Certification, quality control, safety and accountability…these are four words that Industrial Resources lives by as an AISC Certified Building Fabricator.
A recent on-site audit conducted by Quality Management Company, LLC., a third party company arranged by AISC, resulted with zero deficiencies and confirmed that Industrial Resources, Inc. is maintaining their AISC Quality Control Program to the level and standards as required by AISC.
Ron Prettyman stated that Industrial’s audit was one of the best he had ever conducted and congratulated all personnel within the organization.
An AISC Certified Building Fabricator maintains compliance with State and Federal Regulatory Agencies to provide a safe environment and workplace for their employees and customers.
An AISC Certified Building Fabricator bids on jobs because they meet the requirements and specifications, and are awarded those jobs because they can meet or exceed the owner’s goals of quality materials and budget.
What Does it Mean to be an AISC Certified Fabricator in West Virginia ?
The AISC certification verifies that the fabricator has a quality management system in place. This ensures that the company provides quality steel fabrication and ultimately keeps you and everyone else safe. However, it’s not just the fabrication process that gets certified. It is the entire process–from the detail engineering to the end of the project.
- It starts from selecting, interviewing and evaluating the suppliers of the material to ensure that they are providing quality material.
- When that material is shipped, it comes with the Mill Test Report. For those who don’t know, the Mill Test Report is a quality assurance document that certifies that the steel fabricator’s materials are in compliance with appropriate ASTM standards, applicable dimensions, physical and chemical specifications. The records of the report are kept and tied to the records of the sales order number. This then has to be tied to the purchase order number that they were ordered under.
- Once the material is delivered, it has to be visually inspected by the receiving clerk. After the inspection, they will fill out a material receiving report to determine and sign the report to confirm that the material was in fact conformant to what was ordered. Then, those records are scanned and kept in the system that is required by AISC.
- After the steel is picked up outside, all the equipment that is used to run steel through the fabrication process has to go through a maintenance and calibration process.
- Then the material is taken from the floor of the fabrication process to the blasting process, where it is prepared for painting. According to painting specifications, there is a certain millimeter of removal that you have to take off to get to a white blast.
What Are the Requirements to Become AISC Certified?
There are many requirements that we have to follow after becoming AISC Certified.
- Continuously measuring. For example, we have to measure the ambient temperature of the paint bay to that the steel is in an environment that matches the regulation painting can begin.
- Calibration of equipment such as measuring tapes, framing squares, filet weld gauges, electrode ovens and welding machines
- All welding procedures are inspected by a full time on site certified welding inspector. The inspector will oversee the use of non-destructive testing which can consists of; dye penetration testing, magnetic particle testing, and ultrasonic inspection. A visual weld inspection is conducted on all welds within the fabrication process. The non-destructive tests are highly advanced technical procedures that are used to inspect welds to ensure that they are watertight and without deficiencies. Additionally, in the testing procedures of the welders, a tensile and pull test will be performed in the welded area of the steelto see if the weld is satisfactory.
- Three bolts are tested out of each lot or different size of bolts with a Skidmore-Wilhelm Meter to make sure the bolts meet the requirements of the RCSC Specifications. This testing meter will torque the bolts to the specified tension and test to see if they hold their integrity. The results of the test will then be recorded in the Quality Control filing system.
During each project, a high volume of data will be entered, stored and organized by the job Sales Order Number. There are detailed fabrication drawings that guide a fabricator through the process during their job of fabrication If you would like to learn more about the process of becoming AISC Certified? Click here.
Why Would a Company Want to Become AISC Certified?
Industrial Resources has been a leading provider of engineering, design, fabrication and construction to the coal industry since 1946.
“As a turn key industrial engineering and fabrication facility, we have to adapt to the changing market conditions,” said Phil Burnside, president of Industrial Resources. “Industrial Resources, Inc., has provided a service to the coal industry for the past 70 years and will continue to be a top provider as needed, however in today’s market you have to be flexible to move onto other opportunities.
View the document that all fabrication facilities are required to submit when becoming AISC Certified: HERE
“At Industrial Resources, Inc., we now have the knowledge and expertise to expand our customer base to include our services for the oil and gas industry, transshipment ports, barge loading facilities, aggregate businesses, sand plants and overland material handling systems,” Burnside said. “We are proud of what we do and what we have accomplished over the years. We look forward to the opportunities and challenges of the future.”
Why Consider a Steel Structure?
Structural steel can accomplish any design that an architect imagines–even if the design is complex. Structural steel has the ability to answer any challenges that an engineer may have such as how to make a wall disappear or how to bring in an extreme amount of natural light. Steel also has the ability to be adapted quickly and efficiently, without changing the floor plans significantly.
Not only can it adapt easily, structural steel is cost-efficient:
- Lower foundation costs: it has an increased strength-to-weight ratio
- Construction costs: structural steel can be erected faster, which decreases hours spent on labor
- Increased revenue: since the structure can be erected at a much quicker rate, the building can be used earlier than expected
- Future costs: since structural steel is easily adaptable, any future changes will not be as expensive.
According to the American Institute of Steel Construction, “Using BIM (building information modeling) can further reduce the overall cost of a steel building. In fact, studies have shown that this integrated approach can reduce the cost of a steel package by 10% to 20%.”
To further increase the savings in the project, get the steel fabricator in on the project early–in the design phase, if possible.
Other reasons to consider building with steel:
- Sustainable & green
- Structural steel can be produced in the United States
- Lower life-cycle costs
Industrial Resources | AISC Certified Fabricator in West Virginia
They can serve any customer that needs to move materials, including coal, salt, grain, sand, minerals and structures for the oil and gas industry.
Their corporate office is located in Fairmont, W.Va., and their professional engineering division office is located in Carnegie, Pa. Industrial Resources also has a professional electrical engineering group and facility in Pleasant Valley, Fairmont, WV. For more information call 304-363-4100.