NEWSLETTER HIGHLIGHTS ETHICAL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE INTER-LABORATORY COMPARISONS UPGRADE INVESTMENTS REDUCE UNCERTAINTY AND FINANCIAL EXPOSURE METROLOGY SUPPORT FOR METHANE MEASUREMENT SPRING 2022CONTENTS Page 2 – Editor’s Note Page 3 – Meet our Newsletter Contributors Page 4 – News Page 12 – Ethical AI Quandaries by Maya Carlyle, Principal Enterprise Architect at National Physics Laboratory (NPL) Page 16 – Pandemic Reflections by Alan Murray, Chief Executive Officer, BSIF Page 22 – Facility Upgrade Investment Reduces Uncertainty and Financial Exposure by Carl Wordsworth, Head of Water Sector TÜV SÜD National Engineering Laboratory Page 26 – The General Position of Inter-Laboratory Comparisons (ILCS), Proficiency Testing (PT) and Measurement Audit (MA) in Accreditation by Paul Greenwood – UKAS Operations Director Page 30 – Metrology Support for Methane Emissions Measurement and Reporting by Rod Robinson, Principal Research Scientist, Emissions and Atmospheric Metrology Group, NPL Page 36 – BMTA Council Member Profile Carl Wordsworth BEng, PhD Page 37 – Member Notices Welcome to the Spring issue of the BMTA Newsletter In this edition, as well as our usual news and features we would like our readers’ feedback and views on two important areas for Accredited Laboratories; Inter-Laboratory Comparisons and UKAS Costs. BMTA is evaluating the viability of creating an industry-led, inter-laboratory comparison service to assist you in meeting your accreditation obligations. Our short ILC survey simply asks whether this would be of interest to your organisation in meeting its accreditation requirements and for which parameters. The survey can be accessed HERE. For those of you with long memories, you may recall an article in our last newsletter by UKAS on costs and their recent announcements on pricing. We are now seeking to understand the experiences and expectations of Accredited Laboratories with regard to their ongoing UKAS costs. The UKAS costs survey can be found HERE and should take no more than three minutes to complete. The BMTA Council member profile this issue is on Carl Wordsworth BEng PhD. Carl is Head of Water for TÜV SÜD NEL. Find out what being a Council member means to him. Our theme for the Spring 2022 issue is: Supply Chains Post-Brexit To help us provide our BMTA members with useful information we would like your help to: • identify and share relevant topics; • provide research on new technologies or techniques; • let us know industry news; • promote events and training sessions; • inform us of publications you think may be of interest to your fellow BMTA members. Contact us at editor@bmta.co.uk EDITOR’S NOTE bmta.co.uk 2MEET OUR NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTORS bmta.co.uk Maya Carlyle, Principal Enterprise Architect NPL Dr Carl Wordsworth Head of Water Sector TÜV SÜD National Engineering Laboratory Rod Robinson Principal Research Scientist, Emissions and Atmospheric Metrology Group NPL Paul Greenwood Operations Director UKAS Alan Murray Chief Executive Officer BSIF Maya is the Principal Enterprise Architect at National Physics Laboratory (NPL). Maya is responsible for interconnecting all NPL’s laboratories and enterprise systems,. She is also responsible for hardening and scaling AI algorithms for production on distributed systems to process Petabytes of information in Machine Learning Automated build pipelines. Prior to NPL, Maya worked for the Vietnamese government, analysing accents to detect socio- economic details and travel history from 15 seconds of voice. Carl is currently the Head of Water for TÜV SÜD National Engineering Laboratory and has worked with NEL at East Kilbride in the National Engineering Laboratory for three years. Carl has 24 years of experience working in fluids research and has spent most of his career looking at R&D within the oil and gas and water industries. Carl has spent over 10 years developing new products for the oil and gas industry and has developed a range of separation technologies for which he holds a number of patents. His most recent work has focused on Business Development in the water industry for NEL and trying to develop NEL’s digital services in the water industry. Carl holds a BEng in Mineral Engineering and a PhD in Solid State Electrochemistry both gained at Leeds University. Rod Robinson has over thirty years’ experience at NPL, covering many aspects of environmental monitoring and is science lead for emissions research activities in the Emissions and Atmospheric Metrology Group. Rod has technical responsibility for all NPL contracts on remote environmental sensing and is recognised as a leading international authority on the practical application of DIAL (Differential Absorption Lidar). He is responsible for the technical quality of emissions monitoring projects and is a recognised expert in the measurement of fugitive emissions of GHGs including methane. As technical lead for the Emissions area, Rod has driven the strategic direction of the group and has provided internal technical leadership across numerous research and measurement service projects. Rod is recognised as an expert on GHG fugitive emissions monitoring, with particular emphasis on the development and validation of monitoring capabilities to meet industry’s needs. This is the focus of the successful Industrial Methane Measurement conference series which Rod developed and chairs. Paul Greenwood (CChem MRSC) joined UKAS in 2006 after a 13 year post-graduate career as a chemist in the fields of nuclear chemistry, drinking water analysis, environmental testing and analytical instrument manufacture. Since joining UKAS he has progressed from the role of Assessment Manager/ Technical Assessor to the position of Operations Director. In addition to oversight of the accreditation of over 2000 conformity assessment bodies, he is an executive member of the UKAS Board and responsible for ensuring strategic development and delivery of accreditation nationally and internationally. Alan Murray is Chief Executive Officer of the British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF). The BSIF is dedicated to supporting UK businesses that help to keep people safe and healthy at work. Alan Murray has been in the Safety and Health Industry since the 1980s. He has led the BSIF as Chief Executive since the start of 2014. In 2019, Alan became President of the European Safety Federation, whose work is focused on lobbying and advising within the organisation of the EU. Prior to joining the BSIF in January 2014, Alan worked for Scott Safety, a manufacturer of respiratory and sensory protective equipment. 34 NEWS bmta.co.uk HOW TO SPECIFY YOUR CALIBRATION REQUIREMENTS For small to medium-sized businesses, the calibration of measurement and testing equipment can seem a black art. A number of decisions have to be made such as when to calibrate a particular item of equipment, the accuracy required, who should do it and how much it will cost. Reliable calibration is necessary to ensure the requisite quality of measurement. The end-user, or customer, may well specify the frequency and uncertainty of measurement that they need, leaving it to the testing laboratory to ensure it happens. In response to numerous enquiries from BMTA member companies and interactions with businesses from different sectors, a webinar held by NPL, with contributions from Trescal and Best Measurement, was held and recorded and a subsequent document written. This helps organisations specify their calibration requirements to meet their needs in a way that ensures their equipment is fit for purpose for their own test and measurement applications. A sound understanding of the calibration process encourages better planning, can reduce costs and lead to a better, higher quality of service. To view the webinar or to download the FREE GUIDE ‘How to specify your calibration requirements’ click HERE. UKAS COSTS SURVEY Following the article in the last BMTA Newsletter by UKAS on costs and their recent announcements relating to pricing, BMTA has launched a survey. Your participation in the survey would be greatly appreciated and will ultimately benefit you. The survey can be found HERE and should take no more than three minutes to complete. Contribute to our next newsletter We encourage our readers to send in thought leadership articles and opinion pieces on a wide range of technical, operational and commercial issues impacting any aspect of the UK measurement and testing industry. To provide the best possible coverage for you within the newsletter we ask that alongside the article that you provide a 50-100 word synopsis which we can use to highlight the article before publication via news feeds and the BMTA website. Feature articles are usually between a half A4 page and two A4 pages of text in length. In addition to this we would ask that you provide supporting images, at print ready resolution, together with a photo and short biography of the author. If you would like to contribute, please email Laura Vallis at editor@bmta.co.uk BMTA The Voice of Measurement and Testing BMTA was created in 1990 in response to the need for an independent ‘lobby’ for the private sector to speak with one voice to Government, UKAS, BSI and other official bodies on issues affecting the whole measurement, testing and calibration community. We encourage you to make your views known in the standards making process, through your contribution to newsletters, participation in Association activities and membership of relevant BMTA and Standards Making committees.5 NEWS bmta.co.uk NEW AI MODEL SPEEDS UP DOCUMENT ANALYSIS WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR USE ACROSS A NUMBER OF INDUSTRIES The team from Loughborough University and Xceptor – which describes itself as a ‘no-code data automation platform’ – has created a deep learning model for natural language processing (NLP) that can analyse the content and structure of invoices, tax forms and other digital documents and sort the information into categories. The system will streamline processes such as setting up bank accounts, approving mortgages, responding to customer queries and processing insurance claims by speeding up fraud checking and extracting details from identity documents. Lead developer Dr Chao Zhang, of Loughborough’s Department of Computer Science, said the technology was faster and cheaper than current systems which perform the same task and would benefit similar tasks in the banking, financial service and insurance sectors. He said: “Compared with the traditional rule-based or pattern matching approaches, the developed NLP can identify terms, learn language structures, extract contextual correlation and classify texts into semantic groups and clauses, such as invoice numbers, payee addresses, counterparty names as well as differentiate due date from invoice date.” The AI model was trained to deal with complex freeform contents, and robustly extract information linking with context rather than relying on pre-defined templates in texts and is built on state-of-the-art deep learning technology. The concept of graph modelling was introduced in the learning process, to improve the model performance on complex documents which may include tables, and blocked texts with spatial alignment information. Such documents are more difficult to process than plain texts in paragraphs. This research was conducted as part of an 18-month KTP (Knowledge Transfer Partnership) project, jointly funded by Xceptor and Innovate UK. The academic lead, Professor Baihua Li, from Loughborough’s School of Science, said: “Extracting required information from a large number of documents is currently a very time-consuming manual process. Developing AI solutions to learn contextual meaning and correlation presented in complexly structured documents is extremely challenging. “We are pleased that Loughborough University's specialists in NLP and machine learning are working with Xceptor on this game changing innovation, and can successfully integrate the AI automation function into the company’s smart document analysis platform for improved speed and accuracy.” Dr Rob Lowe, Chief Architect at Xceptor, said: "The power of this AI-based technology is that it can adapt to work with a wide range of documents. “For the complex and rapidly changing environments that are inherent in Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, this technology makes it simpler and faster to automate processes and keep them working efficiently over time. “Ultimately our customers become more responsive and agile, and their experts can concentrate on higher-value tasks.” Former Loughborough academic, Professor Eran Edirisinghe, now at Keele University, added: “We hope such collaborative projects will help the industry improve their competitiveness and develop new services through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills that transfer from research.” https://www.lboro.ac.uk/media-centre/press-releases/2022/ march/ai-model-speed-up-document-analysis/ The new Xceptor system extracts customised key information from invoices Researchers have developed an AI-based solution that can automatically analyse and extract large amounts of information from computer documents.6 The inaugural National Manufacturing Day (NMD) will take place on Thursday 7 July 2022. The initiative aims to encourage manufacturers to open their doors to local communities in order to give people the chance to see manufacturing ‘in action’ and consider it when thinking about their future careers. As metrology plays such a critical part in manufacturing, BMTA will be supporting this initiative and will assist Members to promote their event through all our communications channels. There are a number of ways that companies can get involved: • You can sign up to take part here: www.nationalmanufacturingday.org • Encourage your peers and supply chains to sign up to take part • Make a plan for the open day including tours, demonstrations, Q&As with your team members • Share social media posts using the hashtag #NMD2022 • Share the educational resources with any schools, youth groups, charities and organisations in your area • Write to your MP to invite them to visit you • Send a press release to your local papers, radio, regional broadcaster Should Members wish to get involved please email enquiries@bmta.co.uk using NMD 2022 in the subject line to enable us to support your event. NEWS bmta.co.uk NATIONAL MANUFACTURING DAY DEFINING THE UK AI ASSURANCE ECOSYSTEM Defining the UK AI Assurance ecosystem is still a work in progress in the UK. It is believed there is a role for accreditation in the world of AI Assurance, but it is difficult to determine at this stage. It is envisaged that 17025, 17029 and 17065 are key components of an accredited AI Assurance framework, however until Standards emerge to support this area, it is hard to say to what extent. At a Regulating AI Conference last year, it was confirmed that an AI Assurance regulatory framework is due to be published in the first half of 2022. During the conference, an AI Assurance Ecosystem Roadmap was published by the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI). Other references that may prove useful are: • EA: How Quality Infrastructures support transition to Industry 4.0 International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ilac.org) • Standards for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (publishing.service.gov.uk) 7 NEWS bmta.co.uk IMEKO CONFERENCE ON METROLOGY AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IMEKO Technical Committee for Digitization will be hosting the FIRST International Conference on Metrology and Digital Transformation event on 19-20 September 2022. This will be a hybrid event, with a limited number of places for physical attendance in Berlin, Germany. As part of their close cooperation with IMEKO and signed MoU, EUROLAB is supporting this event and updates will be communicated once available. The event will provide an opportunity for experts to come together to discuss several topics, and share experiences about novel and innovative approaches to digital transformation, including cloud infrastructures and metrology for industry 4.0. For more information and registration for the International Conference on Metrology and Digital Transformation please visit the conference page: https://www.m4dconf2022.ptb.de/ home. Contribute to our next newsletter We encourage our readers to send in thought leadership articles and opinion pieces on a wide range of technical, operational and commercial issues impacting any aspect of the UK measurement and testing industry. To contribute, please email editor@bmta.co.uk MEMBERS ALL-YEAR-ROUND DELL DISCOUNT CODES Dell Technologies offers all BMTA members all-year-round discount codes, in addition to their sale periods. • 7% off all Vostro and Inspiron – use coupon code SBA7BMTA • 14% off all Latitude, Precision and Optiplex – use coupon code SBA14BMTA • 10% off all XPS, Alienware, Dell Gaming and monitors – use coupon code SBA10BMTA • 20% off all Accessories – use coupon code SBA20BMTA For home shop here For business shop here (Subject to availability/some restrictions may apply/available to use online or offline) IMEKO TC11 & TC24 JOINT CONFERENCE The IMEKO TC11&TC24 Joint Conference is to be held in hybrid format, both in Dubrovnik (Croatia) and online from 17th to 19th of October 2022. The IMEKO TC11&TC24 Joint Conference will be a forum to disseminate the latest results and innovations in Testing, Inspection, and Certification (TC11), and Chemical Measurements (TC24). Experts can submit their abstracts for the Joint Conference by 10th May 2022. More information is available at: https://www.imekotc11-2022.com/call-for-abstracts Authors have the opportunity to choose between oral and poster presentations. Accepted and presented full papers will be submitted for inclusion in the Scopus database after the event. After the Conference, Authors will have the opportunity to submit an extended version of their papers to two relevant scientific journals ‘Measurement: Sensors (Elsevier publisher) or ‘Acta IMEKO’. Elsevier will offer a 100% APC (Article Publishing Charge) waiver for all papers accepted in the Special Issue of the journal ‘Measurement: Sensors’. For more information regarding the programme, registration and other practical details, please visit the conference website: https://www.imekotc11-2022.com and https://www. imekotc24-2022.com/ EUROLAB is the co-organiser of the IMEKO TC11&TC24 Joint Conference alongside the Innovation Centre Nikola Tesla and Ruđer Bošković Institute (RBI).8 NEWS 8 8 8 bmta.co.uk Anyone contemplating modernising or introducing a management system would benefit from attending our flexible, online Management Systems course, presented by Trevor Thompson at Best Measurement. This short course is split into three modules and describes the modern approach and how it can benefit your business. It identifies the features and terminology used and how systems should be integrated into an organisation’s operational and management practices to add value, convenience and compliance. The management system is not an unavoidable overhead, it is a cost-effective tool that should reduce risk and stress. Each module is served as a 90-minute webcast, viewable at your convenience, followed by a scheduled live Q&A event with your tutor. This will help you to contextualise the learning to your specific requirements. As a Not-for-Profit, BMTA seeks to offer all conferences and training courses at the most cost-effective rates. This course is being offered for the total price of only £225 + VAT. Course completion certificates are provided after each module. For just £225 + VAT you will receive: • three 90 minute on-demand training modules which you can access at any time; • three workbooks designed to support your learning; and • three scheduled Q&A events with your tutor to help you contextualise your learning and take it back into your business. BMTA represents the interests of the calibration, measurement and testing industry in the United Kingdom. We bring together laboratories, test houses, equipment suppliers, certification and accreditation bodies, regulators, standards bodies and national measurement organisations. By bringing together the industry we are uniquely able to support member companies in their development through networking, knowledge sharing and training. Contact enquiries@BMTA.co.uk for more information. BMTA MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS COURSE Management Systems or Quality Systems have evolved greatly over the years. All organisations making measurements have a system of sorts, some more advanced than others, and some more compliant with the requirements of modern Standards than others. ABOUT THE COURSE PRESENTER – TREVOR THOMPSON Trevor is a metrology and accreditations expert with over 50 years of experience in the calibration, measurement and testing industry. He has worked with leading organisations such as National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the National Testing Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (NATLAS), the National Measurement Accreditation Service (NAMAS) and managed the Physics and Electrical Laboratory Accreditation teams at the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) for 24 years. Trevor has presented on behalf of UKAS at numerous BMTA training events and conferences over the last 20 years. Trevor was also a member of the drafting committee for the revision of ISO 17025:2017. Trevor is currently a Metrology and Accreditation Consultant and provides and delivers training on behalf of various organisations including UKAS. To read more about Trevor’s experience visit his LinkedIn profile. 9 NEWS 9 bmta.co.uk 9 Influential figures within STEM There are many influential women in STEM: Grace Hopper, computer scientist and admiral; Katherine Johnson, space scientist and mathematician; Marie Curie, physicist and chemist. But the common theme among these female pioneers is that they are from the 20th century or earlier. We can only admire their breakthroughs in the sector, particularly at a time that was much more male-centric, but young women who are eager to work in the industry might struggle without many recent female role models. Recent studies reveal those women are more likely to be inspired to work in STEM if they have an inspirational figure whose footsteps they can follow. Not only that, but STEM workers also struggled to name influential female figures, highlighting one of several important issues. With the number of female workers in the industry growing, could there soon be more role models for women? Time will tell, but it certainly emphasises the importance of female workers in STEM. STEMettes: assisting aspiring young girls Thankfully, there are organisations to assist those who are trying to break into the male-dominated industry and contribute to an increase in female workers. While there may be a lack of modern influential female figures in STEM, one organisation known as ‘STEMettes’ acts as inspiration. For many young girls aged 5-25, STEMettes provides content platforms for encouragement and running events. Additionally, the organisation is co-founded by a female STEM worker, Anne-Marie Imafidon, who was inspired by a speech at a Celebration of Women in Computing forum. Imafidon experienced the industry’s lack of women in STEM during her time at university in which she was only one of three women studying maths and computer science. She graduated at the age of 20 and had roles with major international companies such as Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs. Imafidon is a keynote speaker and host of the Women Tech Charge podcast. Her work has received widespread recognition as she was awarded an MBE in 2017 for her services to young women who aspire to work within the STEM industry. She has become a role model for many young girls who are deterred by the fact that there are so many males in the sector. Grasping opportunities Research by STEM Women has shown that, between 2015– 2019, around 28% of graduates from core STEM subjects were women. To support the growth of the industry, establishments such as Newcastle College, are attempting to boost the number of women in STEM. The establishment has witnessed a 60% increase in the number of women who are signing up for engineering courses, but there is a range of foundation courses for the various sectors of the industry. Higher education is witnessing an increase in female STEM students. Between 2011-2020, the number of women accepted into STEM undergraduate courses increased by 50.1%. As well as this, the number of women beginning undergraduate STEM courses increased to 41.4% from 33.6%. So we could potentially see more roles in the industry filled by women in the near future. In an attempt to increase the proportion of women in the industry, the government is investing money and resources into several initiatives, including an £84 million programme [https:// educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2021/02/11/women-in-stem-week- 2021-how-were-empowering-the-next-generation/]. In addition to this, they are committed to supporting programmes such as ‘Improving Gender Balance’ in physics, as well as a ‘Gender Balance in Computing Programme’. So, as well as a potential increase in girls choosing STEM GCSE subjects, it can also benefit disadvantaged students. Being a woman in search of a career in STEM can seem intimidating, especially since it is currently dominated by males. Fortunately, more opportunities are opening up – so it’s extremely important for these to be grasped. There are, of course, obstacles, but there is a need for more women in the industry to provide influential figures for the next generation. https://www.ncl-coll.ac.uk/ BREAKING INTO A MAN’S WORLD: CLOSING THE STEM GENDER GAP The number of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) is growing slowly but surely. With both International Women’s Day and British Science Week taking place recently, there is no better time to explore the extraordinary female workers within the sector. But the quest for a career that you’re passionate about is difficult enough. For women who are attempting to break into a male-dominated industry, it can feel almost impossible. BMTA is keen to hear from women in metrology in order that we can highlight their contributions to the industry. Please contact editor@bmta.co.uk.Next >