Graeme Payne Consultant Profile

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Background


Graeme C. Payne -- GK Systems, Inc.

Graeme C. Payne, the President of GK Systems, Inc., has over 30 years of experience in metrology, electronics, product testing, systems test and maintenance, and other areas related to Quality Assurance. He has worked for the US Department of the Navy (in a production-level electronics calibration lab, a calibration standards lab, and a product testing lab), as the metrology engineer for the electronics calibration program of a major US airline, and with a company that develops laboratory management and calibration automation software. GK Systems works with accreditation bodies and other clients on projects dealing with ISO/IEC 17025 and laboratory accreditation, the ISO 9000 series of quality management standards, general measurement solutions, and training for all of these.

Graeme is a Senior Member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) and holds several ASQ Certifications (below). He is an active volunteer with ASQ, holding a number of local and society-wide leadership positions. He is a Charter member and past Chairperson of the ASQ Measurement Quality Division (2005-2007). He is a co-author of The Metrology Handbook (ASQ Quality Press, 2004), and has written a number of articles for ASQ's Quality Progress magazine. He also participated in development of the Certified Calibration Technician examination. He is a speaker at local ASQ section meetings, as well as regional, national and international ASQ conferences.

Graeme is also an individual professional member of NSCL International and a member of their Equipment Specifications committee. He is also a speaker and trainer at NCSLI regional meetings and the annual international conference, and at the annual Measurement Science Conference.




Services Offered


Measurement and Testing Systems

All business decisions should be based on data. (W. Edwards Deming.) In manufacturing, research and development, and most services, the data come from measurements. To provide useful data, measurement systems must be appropriate, managed, validated, and use calibrated instruments. GK Systems can apply over 30 years experience in electronic calibration and product testing to the evaluation of your measurement systems. Typical topics for consulting, evaluation or training include

Business Quality Systems

A business is a system of processes that transform resources and customer requirements into products or services. To the customer, quality is an important requirement or attribute, therefore quality should be integrated into every business process. ISO 9001 and its related family of standards is an internationally accepted and understood framework for quality-oriented business processes. Additional standards which are based on the ISO 9000 series but apply to specific industry sectors, follow the same principles. These standards include the ones listed here as well as many others:

Measurement Management Systems

There are other standards that are included by reference into the ISO 9000 family by reference, but which are very often overlooked. Many of these are guides to business process improvement and management, and some are actual requirements. From the measurement science and measurement quality viewpoint, the most important of the additional requirements standards is ISO 10012, Measurement Management System.

The measurement management system includes all measurements that affect product quality, anywhere in the organization, from planning and prototype through end-of-life of the product. It requires documenting factors such as what measurements need to be make - and where they are made, the instrument type and accuracy requirements, measurement system verification and validation, required intervals for validation and calibration, and much more. We can provide guidance on meeting the requirements of these and other standards.

Internal Assessments and Audits

Many small companies have concerns about performing the internal auditing required by quality management, laboratory accreditation, or other standards. All quality-related standards require scheduled internal audits of the system, and management review of the results. The smaller a company is, the harder it is for them to have qualified internal auditors or assessors who are also independent of the function being audited. GK Systems can alleviate that concern by contracting to do the internal auditing for you.

This can be particularly beneficial for calibration and testing laboratories. There are many people who are capable of doing internal audits of a basic quality management system, but we are ALSO capable of properly evaluating your measurement, calibration or test systems - including measurement methods, measurement uncertainty, and proficiency test coverage.

Other Services by Arrangement

GK Systems can perform other services -- just ask! For example, one client often asks us to make small purchases for them from suppliers that do not accept their American Express corporate purchasing card. Another specialty is short-term or fast-response research or analysis of various topics.