WELDING PRODUCTION PROCEDURES AND PRODUCT CERTIFICATION
Welding is considered as an important manufacturing method. It is an inseparable part of all constructions from simple to high risk, such as stairs, buildings, steel structures, cranes, bridges, pipelines, pressure vessels, moving and lifting equipment. Welding quality is a critical element in these systems.
Product quality is ensured during production, not inspection. For products to be free from problems in production and in service, it is necessary to provide controls, from the design phase through material selection, into post-manufacturing inspection. For example, poor design may create serious and costly difficulties in the workshop, on site, or in service. Incorrect material selection or negative welding conditions may result in problems, such as cracking in welded joints. To ensure sound and effective manufacturing, the management needs to understand and appreciate the root causes of the potential issues and to implement appropriate quality procedures for their control. EN ISO 3834 identifies measures that are applicable in different situations. Typically, they may be applied in the following circumstances:
- In contractual or tender situations: as specifications of the welding quality requirements,
- By manufacturers: for establishment and maintenance of welding quality requirements,
- By organizations assessing the welding quality performance for third parties, customers, or manufacturers.
The extent and significance of safety-critical products, the complexity of manufacturing, the range of products manufactured, the scope of potential metallurgical problems, and the extent to which manufacturing imperfections, e.g. misalignment, distortion or weld imperfection, affect product performance, are all certified as detailed, standard and essential quality requirements based on EN ISO 3834-2, EN ISO 3834-3 and EN ISO 3834-4.
EN 15085 Railway Applications – The standard series of production, repair and maintenance of “Welding of Railway Vehicles and Components”, is applied to welding production of metallic materials during production and maintenance of railway vehicles and components. Welding is defined as a “special process” for these operations. The requirements for this process are laid down in EN ISO 3834.
Certification and quality requirements of welding manufacturers are defined in the second part of the 5-part EN 15085 standard. Four certification levels (CL) are laid down for the certification of welding manufacturers. The certification level (CL) is defined according to manufacturing capacity and welding performance classes (CP A – CP D).
Quality classes, equipment and personnel qualification and control/acceptance criteria must be determined according to the Certification Level.
SZUTEST offers certification services to railway vehicle manfacturers in the above mentioned certification levels.
In the framework of EN 1090-1 and 305/2011 Construction Products Regulation, steel or aluminum structures are CE-marked as a result of performing the Initial Type Testing and Factory Production Control audit, and
for the purpose of manufacturing process control, EN1090-2, AWS D.1.1, AWS D.1.5 and AWS D.1.6 are applied for steel structures and EN 1090-3 and AWS D.1.2 for aluminum structures. As SZUTEST, we are pleased to provide these services.
