CALIBRATION SOLUTIONS
GOING UNDERGROUND
INDYSOFT
ENSURING THE SAFETY AND
EFFICIENT OPERATION OF THE TUBE
With a history that dates back to 1863
when the world’s first underground railway,
London Underground, was formed in
1985. Having continuously evolved to
meet the expanding transport needs of
Greater London and parts of the counties of
Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex,
London Underground Limited (LUT) has
grown in to an immense network. Today’s
far-reaching system serves 275 stations and
embracers over 408 km of railway, ensuring
that an astonishing three million passenger
journeys are made daily.
To help ensure the safety and efficient
operation of the tube, LUT engineers have
access to more than 20,000 instruments
and gauges. In addition to specialised and
bespoke equipment, the extensive inventory
includes track gauges, multi-meters, torque
wrenches, crimp tools, verniers, micrometers,
and electrical and pressure gauges.
To certify the continued accuracy of LUT’s
gauges and instruments, calibration
procedures are performed by a team of
skilled calibration engineers at LUT’s Lillie
Road depot in Fulham. Each calibration
staff member has access to a variety of
highly accurate, UKAS traceable calibration
apparatus, including torque testers, digital
height gauges, manometers, plus electrical
and pressure test equipment.
It is the calibration department’s job to track
the location of these gauges and instruments
and to ensure that each piece of equipment
remains in calibration. In addition to LUT’s
huge gauge and instrument inventory being
distributed over multiple locations that have
several different departments, items can
also be booked-out and used on-site. Given
that LUT’s calibration procedures takes place
either on a 6 month or 12 month cycle, the
status and tracking of 20,000 instruments
and gauges has previously presented
extremely challenging logistical problems.
LUT’s calibration facility previously operated
a business process compliance system,
although, as LUT’s gauge and instrument
inventory grew, this inflexible software
struggled to handle the large volumes of
records and the required management tasks.
To help overcome these difficulties a search
was made to find a flexible software package
that was able to match all of the company’s
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stringent demands, and that would also
remain ‘future-proof’ as LUT’s gauge
and instrument inventory grew. Having
considered several other options, IndySoft
was judged to be the most suitable software
for both current and future needs.
After LUT purchased its first user licence
and following a short training period, staff
were immediately able to make use of all
basic tasks, then, as IndySoft proved to be
intuitive and easy to use, more advanced
functions were quickly mastered. Also,
all existing gauge data and history was
imported directly into the IndySoft program,
from LUT’s older application, without any
problems.
As LUT’s calibration department have quite
specific requirements the help and support
provided by IndySoft allowed the software
to be configured to suit the department’s
own particular needs. Now, as IndySoft
introduces additional software features,
LUT staff makes use of the company’s
readily available support and assistance.
For instance, having recently implemented
an IndySoft feature that, at the start of
every month, allows the department to
automatically email its ‘customers’ with a
calibration-due reminder, IndySoft’s UK staff
provided help in putting the new system
into practice.