feuvrier, Tech-nical Manager (Trescal France), located at the Toulouse laboratory, to develop the special procedures required by the demanding specification drawn up by the client”. Trescal also gave weight to its bid, citing its extensive geographical network, which allows it to respond locally and react more quickly to client needs from within easy reach of its locations.

The initial results from this public sec-tor contract are quite positive: using the experience of its dedicated team and its extensive network of laboratories, Trescal has already developped approximately 80 % of the required procedures. François Moïse also sees the benefit of this to other Trescal clients: “This technically extremely complex specification has led us to evolve and strengthen our methods and that can be of benefit to all clients, seeking a top level metrological guarantee”.

the Bae systems case: tailor-made suPPort

demonstrating the dePth of our technological... and territorial comPetence

françois moïse, sales director, trescal france

Jimmy eVans, sales director, trescal uK

june 2015 – # 07 – METRICS – 7

singapore

Madrid

Zaragoza

bayonne

pau

toulouse

bordeaux

Lyon

Grenoble

toulon

Genève

torinobrescia

Modena

bologna

roma chieti

trevisoLecco

Metzparis

arras

London

norfolk

dinant

antwerpen

den Haag

darmstadt

stuttgart München

teplice

dresden

Wolfsburg

berlinHamburg (2)

silkeborg

København

bucharest

Hengelo

ruhr region

edinburgh

aberdeen

northantsstevenage

Manchester (2)

nottingham

Vendôme

nantes

brestrennes

Le Havre

aix-en-provence

châtellerault

Wien

Graz

tunis

bilbaoVitoria

LeipzigHildesheim

clevelanddetroit

chicago

dallas

Houston

atlanta

san Francisco baltimorecharlotte

newark

eskilstuna

trescal.com8 – METRICS – # 07 – june 2015

uniTeD STATeSTReSCAl’S eveR GReATeR PReSenCe

since 2013, trescal has pursued an acquisitions policy, intended to strengthen its presence right across the u.s. in san francisco, atlanta, baltimore, newark and charlotte, from east to west, the various trescal laboratories each have specialist and complementary skills, providing our american clients with top quality calibration services.

TReSCAl.Com lAunCh of ouR neW WeBSiTe

trescal launched a new corporate website in august 2014, now providing a shop window for its business and a major source of information for its clients. the different country versions are gradually being launched, with the intention of having all versions on line between now and august 2015.

CzeCh RePuBliCACCReDiTATionS iSo/ieC 17025

trescal in the czech republic has been awarded iso/iec 17025 accreditation for its two laboratories in teplice and dolní poustevna. by widening their area of activity, particularly in the automotive sector, which requires this accreditation in addition to iso ts 16949, these accreditations will enable trescal to further intensify exchanges between both of these locations in the czech republic and its german laboratories, already linked by a system of shuttles.

calibration solutions to improve your performance

CominG oPen DAyS CAlenDAR

united states> Dallas (July 2015)

united Kingdom> Manchester (July 2015)> Scotland (August 2015)> Derby (october 2015)

suède> Eskilstuna (September 2015)

france> lyon (october 2015)> Grenoble (october 2015)

singapore> Singapore (November 2015)

austria> Pettenbach (November 2015)

Belgium> Antwerpen (November 2015)

dolní poustevna

iRelAnDmAlTA

hunGARyBulGARiA

to meet the needs of one of its clients, a major airline, trescal recently opened four branches in malta, ireland, hungary and bulgaria. the opportunity for trescal to demonstrate once again its ability to operate on an international scale and to open new laboratories in support of its clients where they operate.

SATelliTe lABoRAToRieS oPen