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LOS BANOS – A regional laboratory to calibrate industrial and small-scale equipment with precision instruments opened here Tuesday to service the country’s manufacturing heartland.

Science Secretary Mario G. Montejo, inaugurating the Regional Metrology Laboratory (RML), called it a regional solution to a national need, "enabling companies to be more competitive."

The RML was established in 2003 by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in partnership with the Laguna State Polytechnic University-Los Baños (LSPU) where it was housed until the new laboratory was constructed.

It provides calibration services for length, mass, electrical quantities, temperature, pressure, and small volume and uses modern calibration equipment and methods that conform to national and international standards.

"The idea is to provide international traceability of measurements and contribute to the production of goods that satisfy health, safety, environment and the fair trade standards of the international market," said Dr. Alexander R. Madrigal, DOST Calabarzon regional director. "It will provide world-class services for the public and industries."

Adjacent to Metro Manila, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) is home to high-tech multinational firms, heavy manufacturing companies, light and medium businesses as well as small and cottage industries.

Some of the country’s biggest manufacturing companies are located in the region’s industrial estates and science and technology parks.

In 2009, the RML serviced over 100 companies for thermometry, pressure, mass and value, electrical and length measurements.

RML client-firms reflect the wide diversity of calibration needs in Calabarzon such as in manufacturing, electronics, food, rubber, plastic, gas, medical centers, analytical laboratories and state universities and colleges.

These include Amherst Laboratories, Boyd Coffee Philippines, Epson Precision, Gourmet Farms, Guaranfoods, Hitachi Industrial Machinery Philippines Corp., Toyota Motor Philippines Corp., United Coconut Chemicals Inc. and Vitalife Agri Ventures.

Toyota Motor Philippines, for example, uses RML services to calibrate its temperature and pressure gauges used in the assembly of cars. On the other end, gas stations have to ensure that its pumps are accurate while hospitals need to guarantee the accuracy of medical instruments.

Metrology services are in demand; there are over 20 private calibration centers in Metro Manila and Calabarzon. These need to calibrate their instruments either at the National Metrology Laboratory at the DOST complex in Bicutan or, now for the first time, at the RML at the DOST Science and Technology Complex, Jamboree Road, Los Baños.

"According to international standards, measuring instruments should be calibrated at least once a year," said engineer Samuel L. Caperiña, head of the RML. "Weighing scales, for example, may deviate by 100 grams to 200 grams when used constantly."

"Our role is to ensure that local industries comply with the law that requires such calibration," he added.

The RML’s on-site services reduce the cost of transporting equipment for testing and make these available for use soon after. "We also provide training for private companies and local governments for them to do in-house calibration," said Caperiña, a mechanical engineer.

Expansion plans include hospitals (for dialysis machines, for example), water districts (such as measuring water valves) and state colleges and universities, all of which have laboratories that require calibration.

"There are serious consequences when high-blood pressure and blood glucose level are wrongly measured," observed LSPU president Dr. Ricardo A. Wagan, adding the accuracy of medical devices must be verified by precision instruments.

"Metrology is the science of measurement," said Caperiña, who is also Laguna provincial science and technology director. "It concerns the application of measurement science to manufacturing and other processes to guarantee the accuracy of instruments and their calibration."

The RML is part of a network of laboratories of DOST Calabarzon that includes the Regional Standards and Testing Laboratory for food, feeds, water, wastewater as well as nutrition analysis and shelf life study in Los Baños; Cavite Waste and Wastewater Testing Laboratory in Trece Martires City; and the Regional Volumetric Calibration Laboratory in Batangas City for big volume measurements for oil depots and gasoline tankers.

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