CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
Airmen of the 437th Maintenance Squadron Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratory were recommended for certification during an Air Force Metrology and Calibration Program outbrief on base Oct. 12 after passing all six critical areas.
"I'm very proud of the PMEL lab for their AFMETCAL certification," said Maj. George Unsinger, 437th Maintenance Squadron commander. "This not only validates their hard work on providing only quality products, but it tells our customers they can have confidence in their equipment we have worked on. Also, Senior Master Sgt. Layden and his team have a very exacting job, and they performed as always -- awesome!"
Two AFMETCAL metrology laboratory evaluators, Master Sgts. Rodney Hartwig and Danna Parrish, evaluated Charleston AFB's PMEL from Oct. 5 to 12. These two members are part of an 11-person team from the 562nd Combat Sustainment Group in Heath, Ohio, who take turns evaluating 77 PMELs Air Force-wide.
PMELs are certified once every two years. The purpose of evaluating a PMEL for certification is to assess the capability of the laboratory to perform measurements that are safe, accurate, reliable and traceable to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The last time Charleston's PMEL was evaluated was in February 2006. This was one-and-a-half years ago because the two-year evaluation period was when the PMEL was in a temporary facility awaiting a new permanent location. Therefore, the evaluation was pushed back a few months to allow time for the Airmen to move into the newly-renovated facility and adjust to the different features. The evaluation this month got the Charleston PMEL back on the schedule they had for evaluations.
"We are pleased to say they did a very good job," said Sergeant Parrish. "We had a conversation with the lab members yesterday and they seem very proactive about wanting to do the right thing."
The PMEL certification is completed in three phases: pre-assessment, on-site and certification review.
Pre-assessment occurs up to 30 days prior to the actual audit. Lab members submit information to the evaluation team so they can show up for the audit with information that is already verified. This information includes reviews of the current quality manual, master inventory data, internal audit and management review, 12 months of Quality Program summary, critical nonconformities in the past 12 months, quarterly trend analysis from last year, environmental data from last year, and all technicians with an AFMETCAL K-stamp.
The second phase, on-site, took place Oct. 5 to 12 with over-the-shoulder evaluations, also known as Measurement Capability Assessment.
To be recommended for certification, the lab members needed to pass six critical areas: Quality System, MCA, QP, facility, Environmental Control System and the Proficiency Testing and Measurement Assurance Program.
Now, the PMEL is in the final stage, certification review. Once the evaluation team recommends the lab for certification, the information is sent to Col. Robert Gaudette, 562 CBSG commander, and Chief Master Sgt. Matt Brown, 562 CBSG Evaluation Office superintendent, for final review and approval for certification.
An area the evaluators noted as "excellent" that was not part of the certification criteria was scheduling and materiel control because there was a minimal amount of items overdue and no items were awaiting parts.
"This team had very good operations," said Sergeant Hartwig. "They met the requirements, and this is one of the best facilities I've seen."
"I'm very pleased with the outcome, said Senior Master Sgt. Gerald Layden, 437 MXS Test, Measurement and Diagnostic Equipment Flight chief. "The results resembled exactly what we've been doing. The accuracy of the equipment we work on ties back to the accuracy's of everybody else's work on base.