Many specialist welding company owners see July 1st, 2014, which is the day on which their company must be qualified as per DIN EN 1090, with reservation or even refusal. In fact, the implementation of DIN EN 1090 is an opportunity for every company to increase transparency, effectiveness and quality.

The core of a qualified company is factory production control, or FPC. The FPC maps out the entire product chain, from acquisition of semi-finished products to the various manufacturing steps to delivery to end customers. This also includes welding process qualification, which can occur either through standard welding processes or tested welding consumables. The only WPQR package which follows both approaches, and can therefore be used universally and with any device, is the WPQR package from ewm.

Certification requires qualification of the welding processes for each individual weld seam of EXC 2 or greater and a qualified welding procedure specification. All welding parameters come from the welding procedure specification, or WPS. If a specialist welder complies with the welding procedure specification, the weld seam will fulfil the desired requirements.

WPQR packages save those responsible for the FPC a lot of work. Normally, each individual weld seam would have to be qualified using time- and cost-intensive welding procedure tests. This step has already been taken care of for customers by welding machine manufacturers, who provide the results as a WPQR package. The FPC can refer to the WPQR certificates and the prepared welding procedure specifications from machine manufacturers and from them create their own welding procedure specifications for use in practice.

In most cases, this transfer is very simple: The welding procedure specifications prepared by manufacturers correspond to common weld seams. These parameters are transferred by the person responsible for the FPC to his/her own forms, and the requirements of DIN EN 1090 are fulfilled. Should one of the required welding procedure specifications not be available as a WPS, the FPC can have them prepared based on the WPQR certificates from the package.

The welding procedure test is carried out using a defined welding machine. This is also listed as a parameter in the WPQR certificate and is thus a component of the WPS. The welding procedure specifications created using a WPQR certificate require that the same machine be used in operation. When selecting the WPQR package, the company's own machine park must therefore be kept in mind. The type of welding consumables to be tested is also an important factor. By using qualified welding consumables, a welding machine specification can be dispensed with. The WPQR package from EWM AG provides a combination of machine specifications and welding consumables. This enables the FPC to create a WPS for just about any weld seam to be produced from a single EN 1090 WPQR package, regardless of the welding machine used.

"The art of a welding machine manufacturer lies in making a wide variety of options usable for practitioners on site," emphasises Torsten Thom, Managing Director of THOM Metall- und Maschinenbau GmbH. This medium-sized company will soon be completing the certification process. "This is only possible using services which accompany the product and thereby make the customer's work easier. The WPQR package from EWM, together with flexible, competent and customerand service-oriented support is just such a sensible feature which makes work easier."

Source: EWM AG