Overview:
For a global life sciences and diagnostics manufacturer supporting hospitals, laboratories, and research institutions worldwide, precision and uptime are critical. Their instruments and manufacturing systems enable millions of diagnostic tests each day, making calibration accuracy and availability essential to patient care and regulatory compliance.
The organization operates across a distributed North American footprint, with multiple manufacturing and service sites supporting both factory operations and field engineering teams. As it expanded and restructured its calibration strategy following changes within its legacy service provider, reliability became harder to maintain. Turnaround times grew unpredictable. Data accuracy declined. Communication gaps increased. What had once been a stable program became a growing operational risk.
They needed a calibration partner that could restore predictability quickly while coordinating service delivery across several active sites and a large installed base of critical assets.
The Challenge:
The manufacturer had relied on a long-standing calibration provider within its broader corporate ecosystem. Over time, they ran into multiple challenges that impacted their productivity.
Key challenges included:
- Turnaround times extending from days to multiple weeks
- Gaps in calibration data accuracy
- Limited proactive communication during scheduling disruptions
- Growing backlogs of overdue equipment across multiple sites
These issues intensified as throughput demands increased. Factory teams, quality leaders, and field engineers began to feel the impact through delayed equipment availability and increased administrative effort.
With contracts approaching renewal and operational risk increasing, leadership initiated a formal evaluation of external calibration partners.
“We needed a partner who could bring consistency back to a calibration program spread across multiple sites. What mattered most was predictability, communication, and knowing our equipment wouldn’t become a bottleneck.”
Evaluation Process
The organization evaluated multiple regional and national calibration providers across different geographies. Selection criteria focused on:
- Technical capability across diverse asset classes
- Local laboratory and field service coverage
- Experience supporting factory environments and field engineers
- System-of-record support and data integrity
- Turnaround time and proactive communication
- Cost structure and scalability
A major concern during evaluation was the ability to transition quickly from an embedded technician model to a distributed local-support approach without further disrupting operations.
The Solution:
SIMCO stood out as a partner capable of supporting both centralized manufacturing sites and distributed field operations.
Key differentiators included:
- Local laboratory support aligned to key manufacturing regions
- Strong field engineer expertise supporting both factory and in-situ assets
- A service model designed around predictable turnaround times
- CERDAAC as a system of record for asset visibility, scheduling, and data integrity
A live demonstration of CERDAAC helped build confidence in digital workflows for out-of-tolerance management, asset lifecycle tracking, and proactive scheduling. These capabilities aligned with the organization’s longer-term goals to reduce manual effort and standardize calibration management across sites.
“This transition wasn’t just about replacing a vendor. It was about building a calibration program that could scale across multiple sites without constant intervention from our teams.”
Implementation:
SIMCO’s customer success and operations teams led a structured onboarding process that included:
- Site visits and stakeholder introductions
- CERDAAC training for coordinators and engineers
- Contract setup and asset data reconciliation
- Configuration of user access and workflows
The transition moved faster than expected, with service handoff completed in roughly half the originally anticipated timeline. While data inconsistencies from the previous provider required additional cleanup, proactive coordination helped stabilize day-to-day operations quickly.
Early feedback highlighted strong engagement during training sessions and improved transparency compared to the prior model.
Early Impact:
The partnership is in its early growth phase, with clear indicators of progress:
- Improved visibility into overdue and upcoming calibrations
- Reduced uncertainty around scheduling and turnaround expectations
- Faster onboarding of assets into a single system of record
- Increased confidence among site teams during the transition period
As the partnership matures, the organization plans to measure improvements across turnaround time, audit readiness, asset utilization, and administrative effort.
Managing a vendor transition or struggling with calibration visibility across multiple sites?
SIMCO helps organizations restore predictability with local lab and field support, structured onboarding, and CERDAAC for complete asset visibility and scheduling control.
Visit SIMCO.com to request a consultation today.