Metrology in the National Agricultural Technology Institute (INTA)

The National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) is an Argentinean state agency. It was created in 1956 in order to "promote and strength the development of agricultural research and extension, accelerating the benefits of these basic functions: the modernization and improvement of agrarian company and rural life." The main aim of INTA is to contribute to the competitiveness of the agricultural, forestry and agro-industrial sector throughout the country, in a context of environmental and social sustainability. In the Institutional Strategic Plan 2005-2015 and 2015-2025 it has adopted the international models of ISO Standards to establish its Quality Management Systems (QMS), allowing it to demonstrate a commitment to quality and excellence in the services provided. When an organization works under determined QMS -ISO 17025must demonstrate proficiency to produce technically valid results. Consequently, all equipment that has a significant effect on the accuracy or validity of the results: must be calibrated before use and must be periodically reviewed or maintained. These operations have a high degree of outsourcing, with significant costs and logistical problems. To solve these problems, an area of Metrology was established in INTA. This area contributes to the compliance in the measurement processes in laboratories.

System (SI) and Staff Training".This enabled the purchase of reference equipment and formation and staff training.
The aim of this work is to develop the main aspects of the formation and training of staff Metrology under the SGM project.

DEVELOPMENT
To achieve compliance with the objective of SGM two action plans were establish.First, the design of the calibration software that allows calibrating in a few minutes without the need of making any staff calculation was design.The software was designed in Excel and was based on internationally accepted calibration procedures (1).Chronologically the development of the software was: 2005: balance calibration software 2009: volumetric calibration software 2011: thermometers calibration software 2015: weights calibration software The second action plan was the communication, formation and staff training in the basic aspects of metrology, in the use of the calibration software, in the interpretation of results and their impact on the respective measurement.
Once trained and after performing correctly a calibration, the person is accepted as an authorized calibration agent for that magnitude.The authorized calibration agents can perform calibrations or verifications in INTA´s agencies around the country.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Since its creation, the SGM has registered and stored the information on formation and trainings offered.The information of the period 2005-2016 was grouped by type (classroom or virtual) and classified by topic or magnitude (2).
It also has been registered the number of authorized agents for each magnitude and the amount of calibrations performed during that period.
Since December 2012 the management of the courses are certified under ISO 9001 with IRAM.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In the period 2005-2016, the SGM held 17 courses.In Table 1 the same are presented ordered by methodology and subject.51 % of the trainings were given in a classroom and the remaining 49 % as a distance course.In the period, 348 were formed in the subject.
If we evaluate the effectiveness of formation and training done by measuring the amount of authorized agents during this period, we observe that nowadays we have an overall the 102 agents, 56 allowed to calibrated balances, 36 volumetric items and 10 thermometer (Fig. 2).
If we analyze the number of calibrations performed in the period 2011 to 2016 we observe in Fig. 3

CONCLUSIONS
Metrology wasn´t a popular matter at INTA.After the formation and training started, more agents were aware of its importance and relevance in INTA.New agents have been trained and new magnitudes have been included in SGM when the needs were detected and the commitment with the accuracy for results was appreciated.
The formation and training in Metrology has allowed to have authorized staff to calibrate in different magnitudes in house in different agencies, reducing the costs.
The number of services given by SGM has increased year to year; a trained agent with the equipment available performed each calibration using the software design also in house.The centralized training and in house metrological services in an organization with the size and complexity of INTA probably has allowed to generate economies of scale, organizational culture and a common language.The evolutionary collective learning and exchange of experiences has possibly facilitated the services of the SGM in the several agencies and resulted in lower costs.

Fig. 1 .
Fig. 1.Distribution of courses and calibration training for each magnitude in the period 2005 -2016