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Why Choose the Welding Fabricator Certification Scheme?

Mon, 07 February, 2022

For companies who are manufacturers, fabricators and/or repairers of welded products, demonstrating that they have been certified by a third party to an acknowledged, international standard can make all the difference when tendering for contracts and developing business. Furthermore, although certification is not a mandatory requirement, increasingly, a variety of regulations, standards and specifications now stipulate that manufacturers, fabricators and repairers of welded products should be able to show that they comply with international standard ISO 3834.

In response to this, TWI Certification Limited (TWI CL), Company Certification Group offers the Welding Fabricator Certification Scheme (WFCS) in accordance with ISO 3834 ‘Quality requirements for fusion welding’ which provides companies with a platform for the control of welding quality through effective procedures and personnel competence. WFCS is accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), providing independent verification of a company’s welding and fabricating capabilities, and compliance with European and international standards.

For companies undertaking WFCS in accordance with ISO 3834, the conformity assessment process commences with a preliminary stage, currently conducted using video conferencing so that both parties can avoid any challenges arising from the COVID 19 pandemic. This confirms the client’s scope of work and the level of certification required. The ensuing preliminary report can then be used as a gap analysis tool, enabling the client to accurately target effort and expenditure to improve specific compliance requirements in different areas of the business. Once the organisation is confident that they are in a position to complete the second stage in the process; the Initial Assessment is then arranged.

Once achieved, the WFCS scheme has a certification duration of five years, with the requirement for one surveillance exercise each year to ensure ongoing compliance.

Emma Freckingham, Head of Company Certification Group for TWI CL explained that “Feedback from our clients over several years has shown that they have enjoyed significant benefits from choosing to undertake their third-party conformity assessment and certification of compliance with TWI CL – ranging from ease of demonstrating compliance during tender and bid phases, and business process improvement due to third-party scrutiny of their welding production – through to market advantage due to having a recognised brand of certification, and an uplift in employee motivation and retention as a result of greater attention to personnel competence management.”

TWI CL is the only Authorised Nominated Body for Company Certification (ANBCC) in the UK for the IIW and EWF Manufacturer Certification Scheme (MCS). Therefore companies who gain a successful assessment through TWI CL will not only receive TWI CL WFCS certificates, but also EWF and IIW MCS certificates and schedules, and additionally have their information included in the widely accessible EWF database of certified companies for international recognition.

If you are considering the Welding Fabricator Certification Scheme for your company, or would like to find out more about it, then simply visit the WFCS webpages to find out more.

In addition, read our case study on oil and gas operator MG Vowgas Limited, which is based in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and has recently gained certification to TWI CL, Company Certification Group’s WFCS in accordance with ISO 3834.

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