CERTIFICATION TO ISO 3834 FOR FABRICATION INDUSTRY 1.

0 Introduction Manufacturing processes such as fusion welding are widely used to produce many products, and for some companies, these are the key production features. Products may range from simple to complex; examples include pressure vessels,, domestic and agricultural equipment, cranes, bridges, transport vehicles and other items it is therefore important to ensure that these processes carried out in the most effective way and that appropriate control exercised over all aspects of the operation. 2.0 Comparison between TSO 9001:2008 and ISO 3834.

ISO 9001 standard developed in order to apply a consistent Quality Management System. However, surface coating, painting, composite manufacture, welding and brazing considered as "special processes" because the quality of the manufactured product cannot be readily verified by final inspection. In the case of welded products, quality cannot be inspected directly in the product, but has to be built in during fabrication, as even the most extensive and sophisticated non-destructive testing does not improve the quality of the product. 2.1 ISO 9001:2008 clause no 7.5.2 requires:

The organization shall validate any processes for production, and service provision where subsequent monitoring or measurement cannot verify the resulting output and, consequently, deficiencies become apparent only after the product is in use or the service has been delivered. Validation shall demonstrate the ability of these processes to achieve planned results. The organization shall establish arrangements for these processes including, as applicable, a) Defined criteria for review and approval of the processes, b) Approval of equipment and qualification of personnel, c) Use of specific methods and procedures, d) Requirements for records (see 4.2.4), and e) Revalidation. EN ISO 3834 is a standard independent of the type of construction manufactured that provides a method to demonstrate the capability of a Manufacturer to make products of the specified quality, both in workshops and at field installation sites. Therefore, applicable measures for different circumstances identified, such as the following: in contractual situations for the specification of welding quality requirements; by Manufacturers to establish and maintain welding quality requirements; by committees, drafting manufacturing codes or application standards to specify appropriate welding quality requirements. By organisations assessing welding quality performance, e.g. third parties, customers, or Manufacturers. Consequently, these International Standards used by internal and external organisations, including certification bodies, which could offer certification services by assessing the Manufacturer's ability to meet customer, regulatory or the manufacturer's own requirements.

3.0 Application of ISO 3834 certification The EN ISO 3834 is an international standard created by welding professionals of the Technical committee ISO/TC 44, Welding and allied processes. Type of industries covered. Products may range from simple to complex. Examples include pressure vessels, domestic and agricultural equipment, cranes, bridges, transport vehicles and other items. EN ISO 3834 standard defines quality requirements suitable for fusion welding processes of metallic materials, for welding -both in workshops and on site. It is appropriate when demonstration of a manufacturer's capability to produce welded constructions in accordance with specified criteria is required. Such criteria specified in one or more of the following: a specification; a product standard (e.g. EN 1090, EN 12732, EN 12952, EN 13445 & EN 15085) Regulatory requirement 4.0 Certification. EN ISO 3834 provides a method to demonstrate the capability of a manufacturer to produce products of the specified quality. It was prepared such that: it is independent of the type of construction manufactured; it defines quality requirements for welding in workshops and or on site; it provides guidance for describing a manufacturer's capability to produce constructions to meet specified requirements; It provides a basis for assessing a manufacturer's welding capability. EN ISO 3834 consists of the following parts, under the general title Quality requirements for fusion welding of metallic materials: Part 1: Criteria for the selection of the appropriate level of quality requirements Part 2: Comprehensive quality requirements Part 3: Standard quality requirements Part 4: Elementary quality requirements Part 5: Documents with which it is necessary to conform to claim conformity to the quality requirements of EN ISO 3834-2, EN ISO 3834-3 or EN ISO 3834-4 Part 6: Guidelines on implementing EN ISO 3834 [Technical Report]

The Manufacturers generally select one of the three levels (as specified in part 2, 3 and 4 of the standard) based on the following considerations regarding their products: the extent and significance of safety critical products; the complexity of manufacture; the range of products manufactured; the range of different materials used; the extent to which metallurgical problems may occur; the extent to which manufacturing imperfections, e.g. misalignment, distortion, weld imperfection, can affect product performance.

ISO 3834-2 - Comprehensive quality Level This part is applied to constructions in which the failure of welds may lead to total product failure with successive significant financial consequences and a major risk of human injury. The product may be subject to pronounced dynamic loading in addition to high static loading. Manufacture can be complex and the range of materials could include high performance metals as well as materials such as structural boiler steels and aluminium alloys that require enhanced controls to avoid the occurrence of deleterious fabrication imperfections. ISO 3834-3 - Standard quality level This part can be applied to constructions in which failure of welds could impair the intended use of the construction and the operational unit in which it forms a part. The product would have a normal safety risk and the financial consequences would not be extreme. The manufacturing technique would be conventional without reliance on high performance materials and the production processes would be well established. ISO 3834-4 - Elementary quality level This part is applied to constructions in which failure of welds would not fundamentally impair the intended use of the constructions. Additionally, failure would not be expected to have any adverse effects on the safety of people and would only have minor financial consequences. The materials used would be simple as well as the manufacturing technique. 5.0 5.1 Interpretation of the Requirements of ISO 3834. Technical and contract requirements. (Clause no 7.2 of ISO 9001:2008.) Attention should be given to the product standard to be used together with any supplementary requirements, and to statutory and regulatory requirements. A possible way to demonstrate the Manufacturer's compliance with these normative requirements is the registration of the subject review by filing cither the minutes meeting or the relevant checklist. The aspects given in the standard not intended to be exhaustive; consider further matters relevant to a particular contract or design requirement. The intent is to ensure that the manufacturer properly understands the technical requirements and that the product be manufactured in accordance with the contract. Welding coordination according to ISO 14731 should be specified for this activity. Sub contracting: (Clause no 7.4 of ISO 9001:2008.)

5.2

The manufacturer should ensure that any sub-contracted welding-related activities, including welding, NDT, inspection, heat treatment, maintenance of equipment and calibration, comply with the requirements of the contract specification to the satisfaction of the welding coordinator with assigned responsibilities in this area. Sub-contractors who deliver welding or ancillary services may comply with the same or a higher level of EN ISO 3834 as the main contractor. However, a lower level may be appropriate in particular cases, depending on the extent of the sub-contract and the services or products provided.

It is the manufacturer's responsibility to ensure that the welding or related activities are properly controlled according to relevant items of EN ISO 3834. More extensive supervision and surveillance may become necessary if the initial audits reveal excessive non-conformance.

5.3 Welding personnel - (Clause no 6.2 of ISO 9001:2008.) 5.3.1 - Welders and welding operators

Welders and welding operators shall be qualified by an appropriate test. Whenever no other specific Customer's requirement is applicable, the standards reported in the following the applicable codes such as ASME Sec IX or EN 228/ EN 15642 standards apply. All qualification records shall be filed in the last upgraded revision and properly controlled, moreover, if the production welds are of the required quality and if the test records (e.g. halfyearly Documentation about radiographic or ultrasonic inspections or fracture tests, etc.) are filed, prolongation of the certificate time of validity may be obtained, It should be noted that the standards referenced in table 1 consider the figure of the examiner or examination body as a person or organisation .appointed to verify compliance with the applicable Standard without giving any specific guidance on it. As a consequence, many different situations can be considered: Qualification is issued by a person without any recognised qualification; Qualification is issued by a qualified person (IWE, IWT, IWS, IWI-P4), with reference to his/her Qualification diploma (and relevant stamp); Qualification is issued by the Manufacturer's qualified welding coordinator (IWE, IWT, IWS) in the name of the Manufacturer itself; Qualification is issued by an independent third party, possibly authorised by the customer or by a national accreditation body.

However, specification of the examiner or examining body for the approval of welders and/or welding procedures shall be a contractual requirement or, otherwise, a fabrication code requirement. 5.3.2 Welding coordination personnel Welding coordination is the key activity for achievement of the desired quality for the welded product as the welding coordination personnel has responsibility for quality activities, as reported in ISO 14731/EN 719. Typical tasks for the welding coordinator are: contract and design review; evaluation of weldability and relevant choice of base material (if applicable) and welding consumables; assessment of possible Subcontractors; welding (and allied activities) production planning; equipment management; welding and testing; welding documents control and management

Welding coordination according to ISO 14731 addresses the management and execution of those manufacturing and technical activities undertaken to control the welding. Many technical bodies such as IIW, CSWIP, AWS provides for guidelines for the qualification of International Welding Engineers, Technologists, and Specialists, corresponding to the three above-mentioned levels. EN ISO 3834-2 and EN ISO 3834-3 require application of ISO 14731, which presents "the human aspect" of welding control and, as such, is an important standard. Within the system, one or more persons, normally employed by the manufacturer, perform each control activity, e.g. control of maintenance of welding equipment. EN ISO 3834 identifies requirements for each element of welding control, in allocating these welding coordination tasks and responsibilities. ISO 14731 uses the term responsible welding coordinator to identify the person or persons having an adequate level of welding technical knowledge for the range of products manufactured. All manufacturers should appoint at least one responsible welding coordinator. The expectation is that a responsible welding coordinator is the person nominated by the manufacturer as having the competence to make decisions and to sign documents, which affect product quality. The responsible welding coordinator has an overall responsibility for monitoring welding activities and for taking action when welding has not been correctly performed. 5.3.3 Inspection and testing personnel Welding inspection activities require qualified personnel. Therefore, at least NDT personnel should be adequately qualified according to EN 473/ISO 971 or SNT TC 1C. IWI provides for a guideline regarding training courses for the following three levels of welding inspectors: Category C (International Welding Inspector - Comprehensive) Category S (International Welding Inspector - Standard) Category B (International Welding Inspector - Basic) However, it shall be noted that for some test or checks (e.g. welding parameters, dimensional checks, visual testing, etc.) the welder or welding operator can be considered as an inspector himself. 5.4 Equipment - (Clause no 6.4 of ISO 9001:2008.) The Manufacturer shall have available equipment adequate to his products and production volume. All the equipment shall be included in a list, which may be considered both as a way to provide potential customers with information on the Manufacturer's capabilities and productivity and as a tool for the equipment management. EN ISO 3834 requires that a list of key equipment and facilities be prepared and maintained up-to-date. The equipment and facilities should be monitored to ensure they are adequate to manufacture the products concerned. It is expected that the manufacturer will have implemented a system for the identification, control, maintenance and calibration (where relevant) of all production equipment, including having designated the individuals responsible for these activities and detailed the arrangement to prevent production use of defective equipment.

5.5

Welding and related activities 5.5.1 Production planning - Clause no 7.1 of ISO 9001:2008.)

Quality plans and manufacturer plans its production activities to be properly define all the activities to be performed with relevant sequences, processes and procedures, and personnel allocation. The typical result of such an activity is the "production and inspection plan", which will cover the production of each component (if relevant) throughout all the manufacturing stages; in some cases, this is to be registered as a production document. Moreover, it can be delivered to the final customer together with the product, whenever this is contractually required. 5.5.2 Welding procedures and instructions (Clause no 4.2.3 of ISO 9001:2008.) The Manufacturer shall prepare the Welding Procedure Specification(s) (WPS) and shall ensure that these are used correctly in production. The welding procedures applied during production shall be as specific as possible, in order to clearly identify actions and parameters to be used for the required joint. However, if the relevant WPS contains data too detailed and not useful for the welder, dedicated work instructions may be used directly derived from such a WPS containing only the necessary data. These instructions have to refer directly to the welding procedure specification they derived from, e.g. by referring to the relevant WPS number. 5.5.3 Welding related document control (Clause no 4.2.3 of ISO 9001:2008.) In order to demonstrate the achieved quality of the welded product, all the welding related documents (e.g. WPS, WPQR, Welder's Qualification record, etc) shall be properly controlled. This involves the preparation and maintenance of a procedure for the management of such documents, in order to identify issuance responsibilities, distribution methods, availability, and method for withdrawing obsolete documents. Even if it is not a normative requirement, a commonly adopted method to control documentation is the production of a written procedure, produced or approved by the welding coordinator to be kept by the Manufacturer quality assurance department or directly by the welding coordinator himself. 5.6 Welding Consumables (Clause no 7.5.5 of ISO 9001:2008.)

Welding consumables are a basic element in the quality of a welded joint. As an example, covered electrodes, which have absorbed humidity due to incorrect storage or management procedures, can seriously affect the quality of a welded joint causing cold cracks, porosity, etc. Therefore welding consumables such as filler metals, shielding gases, 5.7 Storage of parent materials (Clause no 7.5.5 of ISO 9001:2008.)

The material shall be stored in a way, which prevents from adverse effects (this applies also to client supplied material). Moreover, some materials seem to be quite similar but possess very different properties; thus, identification shall be maintained at least during the storage. A written procedure to be prepared or approved by the welding coordinator should be made available to the material warehouse as well as the production personnel. Such procedure should give guidelines to avoid the deterioration of required properties that could adversely

affect or the performance of material during service, such as contamination of carbon steel with stainless steel. 5.8 Post-weld heat treatment (Clause no 7.5.2 of ISO 9001:2008.)

Post-weld heat treatments as heat treatments in general can be considered as special processes. Hence, the Manufacturer is anyhow responsible for the quality of the final product and has to manage properly all the activities relevant to the heat treatment, In particular, a PWHT procedure shall be produced by the Manufacturer or by the potential supplier, though approved by the Manufacturer's Welding Coordinator according to the Customer or Standard/code requirements. It has to be compatible with the parent material, the welded joint, the construction etc. Moreover, the heat treatment shall be recorded during the process to evidence that the specification has been followed as well as to ensure the traceability for the particular product. 5.9 Inspection and testing (Clause no 8.2.4 of ISO 9001:2008.)

In order to guarantee the application of all the fabrication procedures and the required properties for the product, appropriate inspections and tests shall be implemented during the manufacturing process All the procedures or instructions relevant to inspection and testing shall be made available to the inspection personnel, and properly controlled. For some tests or checks (e.g. welding parameters, dimensional checks, visual testing, etc.) the welder or welding operator itself shall be considered as inspector. Although EN ISO 3834 refers to 'inspection' and 'testing', it does not specify criteria for organizations performing these activities. The results of inspections and tests carried out by the manufacturer, or by sub-contractors, and presented as objective evidence to confirm satisfactory process controls and/or achievement of specification requirements should be fully assessed in the certification. The EN ISO 3834 Assessment Team should confirm that the manufacturer's and/or subcontractor's facility and personnel providing inspection and testing services are conducted and controlled in a technically competent manner which provides confidence in the results obtained, and can therefore support- the conclusions made, regarding process control adequacy and specification compliance. Compliance with ISO/IEC 17020 and ISO/IEC 17025 as appropriate would provide such confidence. 5.10 Non-conformance and corrective actions (Clause no 8. 3 and 8.5.2 of ISO 9001:2008.) As previously stated, ISO 3834 is a process standard, which refers to welding fabrication, however containing some elements relevant to the management system. Therefore, nonconformances refer to either product defects or aberrations from the contract (however concerning the product itself). Therefore, the Manufacturer has to consider proper procedures to resolve non-conformances and avoid further accidents in the future avoidance of recurrence of non-conformances).

In particular, if repair welding is needed, repair specifications shall be produced or approved by the welding coordinator, and shall be made available to the repairing site (note that qualification, according to any standard, is not required). After repair has been accomplished, the items shall be re-inspected, tested and examined in accordance with the original requirements. Depending on the criticality Of non-conformity, the manufacturer shall carry out root cause analysis and then initiate a corrective action in order to avoid recurrence. 5.11 Calibration and validation of measuring, inspection and testing equipment (Clause no 7.6 of ISO 9001:2008.) In general, calibration of welding equipment instruments (e.g. ammeters, voltmeters) is only required where the quality/repeatability of the weld depends on accurate and repeatable setting of parameters such as current, voltage, speed, gas flow, pulse characteristics, etc., the "instrument" to be calibrated shall be, the "intuition and experience" of qualified and skilled welders. Elaborate procedures for calibration of instruments will be in some cases impossible to apply or however, if applicable, will simply add costs without increasing the quality. In general, calibration of instruments is required for automatic welding machines, temperature recorders for heat treatment, NDT equipment, etc. Moreover, calibration is necessary in other situations. Instruments for inspection and testing and for control of e.g. PWHT should be calibrated at regular intervals. New welding processes and new power sources, A good reference for the management of calibration of welding and related processes for Manufacturers applying ISO 3834 is the EN 17662 standard "Welding - Calibration, verification and validation of equipment used for welding, including ancillary activities". A key issue of the standard is the discussion of the influence of various process variables on the resulting output and, in particular, of the possibilities of verification of the output by subsequent monitoring, inspection and testing. 5.12 Identification and traceability (Clause no 7.5.3 of ISO 9001:2008.) Identification of pieces and parts, and the possibility to retrace their position during the manufacturing stages and when delivered to the customer is one of the most effective way to achieve quality of the product and to have feedback about its functionality. However, it shall be noted that identification and traceability can imply expensive procedures and are therefore not required by the ISO 3834 standard. However, they can be required by standards, fabrication codes or by the customer himself. Whenever required, it shall be maintained during the manufacturing process, which means that for every piece or component it shall be possible to retrieve its history by marking the parts and controlling the relevant documentation. Documented systems to ensure identification and traceability of the welding operations shall include:

EN ISO 3834 does not always require identification and traceability. Where the manufacturer has taken on, or is likely to take on, contracts where traceability is required, an appropriate instruction are to be implemented. Such an instruction should not create confusion with items for contracts, which do not require traceability. When traceability of consumables is required, it is expected that the various batches used in a weld will be recorded, but that it is not necessary to record the location of various batches of approved welding consumables within multi-run joints. 5.13 Quality records (Clause no 4.2.4 of ISO 9001:2008.) Quality records shall be retained for a minimum period of five years in the absence of any other specified requirements. When required by the contract the records related to the welding shall be issued to the customer. Quality records shall include, when applicable: Record of requirement/technical review. Material certificates; Welding consumable certificates; Welding procedure specifications; Equipment maintenance records; Welding procedure approval records (WPQR). Welder or welding operator qualification certificates; Production plan; Calibration records Non-destructive testing personnel certificates; Heat treatment procedure specification and records; Non-destructive testing and destructive testing procedures and reports; Dimensional reports; Records of repairs and non-conformance reports. 6.0 Certification process Certification process for ISO 3834 is more or less same as ISO 9001:2008. It expects the system specifically related to the welding aspects, as given above. The assessment is conducted by the competent assessors, in QMS as well as has in depth understanding on welding. The EN ISO 3834 Assessment Team in evaluating the competence of the manufacturer's Welding Coordinator should take special care. This important aspect of EN ISO 3834 can be properly evaluated in a peer review and challenge process in which the Welding Coordinators are interviewed and their work examined. The peer review process involves the examination of specific contract(s) to assess compliance with the customer's specification in, for example, the following areas : selection/development of welding procedures welding sequences NDT and heat treatment approval of personnel traceability quality control and acceptance sub-contracting