World's largest measurement laboratory calibrates half a million measuring instruments annually

Trescal is an independent expert in calibration services that performs more than half a million interventions annually. As the company grows, wants to become greener and offer its employees an optimal workplace, the decision was made to leave the Antwerp site and open a new calibration laboratory in Wommelgem, Belgium. The largest in the world. Here, instruments from more than 70,000 customers are calibrated; ranging from Pfizer and Coca-Cola to Defense, Rolex and Tesla.

Trescal started fifty years ago in France and in 2011 opened Trescal Benelux with its headquarters in Antwerp. This Benelux branch now has 420 employees working at various locations. Recently, the Antwerp headquarters moved to Wommelgem. Kasper Pijs is Sales Manager and states: "The move was necessary because we are easily outgrowing our premises. We are getting more and more orders from the aerospace, automotive, pharmaceutical, chemical, energy, electronics, manufacturing and telecommunications sectors in Belgium, the Netherlands and the EMEA region."

For these customers, Trescal's technicians perform no less than half a million interventions per year in the areas of calibration, 3D metrology and cleanroom validation and qualification. But in addition, the company continues to expand its services and aims to relieve its customers in various areas of metrology.

Consider calibration of instrumentation for measuring electricity, pressure, temperature and moisture, dimensional, mechanical, optical and physical 3D meshing, volume, mass, flow, particle counting, anemometry, and so on.

More space for man and machine

Pijs: "To perform all this work, we needed more space. But also for storing instruments and measuring kits for customers. In addition, we felt it was important to reduce our carbon footprint and make our logistics even more efficient. After all, we offer to pick up measuring instruments from customers and - after calibration - bring them back. All within the agreed time and the desired (high) quality standards. Last but not least, we wanted the working environment for our employees to be more professional and safer. Only then can we also facilitate in the professional growth of our technicians and engineers."

To guarantee the agreed turnaround times, the laboratories in Hengelo, Zoetermeer, Louvain-La-Neuve, Wellin, Eindhoven and Sint-Renelde remained operational. Both before and after the move. On-site technicians also remained active while Trescal Benelux was supported during the move by the international network of laboratories in France, Spain and the UK. Pijs: "The platforms for instrument and certificate management and the call systems (Trescal Vision and Trescal View) remain online and can be consulted without interruption."

New laboratory

As far as Trescal Benelux is concerned, the industrial park in Wommelgem is the perfect place for the new laboratory. For example, the nearby highway contributes to the accessibility and reachability. On the other hand, the absence of a nearby railroad is advantageous because a passing train could affect the high-precision measurements performed in the lab. And there are many of them: on the three floors of the lab, which is twice the size of the previous lab (6,000 m2), there is a variety of equipment for calibrating lasers, oscilloscopes and other measuring instruments for measuring pressure, temperature, flow and distance, among other things. The most high-tech machines are the 3D measuring machines that measure extremely accurately: down to 1.6 microns, some 40% of time is measured here for the pharmaceutical sector.

Pijs concludes, "The instruments come from all over the Benelux and from a large number of different customers who have different accuracy requirements. In the most extreme case, these go up to two ten-thousandths of a gram and one two-thousandth of a hair. Incidentally, our own standards are also calibrated in the same lab. This in turn is important for accurate calibration on site at the customer's premises. For more information about our capabilities to also calibrate your instrumentation, contact Trescal Benelux."

Visit Trescal at the WoTS - Booth number 8A050