As a food business, it’s essential to make sure your food scales are calibrated. Even a high-quality scale will lose its accuracy over time. It’s normal for wear and tear to occur over time, causing the scale to display inaccurate numbers.
When you calibrate your scales, you’re testing to see how accurate they are and meet the correct standards. Having a scale that shows incorrect weights can harm your company through product quality issues, scrapped batches, and sometimes even product recalls.
The Scale Calibration Procedure
When you hire a company to perform a scale calibration test for you, they’ll place a known standard or certified mass on your scale. Then they’ll record the weight reading your scale displays. If your scale produces the known weight of the test object or if the result is within the calibration tolerance range, then your scale doesn’t need adjustments. But, if the weight isn’t within range, your scale will need to be adjusted to an acceptable state of accuracy.
Calibrating Your Scales
When you need to calibrate your scales depends on several different factors such as how often you use the scales, the manufacturer’s recommendations, how vital an exact weight is to your business, and the environment where you keep your scales. In some cases, scales will only need to be calibrated once a month; other times, they’ll only need to be calibrated once a year, while some companies will spot check its scales daily. Always check how often the manufacturer recommends you calibrate the scale first because they usually know best.
With the constant use of your scales, they’ll become less accurate more quickly than if they’re used less often. If there are many fluids, dust, or other substances around, it can cause a buildup on your scale and decrease its performance abilities. Static electricity and mechanical shocks can also cause your scales to become less accurate.
The most essential factor to consider is how important it is to your business to have accurate weights. Having your scales slightly off may not heavily affect the cost of one order, but if all your orders are off, that can drastically change how much your spending on ingredients in the long run. Don’t see it as an incorrect weight in one order, but an accumulation across all orders – 1kg over in weight across 100 orders is a massive 100kg loss to the company.
Conclusion
As a food business, it’s essential to make sure your scales are properly calibrated, whether that means you check them daily, once a year, or somewhere in between. Consider the factors that we mentioned throughout the article to figure how often you should be getting your scales calibrated.
It’s also important to know that if your scales are constantly off, as are many, it could be a sign of a more significant issue and should be looked into. With scales that display the correct weights, you’ll be able to ensure that all your products meet high-quality standards and will save you money in the long run.
