Without scales? What would a world be - CECIP
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What would a world be without scales?
2 | What would a world be without scales?
What would a world be so that our food always has the to small service providers are
without scales? same taste. Scales are used for continuously working to enable
What would a world without quality assurance in industri- research, improve productions
scales look like? Certainly not al production, for example, to processes and ensure fair trade,
the way we all know it. Various detect low-quality parts with positively impacting daily lives
types of scales accompany our air inclusions or missing parts all over Europe.
daily lives without us always in larger elements. Scales can
noticing. Scales are a funda- also assist in counting compo- A look back - the history
mental part of medical and nents – for example, ensuring of weighing
pharmaceutical research, with- the correct number of screws in The exact date of the invention
out which the development a packaging unit - so that down- of the scale cannot be defined,
of drugs would be impossible. stream processes run smoothly. but it is closely linked to the de-
Scales are used to perform for- These are just a few examples velopment of civilisation and
mulations in food production, of why accurate and reliable the need to measure goods
scales have such a big impact. with a value. However, the use
The European weighing in- of scales in medical and do-
dustry, represented by CECIP, mestic use is relatively new and
is providing and maintaining began about 250 years ago.
the weighing instruments that First findings of a beam balance
allows the world to work as it in Egypt are more than 7000
is done now. Companies rang- years old. Around 500 BC, the
ing from large manufacturers accuracy of the beam balance
was improved by the Etruscans. weight. Decimal and kitchen
The Romans used unequal-arm scales were then developed in
scales around 100 B.C., which the first half of the 19th century,
had a movable weighing piece and around 1895 the first scales
on the longer arm as well as a with simultaneous price display
line marking to determine the appeared.
weight. The advantage of these In 1939, two engineers ush-
scales was that one sliding ered in the age of electronic
weight replaced a large num- scales with the use of electrical
ber of counterweights. In 1669, resistance changes, which was
the Frenchman Gilles Personne further advanced in 1981 with
de Roberval invented the table the first design of a fully elec-
balance. The special feature of tronic scale. In the meantime,
these was that the position of the development of the bal-
the goods did not affect the ance has progressed far and is
result. In addition to the table continuously being optimised.
scale, the inclination scale was The performance reaches into
also invented by Philipp Mat- the nanogram range, built-
thäus Hahn in the 17th centu- in cameras - e.g. self-service
ry. Its advantage was a direct scales at the fruit counter – sup-
weight indication, which works port the user or weighing data
without moving and placing a are automatically and wireless-
What would a world be without scales? | 3
4 | What would a world be without scales?
ly transferred from the scale What impact do scales tion process itself, to quality
to different software systems. have on our daily lives? control and packaging and lo-
However, the interesting histo- Scales and weighing solutions gistics.
ry of the development of scales are more present in our lives
is far from over, which will bring than we realise at first glance. Incoming goods
us many more exciting devel- A large number of objects that When raw materials are deliv-
opments for the future. surround us and with which we ered, the process begins with
have daily contact would not the determination of the raw
exist or would not exist in the material quantity, usually by
form we know without scales. means of weighing. For this
Since the number is so high, we purpose, scales for trucks or
can only give a small insight trains, built-in scales or load
into the influence of scales cells in tanks or silos as well as
on our daily lives. However, it pallet or floor scales can be
gives a good overview of how
extensive and, above all, irre-
placeable weighing technology
solutions have become. Scales
in general accompany the value
chain from incoming goods in
production, through research
and development, the produc-
used. Even the moisture con- and components. Overfilling track inventory movements and
tent of powders or granules and underfilling are avoided thus avoid out-of-stock situa-
can be determined by means of and quality parameters such as tions.
moisture analyzers (also called tightness of packaging, closure In quality control, scales
drying scales), whose technolo- torques or the frictional stabili- play an important role in an-
gy is based on the weight loss ty of tablets are ensured. alytical applications, such as
of the sample by heating. Bench or floor scales are quality assurance for food or
then often used in manual pro- pharmaceuticals, but also in
Production and quality control duction steps. The scales assist identifying incomplete or dam-
During production, weighing employees in counting pieces aged products – as in the plas-
modules and load cells in fill- so that customer orders can tics or metal industries. Here,
ing, dosing and formulation be processed without missing the weight of a component
systems support the correct or excess components. At the provides information about its
use of individual raw materials same time, counting scales can quality. On the other hand, in-
What would a world be without scales? | 5
6 | What would a world be without scales?
tegrated checkweighing solu- would suddenly appear very the packaging system for indi-
tions ensure the completeness arbitrary. vidual packages or even palle-
of assemblies, kits or individual tised freight automates the pro-
delivery units. In filling systems, Packaging and logistics cesses.
weighing is the only method of Overweight vehicles can dam-
filling control that is not depen- age road infrastructure and The importance of qual-
dent on container shape, densi- cause accidents with serious ity, reliability and safety
ty differences, foam formation consequences. Thus, the deter- If scales do not work reliably,
or air pockets. mination of the weight of a load this can have a significant im-
serves the safety of transport. pact. For example, in the case
Retail Freight costs often depend of pharmaceuticals, only the
The weight determines the on weight and volume and are smallest amounts of active in-
price. Otherwise, the prices thus essential for accurate in- gredient can have an impact on
at the supermarket checkout voicing. Integrating a scale into the life and death of a patient.
The effects are of course not al-
ways immediately so dramatic,
but the user of a scale should
always be able to rely on its re-
sults - whether in the nanogram
or ton range. In this respect, it
is important that a scale is of
good quality. Only high-qual-
ity scale parts, combined with comparison objects. Only if a
careful assembly, will allow balance works accurately is it a
many years of daily use without reliable measuring and testing
failures due to broken compo- instrument. Inadequate mea-
nents. If repairs are necessary, it surement results can have se-
is important that they are carried rious consequences - from im-
out by trained specialists using mense costs to significant legal
approved spare parts - prefer- consequences.
ably directly from the manufac-
turer. The European weighing Legal framework for
industry supplies the high-qual- weighing
ity scales and carries out the re- It is important that someone
pairs to guarantee the quality of is able to trust the weighing
scales. instruments they use. For cen-
To ensure accurate results turies legal metrology legisla-
from a scale, it must also be tion is in place to guarantee the
checked or calibrated regular- quality of weighing. Currently,
ly. This involves determining there is a comprehensive legal
whether the scale deviates from framework consisting of Euro-
the true, actual value of the pean and national legislation,
measure. Callibration is done international standards and
with the help of metrological guidelines to protect users and
What would a world be without scales? | 7
8 | What would a world be without scales?
consumers. Particularly in the verifications. This way the legal
area of commercial transactions, framework protects users and
medical diagnoses and legal customers.
disputes these requirements
are strict and not-negotiable. Outlook into the future
Consequently, the weighing in- of scale development
struments need to meet certain In the last 20 years alone, there
standards when being sold and have been fundamental ad-
during its lifetime they need to vances in the weighing industry,
continue functioning correct- be it in the area of resolution
ly. In most European countries and accuracy, the connection to
this means the weighing instru- automatic dosing and control
ments are also obliged to be systems, automatic network-
checked on a regular basis. ing in databases, integration in
For purchasers it is essen- software systems, the combina-
tial to buy the weighing instru- tion with cameras or intelligent
ments that are compliant with self-checking functions of the
the legislation. Additionally, us- scales themselves. Develop-
ers need to follow national leg- ment of innovative weighing
islation and ensure the accuracy instruments is ongoing and is
of the weighing instrument over currently focusing very strongly
the years by having periodic re- on the topic of data integration
and facilitation of daily use for recipes on the smartphone to for almost all industries de-
the user. Here, the gain in effi- match the food purchased are mand appropriate instruments
ciency through time savings in also an innovation as well as and processes for quality con-
the individual weighing process the implementation of sustain- trol, in which the scales can
plays a major role. Tests are also ability in the entire production support the user considerably.
being carried out to find out and food industry. In the pro-
which media the scales can use duction sector, rejects due to So, it remains very exciting
to support the user even more flawless batches are becoming how weighing technology solu-
in the individual process steps. increasingly important, as is tions will continue to support us
Virtual reality glasses or intel- the avoidance of overfilling or in the coming years to simplify
ligent laboratory tables that underfilling and the complete our daily lives.
communicate with the scales traceability of results.
play an important role here. At the same time, increas-
Scales in retail that provide ingly strict legal requirements
What would a world be without scales? | 9
10 | What would a world be without scales?
Who is CECIP? instruments plays an important » Co-operating with the metro-
About us role in every industry, contrib- logical services in the estab-
CECIP is the European associa- uting to the quality of the final lishment and amendment of
tion for national trade organisa- product. the regulatory environment;
tions representing the Europe- Today, CECIP is playing its » Reducing the technical and
an manufacturers of weighing role within Europe, striving for administrative regulations
instruments. Founded in 1958, common and harmonised stan- relevant to weighing instru-
CECIP has today 14 members. dards to be adopted at Euro- ments to those requirements
These include 11 national mem- pean and International levels. which are necessary not to
ber associations from: Austria, These standards and legislation harm users;
Czech Republic, France, Ger- should provide safety and qual- » Ensuring harmonisation of na-
many, Italy, Netherlands, Po- ity to both consumers and users tional regulations and the use
land, Slovakia, Spain, Switzer- of weighing instruments. CECIP of established international
land and United Kingdom and aims to provide valuable contri- standards, in order to elim-
three company members from butions to improve the quality inate barriers to cross-bor-
Portugal, Sweden and Turkey. of legislation and standards. der trade of weighing instru-
The weighing industry has ments;
gone through tremendous The mission of CECIP » Promoting a good under-
changes in the past decades CECIP´s mission is: standing of modern weigh-
with new technologies and » Promoting a high quality ing technology, especially in
techniques being introduced in standard in the manufacture developing countries;
all sectors. Nowadays weighing of weighing instruments; » Ensuring that national and in-ternational requirements do ments (many of them being competition law. CECIP be-
not prevent the development partly or even over 50 % active lieves that business shall be
of new weighing technolo- on related fields as well). The conducted in an atmosphere
gies; weighing industry in total em- of free competition, i.e. on the
» Liaising with national and in- ploys around 50.000 people basis of price and quality. CE-
ternational organisations and and has a turnover of about 3 CIP recognises that competi-
with end users concerning all billion Euros. tion law intends to stimulate
aspects of legal metrology in- There is a wide variety of free competition, something
cluding consistent interpreta- weighing instruments that are which has CECIP’s full support.
tion of requirements; produced by the industry. These CECIP feels it is important to
» Ensuring fair trade practices range from weighbridges and confirm this by adopting a
by all weighing instrument supermarket scales to high-pre- Code of Conduct. This Code
manufacturers worldwide. cision scales in laboratories. Re- of Conduct shall be binding on
liable and high-quality weighing all members as well as on other
Power behind CECIP instruments improve processes participants when taking part in
European weighing instru- and equipment in various ways. activities of CECIP. The Code of
ments manufacturers, includ- Conduct aims at providing clear
ing members of CECIP, repre- Code of conduct rules to CECIP’s members, thus
sent over 50 % of the worldwide CECIP believes it is important reducing the risk of improper
trade volume. There are ca. that its activities are at all times conduct and consequently of
700 companies active in the carried out in accordance with fines being imposed.
production of weighing instru- the applicable law, especially www.cecip.eu
What would a world be without scales? | 11Our Office The secretariat of CECIP is located in Brussels and led by the Secre- tary General. It is in charge of the daily management of the associa- tion. In addition, the secretariat coordinates the work of the working groups of CECIP by organising and assisting their meetings. Contact us Bluepoint Building Boulevard Auguste Reyers 80 1030 Brussels Tel.: +32 (0)2 706 82 15 Email: info@cecip.eu © 03/2021 CECIP
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