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Driving “National Metrology to International Metrology”
For Thai industrial standards and public safety
In hindsight, during the time of the “Tom Yam Kung” crisis, Thailand was partly from trade, especially export of food and agricultural produce to Europe. The reason for this is that at the time,Thailand did not have an international metrology required as a standard scientific system accepted worldwide.
The National Institute of Metrology (Thailand) (NIMT) was established in 1998 to be the main organisation in developing national metrology system in line with international metrology system as well as providing support to
the standardisation system that Thailand already has. This announced to the world that Thailand was capable of producing industrial and agricultural products of quality with international acceptance. This was also strengthening the ability to compete in international trade while promoting consumer protection in the country.
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Head of Electrical Metrology Department, NIMT, a pioneer in driving and improving NQI
Dr. Sivinee Sawatdiaree, Head of Electrical Metrology Department, NIMT, a pioneer in driving and improving NQI, defines “metrology” as “measurement”, which is relevant in everyone’s daily lives. “All these are metrology: looking at the clock and seeing what time it is, doctors measuring body temperature, blood pressure, weight, and even examining blood or X-rays . Information drawing from these medical procedures does matter. Time for normal people is also significant and cannot be overlooked. Our successful appointment based on it.
Moreover, product manufacturing starts from design and determining simple characteristics such as shape and form which is expressed in terms of curvature, flatness, size, weight and other elements and continues to product manufacturing processes and quality control. So, the quality of products are all related to measurement. The quality can be achieved by starting from measuring consistently. And this is the role of our Institute.”
Many people may have doubts that if we have NIMT and internationally recognised metrology systems, why are non-standardised products still found in the market? Dr. Sivinee explained that: “Controlling the quality of products in the market is a huge issue. It must be done jointly with many parties. Still, there is a system that was developed to do this job, which our country may not be very familiar with: National Quality Infrastructure (NQI). The system will operate at full efficiency until there are no inferior or unsafe products entering the market.
In order to achieve this requires collaboration between organisations under the quality infrastructure of this country with both public and private organisations under five dimensions or areas.
The system will operate at full efficiency until there are no inferior or unsafe products entering the market. In order to achieve this requires collaboration between organisations under the quality infrastructure of this country with both public and private organisations under five dimensions or areas.
Metrology
Standardization
Accreditation
Conformity Assessment
Market Surveillance
“Of all these, the 5th has been added to the components in the past few years. The intention is to filter out non-quality products from the market. So, the market has only safe and standardised products for sale. One of the important benefits of NQI is that it is a mechanism that can raise the national standard to an internationally recognised standard. It is such a prospect if our standards are equivalent to international standards and have been accepted internationally. Aside from this, it allows Thai people to eat and use quality products and also prevents our exported products from being detained when in buyer countries. And if our products are outstanding in quality, then we can determine the selling price of our own. Therefore, we must promote the understanding of all relevant parties in this regard in order to enable all parties to join hands and develop a strong quality infrastructure system in order to use the mechanism seriously and effectively.”
NIMT uses the metrology knowledge to support the operation of the country’s quality infrastructure system. To date, NIMT has been working with various safety and quality control agencies such as the Thai Industrial Standards Institute (TISI) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure proper certification of various marks such as Thai Industrial Standard (TIS), FDA mark, or energy-saving labels no. 5. These require lengthy procedures to measure the quality of machinery, equipment and raw materials used in production. All tools significantly affect end product quality must be metrologically calibrated by qualified laboratories. NIMT has strengthened its work in chemical and biological metrology, and works closely with the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and agencies under them.
Thailand Standard Time
Measurement of UVC intensity at various coordinates around the prototype of UVC-germicidal Robot to determine appropriate exposure time.
Measurement of UVC intensity for determination of appropriate time period needed to effectively kill most micro- organism including COVID-19.
Develop sterilisers for Thammasat University Field Hospital
Ensure confidence in
Ventilator Tester
Building a standard tool to test medical thermometers
Verification kit to test PPE suites
Inter-laboratory SAR-CoV-2 comparison using Digital PCR
Confirming accuracy of research results
Developing a speed calibration system
The spread of
During the spread of COVID-19 in Thailand, NIMT, despite not being a medical and public health expert, was trying to utilise expertise in measurement to provide scientifically sound procedures and tools to examine whether facemasks and PPE suits that were donated to hospitals are good enough for medical personnel working at frontiers as well as applying metrological knowledge to repurpose household equipment like microwave ovens to disinfect personal belongings of medical personnel to give them confidence and peace of mind. At the same time, there is cooperation with oversea competent agencies in the study of the RNA of SAR-CoV-2 to assist methodological standardisation and confidence in global testing of the virus.
for Standardization
NIMT, additionally, is working with metrology institutions from various countries and has begun to participate in international work, especially in drafting international guidelines and standards. The Institute participated in the work at the ASEAN level in the field of standards and conformance, which include certain metrological aspects, through the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Industry. NIMT co-founded and has been honoured as the chiar of ASEAN Expert Group on Metrology for six years.
At the Asia-Pacific level, NIMT is a member of the APMP: Asia Pacific Metrology Programme, which has members in over 40 economies, and is an important part in the formation of its Developing Economies Committee.. At the international level, Thailand has been a member of the Metre Convention since 1912, which is the genius of King Rama VI, which the Ministry of Commerce later came to support on behalf of Thailand. At present, NIMT has taken action and developed the role until becoming more accepted.
NIMT has provided services to key operators as follows:
Providing calibration services for almost every measuring equipment and tool used by the industrial sector, especially high precision ones when general calibration and testing laboratories cannot do
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Providing training services such as new measurement technology that requires specific skills or high accuracy measurements and more. At present, there are quite a lot of people interested in training services. There are also consulting services for entrepreneurs, especially SMEs, in order to improve production capability using technology or with better production efficiency to increase the quality of the product and reduce waste.
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NIMT has been working in collaboration with other agencies for the safety of citizens.
The Institute has worked with the Royal Thai Police, Pollution Control Department, and others, especially for noise and vibration meters, and speed cameras and alcohol-level monitors. Accuracy and reliability of these devices are essential to enforce the laws with fairness and make people safe and have a better quality of life.