Hello all, I'm writing our Scale calibration SOP/Program and I cant find any concrete information on calibrations. Right now based on finding stuff online about Scale tolerances I have this in my draft SOP: Weight Range, Tolerance, Less than 1 pound, ± 0.1 grams, 1.0-11.0 pounds, ± 1 grams, 11.01-150.00 pounds, ± 10 grams. Also I'm looking for help on what I actually need for calibration weights. As of right now we do zero calibration. I'm setting up a yearly calibration for a 3rd party very soon. But for now I'm looking to purchase some calibration weights for our scales for the daily/weekly/monthly verification? Right now we use scales for our finished product packaging (2oz up to 12oz pouches) that max out at 11 pounds. I'm thinking of purchasing a 50g and a 500 gram weight to verify those scales. We also have ingredient Scales that go up to 150 pounds max. Normally we don't weigh anything over 50 pounds. So I was thinking of buying a 10LB weight and a 50LB weight to verify these scales. My questions are as follows:
Are there actual guidelines on what I should use for tolerances? I've found some info on scale intervals and resolutions but I must be a little dense because I cant follow it and make any sense of it. Not that it matters though because these scales are so old the labels are either missing or unreadable.
Are these possible acceptable weight calibrations? My old job we did lowest and largest weight normally weighed. I was thinking 50 pounds but the new production manager said a 10LB weight should be more then acceptable.
Do the calibration weights need to be NIST Traceable($ factor)?
How frequently do we need to verify the scales once this process gets going? My old job we did it daily and the production manager here is saying they did it monthly at his old place. We're both new here as this business has just started to grow out of the MA & POP stage and trying to get SQF certified. We're a RTE granola product if that matters. Thanks in advance for any help at all!