Special Process: Addition of supervision and monitoring of the welding to ensure the WPS is being applied corectly

by Kevin Bohne
(Mackay QLD Australia)

Qualification of welding procedures and welding operators is a given with most contacts now days and most companies spend the time and effort to do so to meet the contract requirements.

However all too often I see the same companies disregard the importance of ensuring the welding operators are monitored properly and frequently to ensure a record is maintained of the actual parameters being used by the operators.

The big disconnect is this aspect that now destroys the concept of the special process.

Qualified Welding procedures and welding operators are useless if this bridge is not built. The key is proper traceability of the welding process that ensures the special process end outcomes.

Comments for Special Process: Addition of supervision and monitoring of the welding to ensure the WPS is being applied corectly

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Mar 29, 2017
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Special Process Management responsibility
by: Kevin Bohne

Thanks to all for the supportive comments and I agree with you all. Hopefully in the future the rule will override the norm on the technical side with the balance considering financial constraints.

We must be competitive but with a mind set for winning continual work that produces compliance and quality outcomes. This is truly reliant on management decisions.

Mar 23, 2017
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Money and knowledge matters
by: Nicolas Kohout

As a welding engineer working in QC department, I fully agree with both of you.

However, I think there are two major obstacles to an effective (and efficient) monitoring:
- Money: for many companies, welding equipment in use is much older or from entry level, hence the supervision cannot be done "automatically" and there is also a lack of skilled working force because many companies are looking for short-term profits
- Special processes knowledge: Here I'm thinking of managers at different levels. Again, in many companies, managers don't understand how more supervision can help the company making profits in the long term. Welding engineers and inspectors have to make them understand how this work to influence the investments and decision making process, but I feel like that the financial world and the technical world are more and more disconnected in the mind of many decision makers. How long can this work?

In my opinion, the most successful companies in the future will most likely be those succeeding in making a good synthesis of purely technical informations and financial "needs".

This is applicable to many other subjects than welding and I hope this is discussed in some think tanks.

Mar 22, 2017
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Verification of Welding Parameters is Important
by: Niekie

Kevin, you make a very good point. Verifying the correct application of the WPS essential variables are important, as well as keeping some records to show compliance and traceability.

Obviously the criticality of the welds will dictate how much verification is needed. On some critical jobs, such as high pressure super duplex stainless steel piping in corrosive environments, there can be a requirement for 100% monitoring by arc monitoring equipment of all welds. Such high levels of monitoring is however the exception rather than the rule.

In the future, when artificial intelligence systems are common, we will probably have the situation where 100% monitoring will be the rule rather than the exception.

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