Abu Dhabi: A newly designated national metrology institute could help the UAE save up to Dh6 billion over the next decade, government officials announced in the capital on Tuesday.
The Emirates Metrology Institute (EMI) in Abu Dhabi, now the UAE’s national measurement standards laboratory, will allow for this by enabling strategic industries to calibrate their instruments in the UAE, saving both money and time.
The announcement was made at a press conference by the Emirates Standardisation and Metrology Authority (Esma), which is responsible for standardisation across the UAE.
“The UAE saves Dh2.5 billion every year by ensuring accurate measurements and calibration standards across its gold markets. These savings were attained by reducing the error rate in gold trading to near-zero per cent,” said Abdullah Moeini, director-general of Esma.
“The metrology capabilities offered by the EMI will now open up new horizons in the post-oil era, especially as the UAE focuses on developing its space, nuclear and manufacturing industries, where such accuracy in measurement is crucial,” added Dr Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahd, Minister of State.
Since its inception in 2001, the Esma has issued 20,000 trading, manufacturing and operational standards. In fact, nearly 95 per cent of products traded in the UAE must conform to relevant standards issued by the Esma. The authority oversees the calibration of 6,000 volume meters across the country’s fuel stations and 8,400 balances used by gold traders.
The EMI’s new role as the national metrology lab, however, pertains to industrial operations. The standards used by the EMI for the measurement of mass, volume, density, temperature, humidity, length angle, force, pressure, torque, time-frequencies and electrical quantities will now be recognised as the national standards of measurement.
Officials explained that in the past, many strategic industries, including oil and gas and health care, have had to get their equipment calibrated from abroad.
“Sometimes, this process would take months, and all of this translates into wasted time and funds. But we now have the infrastructure to perform accurate calibrations in the UAE, and hope to keep growing our human capital and infrastructure over time,” said Mohammad Al Mulla, quality director at Abu Dhabi emirate’s standardisation enforcer, the Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council (QCC). The EMI laboratory is managed and operated by the QCC.
