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the answer is...

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ANSWERED BY
KENNETH ERICKSON & KIP MANKENBERG

Q: Im a CWI (I received my certifi-
cation in 2008), and I do some call-
out work for a local testing lab. One of
the tasks I have at a couple of the
shops I visit is to check that the
welders are working to the Welding
Procedure Specification (WPS)
(checking amp, volts, etc.). Ive had a
chance to talk shop with some of the
other CWIs who work out of here, and
we all have different approaches as to
how we do this. One guy says youve
got to stop the welder and let him/her
know youre there and what youre
about to do. Another person says you
dont have to tell the welder at all (Im
not sure how thats possible). Anyway,
can you give an opinion?
A: Depending on the situation, we
would say that somewhere in between
those two extremes will usually be best
and most practical. In general, it is best
to do a welder audit with the minimum
amount of disruption to the welder. If it is
a small shop using a small number of
WPSs, it may indeed be possible to do
this without ever disturbing the welder.
Take a small structural shop, for exam-
ple. There may be only one flux cored
arc welding WPS, and it may be applica-
ble to every sort of configuration the
shop welds. The shop may have very few
welders, and you know them and their
qualifications by sight. The right WPS,
check. Base material, check. Welding
position, check. Qualified welder, check.
In a situation like that, you may be
able to then check amps, volts, travel
speed, gas type and flow (at the gauge),
and the filler material (at the spool) with-
out ever interrupting the welder, and this
may be enough to satisfy the require-
ments for that shop. If you need to check
additional parameters, such as minimum
preheat or maximum interpass tempera-
tures, then youll have to hang around
and do some more work. If you are, in
fact, able to do a welder audit without the
welders knowledge, common courtesy
would dictate that at some point you tell
the welder that you did the audit and that
he/she was doing a good job of following
the WPS. Of course, if there are prob-
lems youll need to discuss them and
help correct the situation using whatever
is the agreed upon process.
On the other hand, if it is a large shop
or erection site with many welders, many
different WPSs, different material types,
different filler materials, etc., then likely
youll have to disrupt the welder in order
to perform a welder audit. The key is to
disrupt the welder as little as possible.
Instead of actually interrupting the oper-
ation, wait until the welder has finished a
weld pass. Then you can talk to him/her,
explain what you need to do, and do it.
You should be able to handle the prelim-
inaries quickly (determining the WPS to
which the welder is working, if the
welder is qualified for the process, mate-
rial, position, thickness, etc., and if the
WPS is appropriate for the base metal
and position of welding, etc.) and let the
welder get back to work. Then you can
do the other checks (amps, volts, travel
speed, etc.) as necessary.O

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KENNETH ERICKSON is manager of quality at National Inspection & Consultants, Inc., Ft. Myers, Fla. He is an AWS
Senior Certified Welding Inspector, an ASNT National NDT Level III Inspector in four methods, and provides expert witness
review and analysis for legal considerations.

CLIFFORD (KIP) MANKENBERG is a construction supervisor for Shell International Exploration & Production, Houston, Tex.
He is an AWS Senior Certified Welding Inspector and an ASNT National NDT Level III Inspector in five methods.

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