Calibrating Success

Dedication That Delivers
March 12, 2018
Through Service Comes Success
March 12, 2018
Dedication That Delivers
March 12, 2018
Through Service Comes Success
March 12, 2018

Qualical Ready for the Upward Swing in Oil and Gas

The oil and gas industry is slowly coming back and QualiCal in Houma is ready for it.


Open since April 2011, the calibration company operates a climate controlled laboratory that can test the precision and accuracy of machinery used in the oil and gas industry – like scales and other fine tools that work on precision.

The business operates off 7380 Main Street next to Terrebonne High School and is owned by Melanie Cagle and her husband James. Both have been working in the oil and gas industry for several years – a journey which has taken them around the world and now to Houma.

Melanie Cagle said business has increased in the past few months as the price of oil has slowly slid upward. She said the current upswing has come with an uptick in business – a welcome sight after the slow times we’ve had.


“Business has been picking up steadily (in the past few months),” Cagle said. “Our customers are telling us they are picking up and it is definitely impacting our operations.”

QualiCal is unique in a lot of ways. First, they specialize in calibrations, of course, but what exactly does that mean? Let’s use a scale as an example.

We step on a scale and it spits back a number in pounds. We assume that the number is right because we trust scales as being accurate sources of providing an object’s weight. But how do we really know for sure that the scale we step on is tuned properly? Sure, to a person, an in-house scale reading of 181 pounds, instead of 182 pounds is not a big deal.


But in the oil and gas industry where safety is defined by 100 percent precision, there is no room for error, which is where QualiCal comes in. They have a process that makes sure that your equipment is accurate and safe to give 100 percent correct readings when used in the workforce.

“We have certified standards that we use to check your equipment,” Cagle said. “So, you bring us the scale, we place a few certified weights on them to verify it reads correctly, then we produce a ‘calibration certificate’ to state that it is, in fact, accurate. This process is extremely important when an industry is manufacturing to tolerances of .0001 and higher.”

But QualiCal does more than just calibrate equipment. Lately, they’ve been getting involved in teaching, too. Since opening up shop, the Cagle’s evolved their business and opened the QualiCal Academy, which is a full-service training company – both online and in person.


In January 2017, QualiCal Academy became a Government Approved Primary Training Provider under the Incumbent Worker Training Program (IWTP) – a grant which is available to all businesses in Louisiana that can cover training costs for employees. Since then, Cagle said the academy’s business has really started to pick up.

“We have a new State Accredited ‘Machinist Apprenticeship Program’, which is taking off, as well as having a bunch of new applications for local businesses looking for State Grants for training,” Cagle said. “This new education line has been a game-changer at QualiCal, where it was all about calibrations, but now, we have workforce training added to our services. It couldn’t have started at a better time.”

In addition to the calibration and training, QualiCal is unique in that they’re a rare oil and gas company that is co-headed by a female worker.


Cagle said before starting the business, she worked offshore, so she’s had to deal with some unaccepting men in some places. But all-in-all, she said her experiences have been more favorable than one might think.

“Being a woman in this industry has its pros and cons,” she said. “Most of the guys I run into don’t have a problem. A lot of these machine shops can be quite dingy and dark, so having a woman around can be quite refreshing, or so I’m told. … I know what it is like to be a minority, for sure. It took a long time to be accepted in their world, but once I was, I had 100 percent of their trust. But you definitely need thick skin.”

Cagle said if asked to give advice to a young woman training to work in the field, she’d mirror what she said above – urging them to be thick-skinned. But she also would urge a woman – or anyone else – to also be patient and mentally grounded.


When starting a business, you’re going to need it, she said.

“If starting a business, make sure you are able to carry the cost of operations for 3-to-5 years, because it will take approximately that long to start turning a profit,” Cagle warned. “If you’re not able to stomach seeing those financial losses, then it’s not for you – male or female. I think a lot of people romanticize what it will be like to own their own business without fully understanding what a burden it can be on your sanity. But I think women can handle it a little better, because I think we’re better at multi-tasking and seeing the bigger picture, in my opinion.”

And for QualiCal, that big picture is one that now looks brighter than it did two or three years ago when the industry was in a bad place.


Cagle said if the price of oil stays up, things are looking good – both in the present and beyond.

“The price of oil definitely impacts our business,” she said. “When there is a dip in the price, things seem to slow down somewhat. I think people get nervous. But then when it soars back up again, customers start getting their confidence back and it brings us more business.”