Today, many companies want to set themselves apart. One way for steel fabricators to do this is through becoming AISC certified.
In an ideal world, an owner’s representative would inspect the shop of every fabricator bidding on a project. However, because it is so time-consuming, this is not a feasible task.
That is why having the AISC certification verifies that the fabricator has a quality management system in place. This in turn will help ensure that the company will provide quality steel fabrication and ultimately keep you and others safe.
However, it’s not just the fabrication process that is certified. It is the entire process from the beginning to the end.
- 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. 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 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.
There are many things the fabricators are required to do to become AISC certified, but here are a few examples of those requirements:
- Continuously measuring; For example, before you paint, you will need to measure the inside temperature of the steel to ensure that the temperature matches the regulation that is needed to begin painting.
- Calibrating equipment, such as measuring tapes.
- Welding procedures are inspected by a certified welding inspector. The inspector will use non-destructive testing that consists of; dye penetration testing, magnetic particle testing, ultrasonic inspection, and visual weld inspection. These are highly advance technical procedures that are used to inspect welds to ensure that they are water tight and without deficiencies. Additionally, in the inspection of the welders, a tensile and pull test will be preformed in the non-welded area of the steel.
- Each lot of bolts needs to be tested to make sure they meet the requirements of the Skidmore-Wilhelm device. This device will torque them down to the specified amount and test to see if they hold their integrity. The results of the test will then be recorded in the system.
- A high volume of data that is entered, stored and organized by job and type
- Detailed drawings telling fabricators and erectors what to do
This is an extremely rigorous process; however, it the takes the standards of quality and accountability to a new level.
All of the requirements are to ensure that the fabrication is completed properly. Typically, to verify that the requirements are being met, the company will have a comprehensive administrative review, documentation audit and an on-site audit. The on-site audit will assess the company’s:
- Day-to-day operations (compared with the documented procedures from its quality management system)
- A general list of core quality criteria
- Management responsibility
- Employee training
- Material purchasing and handling
Though the process to acquire and become certified may be a tedious one, it is one that allows you to be a part of an elite group that provides quality fabrication that is accepted all over the world.
If you are interested in more information, or need an AISC certified steel fabricator in West Virginia for your next project, please click here or call Industrial Resources at 304-363-4100 today!
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