The Consequence of Not Calibrating (2)

A city police department's radar speed violation tickets were legally invalidated in court after somebody proved the calibration process for the radar guns wasn't traceable to national standards.

"Honestly officer, battery-powered milk floats can't do 75 miles per hour.... even downhill."

Over-stated

A manufacturer of FM Stereo Tuners claimed 50dB stereo separation. However, a hi-fi enthusiasts' magazine published an independent evaluation indicating it to be only 30dB for a sample unit. Obviously, this wasn't exactly the kind of publicity the manufacturer had hoped for since sales might be adversely affected. It turned out they were using a "poorly" calibrated FM stereo generator for final adjustment on the production line -- L-R gain and pilot phase were out of tolerance. The calibration error was then corrected, but the damage to the company's reputation had been done.

Misleading Scales

A major manufacturer of premium golf balls didn't have their weighing scales checked because they were used "for shipping purposes only". They shipped out large containers of balls based on total weight. After a program of periodic calibration was finally implemented, they discovered that each bin contained 300 more balls than had been stated which was equivalent to a $500 loss per bin.

• More (Consequence of Not Calibrating -3)