If your business uses heavy-duty industrial scales to weigh products, shipments, truckloads or anything else, it is critical that your scales are as accurate as possible. Having accurate scales ensures you don't over or undercharge for anything you sell by weight, and it also ensures you are compliant with any local, national or industry regulations regarding weights and measures.

To ensure your scale's accuracy, keep the following essential tips in mind:

1. Have your scales calibrated seasonally

Most industrial scales are designed to work in a range of weather conditions and temperatures, but things such as air density, barometric pressure and humidity can affect how accurately your scales work. In most cases, these weather-related differences make only small variances in weight readings, and although paying attention to these variances is critical for certain industries such as the nuclear waste disposal industry, these variances may not matter in other industries.

However, you should still have an expert calibrate your scales on a regular basis. To ensure that your scales maintain consistent readings regardless of the season, you may want to have your scales calibrated once in the summer and once in the winter. Scheduling your professional calibrations seasonally also makes it easier to remember to put them on the calendar.

2. Keep your scales clean

Obviously, having dirt or debris on the top of your scale can make the reading heavier than it should be, but that is not the only dirt you need to worry about. Ideally, you should make sure the weighbridge structure under your scale is also clean. Keeping this area clean prevents the scale from sticking and creating incorrect readings.

3. Protect the undercarriage of your scale from corrosion

When cleaning the bottom of your scale, you can use a pressure washer, but only do so if you are in an area where water evaporates quickly. If water is allowed to sit on the scale's working parts, those parts can become corroded, and that may damage the scale or make its readings less accurate.

Even if you are in an area where the water will dry quickly, do not direct the water at any electronic parts or at the scales' load cell junction boxes. If you do not think you can safely use water to clean the scale, brush it off using a soft-bristled cleaning brush or a large feather duster.

If you find any corroded parts while you are cleaning and maintaining the scale, cover those area with paint or anti-corrosive lubricant.

4. Adequately train staff about how to use the scale correctly

If you are trying to avoid misreadings, you need to do more than just maintain your scale. Having a well trained staff is also key. Your staff should understand the critical importance of looking at the scale's display before anything gets loaded onto the scale.

They should know how to use the tare feature, and they should always remember to make sure the scale is set to pounds or kilograms as needed. These sound like obvious issues, but everyone makes mistakes occasionally, and adequate training is the best way to avoid mistakes.

If you weigh trucks or other machinery, make sure your staff is trained to pay close attention to whether or not the driver is in the cab. For example, if the driver is in the cab during the first weighing but then out of the cab during the second weighing (after the bed of the truck has been filled up with product), the second reading won't be accurate. As a result, you may undercharge that driver, as the second reading is going to be 100 to 200 pounds lower than it should be, due to the absence of the driver's weight.

For more information, contact your local scale supplier, like Accurate/Western Scale Co Ltd.