Maintaining a competitive edge

Many companies have achieved certification to ISO 9001 with respect to their quality management systems. But where significant use is made of a special process like welding, such certification is unlikely to provide required demonstration of capability of the company to manufacture products of the required quality.

EN ISO 3834 can overcome this shortfall and boost the manufacturing company’s ability to sell its products in both domestic and overseas markets. Compliance with EN ISO 3834 provides a “one-stop-shop” to achieve global recognition of your company’s capability.

People are the key to EN ISO 3834

Entitled “Quality Requirements for Welding”, the standard provides details of how to control the various welding-related operations to achieve the desired quality consistently. A key feature of the standard is the requirement to ensure that people with welding responsibilities are competent to discharge those responsibilities. This is achieved by incorporation of another standard: EN 719/ISO 14731 “Welding Co-ordination – Tasks and responsibilities”.

Certification to EN ISO 3834 – Alone or combined with ISO 9001?

Independent certification to EN ISO 3834 benefits manufacturers by providing an authoritative third party statement of commercial value. Certification can be achieved alongside an ISO 9001 certification or it can be stand-alone. The stand-alone option may be attractive to companies in which the welding operations cover all types of operations and components.

Welding Fabricator Certification Scheme – satisfying EN ISO 3834 and EWF/IIW requirements

Benefits for certified fabricators

• Clear, high profile, independent certification of compliance by the world’s leading authority on welding
• Confirmation of welding and fabricating capability and staff competence
• Improved client confidence leading to a reduction in external audits
• Entry of company’s details on well-publicised national and European/International registers
• Quality management and fabrication capability assessments carried out by specialists assessors
• Increased national and international business potential
• Certification packages to suit individual company requirements
• EN ISO 3834 certification can be achieved alone or alongside ISO 9001 certification
• Facilitates compliance with emerging European and international standards that call up ISO 3834

Benefits for clients of certified fabricators

Clients should consider making EN ISO 3834 certification a contract requirement because it provides:

• Expertly led, independent assessment of suppliers
• In-depth, authoritative evaluation of fabricator capability
• Consistent assessment
• Uniform presentation of information and data

Details of certified companies also posted on the EWF website (www.ewf.be) and shortly in IIW website (www.iiw-iis.org), which has open access and search facilities provides an important sales benefit to registered companies.

How is certification achieved?

The first decision to make is which level of welding quality requirements is appropriate to your company.

EN ISO 3834 contains three levels of requirements and the selection will depend on the degree of complexity of your welding operations. Bear in mind that even simple welding operations require appropriate control and this is catered for in the category described in Part 4 of the standard.

Parts 2 and 3 define requirements suitable for more complex welding operators.

The Authorised National Body for Company Certification (ANBCC) can advise you on which level would be appropriate. Once this decision is made, the next steps are:

1. The company completes and returns the application documentation
2. Following review of this documentation, a quotation will be issued
3. Upon acceptance of the quotation, you will undergo the assessment process. This will be conducted by individuals specially selected and appointed by the ANBCC for their experience and expertise in welding and in conducting assessments
4. Successful applicants will be issued with an EWF/IIW certificate indicating the standard(s) against which certification has been achieved
5. EWF/IIW will enter the details on the EWF/IIW website
6. The certificate is subject to satisfactory surveillance and periodic re-assessment

About EWF and IIW

EWF and IIW are bodies that bring together all the main welding institutes and societies throughout the world. In addition to the EN ISO 3834 Scheme, they operate the well-known qualification scheme for International Welding Engineers, Technologists, Specialist, etc. These qualifications have become the benchmark knowledge requirements for welding personnel worldwide.

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