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0 Introduction
International certification plays a very important role when companies participate in international market competition . As China is getting stronger at the aspects of politics, economy, science and technology, the opportunities that Chinese welding fabrication enterprises and their products participate in international market competition are increasing continuously. Especially after China successfully joined WTO, market opening and trade barrier elimination make plenty of enterprises and their products from developed countries such as Europe and America flow into Chinese large market. While the chances are getting more, the domestic welding fabrication companies meet stronger competition and more challenges, especially in the fabrication fields of large steel structures, rail communication and petrol-chemical equipment. Whether the companies have corresponding internationally-recognized certification or not is not only required by relevant supervision authorities and standards and codes, but also resulted from the conditions that it is customers and market which choose enterprises and products. Moreover, it is due to the requirements that companies improve its management and product quality and participate in international market competition. Therefore, The domestic companies are getting to realize the importance of the international certification.
The number of enterprises which put importance to international certification is increasing quickly, meanwhile the market sale value of certified companies has also increased quickly. Let's take one port machinery company in Shanghai as example, it passed "Steel Construction Certification of Welding Fabrication Company" according to DIN18800-7 organised by SLV Duisburg Germany in cooperation with Harbin Welding Training Institute(WTI Harbin), and got successfully the contracts for the seashore container crane fabrication in a German port and a Dutch port(The contract value reached up to one hundred million US dollars) so as to enter European market which is famous for strictness and Asian enterprises had never entered. It has kept high speed rise of the sale value for several continuous years in European market and its products at present take over 50 per cent shares of international market. The above case shows the important role of international company certification in international market competition.
1 Personnel qualification system for company certification
The requirements of such as welding engineers, welders and welding inspection personnel, are the base and key points for the certification of various welding fabrication enterprises.
Chinese Welding Training and Qualification Committee (CANB) passed the audit on site by International Institute of Welding (IIW) in WTI Harbin in 1999, and got the full authorization from IIW in January 2000 so as to realize the international harmonization of welding personnel qualification, and to establish solid base on which China can conduct company certification of welding fabrication industries and promote the international harmonization of company certification. Meanwhile, it can offer successful experience for international company certification. WTI Harbin began to cooperate with SLV Duisburg Germany in 1984 and the aim of cooperation was: to fully introduce international system of welding personnel training and qualification and to promote the system in China . During the period of near fifteen years' Sino-German cooperation, we trained more than 200 European Welding Engineers, over 100 European Welding Specialists, near 1000 German DVS Welding Instructors and more than 5000 German and European Welders for various welding-related enterprises. We not only trained the welding persons with international qualification, but also provided the domestic welding industries which will join international market with international human resources. It was because of 15 years' Sino-German cooperation (1984-1999) which underwent four cooperation terms at the steps of study, introduction, improvement and independent development, CANB passed the initial assessment at one time and got international authorization, so that China became the first country outside Europe which was awarded IIW authorization. It also thanks for the wide support from welding industries and the high attention paid by various levels of government.
Harbin Welding Training Institute, as the first International Authorized Training Body (ATB) in China , has held over 50 classes under IIW qualification scheme and trained over 2000 welding technical persons including International Welding Engineers in more than 20 provinces and cities up to May 2004.
UP to the end of 2003, there have been 18408 IIW diplomas awarded in the world. AS the number of awarded diplomas is concerned, China ranks the second out of 32 IIW ANBs.
Meanwhile WTI Harbin continues to cooperate with SLV Duisburg and has trained and tested near 10,000 welders according to EN287 (ISO9606). The training and qualification guidelines of International Welding Inspection Personnel (IWIP) and International Welder (IW) have been approved and CANB has achieved full authorisation for these two categories. China began to carry out the training and qualification of IWIP and IW at the end of 2004. The alternative route for International Welding Engineer offers chances for more people to attend the course so as to provide human resources for international harmonization of company certification.
2 Welding standards related to company certification
The equivalence of Chinese welding standards to ISO and EN ones has also created the necessary conditions for international harmonization of company certification. Up to now, plenty of Chinese welding standards have already adopted equivalently the international ones. For instance, over twenty international standards has already been or are being adopted as Chinese standards equivalently at the aspects of terminology, symbol, joint preparation, defect approval, welding positions, preheat temperature, structure tolerance, quality requirements, welding personnel requirement, test standards, welding procedure specifications and approval, welding procedure specifications and approval. Among them, ISO3834, ISO14731 and ISO9606 at the aspect of quality assurance have been transferred into Chinese standards GB/T12467, GB/T19419 and GB/T15169 respectively.
A lot of international standards related to company certification have been adopted equivalently and successively by Chinese standard organizations and this provide preparation from the aspect of standards for international harmonization of welding fabrication company certification.
3 The promotion way of Company certification
It is an effective route that the quality accreditation system of Chinese welding manufacture enterprises will be established and be awarded international recognition and authorization as soon as possible by means of international cooperation and introduction so that international harmonization of company certification can be approached. After successfully completion of welding personnel training cooperation with SLV Duisburg, WTI Harbin changed the leading cooperation business to the field of company certification since 1999. The first enterprise that both parties cooperated to certify was the large c ompany in Shanghai which enjoyed the largest shares of port crane machinery equipment market in the world. At first WTI Harbin offered comprehensive consultation according to DIN18800-7 and DIN15018, and trained and qualified welding and inspection engineers, made tests for several hundred welders according to EN287-1 and EN1418, the standards for approval test for welders of fusion welding and operators of resistance welding, so that the personnel qualification meets the requirements of company certification. Then it carried out relevant experiments and preparation according to the requirements of European standards EN10204 and EN288 on materials and welding processes, and made pre-assessment under the conditions that production equipment and environment met the basic demands before the formal assessment. The formal audit was made by a German certification expert and a Chinese authorized expert. The procedure consisted of two parts: check on site and professional interview. The company passed the audit successfully at one time. Thereafter, both parties cooperated to certify several enterprises in compliance with EN729-2 ( ISO3834-2) . Since 2002, both parties have started DIN6700-2 company certification of equipment fabrication of rail communication industries. Up to now, there have been many enterprises submitting their application. Through such a lot of cooperative certification, WTI Harbin has got to understand the certification procedure and process, grasp relevant standards and specification, know the construction and operational rules of certification system step by step, so that we have set up a company certification system of welding fabrication in China.
The wide acceptance and participation of welding industries and high attention and support from governments is the key to facilitate international harmonization of company certification system of welding fabrication industries. The company certification organizations are founded within the industrial structures in many countries, for instance, DVS and EWF has approved member countries to conduct company certification on the basis of Authorized National Bodies (ANB). Welding Production and Quality Assurance Commission of Chinese Welding Society begins to pay attention to the exchange about techniques and standards related with company quality assurance and certification in recent years, which has attracted the attention from welding industry.
The effective work which WTI Harbin has done before, the preliminary achievements gained and the proposal to promote international harmonization of company certification, has won high attention of the relevant government departments which allocated special fund to for the programme of "The Establishment of Internationally Harmonized Company Certification of Welding Fabrication Enterprises". In this way, international harmonization of company qualification is provided with important support.
The smooth completion of international harmonization of company certification will clear the barriers and eliminate technology bulwark encountered when Chinese enterprises participate in international cooperation and competition in the field of welding fabrication and allied industries so that Chinese welding fabrication enterprises and products may take larger shares in international market and then make their contributions to national economy increase.
* Xie Yinglong, Chen Yu, Qian Qiang, Dai Wanfu, Welding Production and Quality Assurance Commission of Chinese Welding Society, Chinese Welding Training and Qualification Committee (CANB), Harbin Welding Training Institute Harbin, 150046, E-mail: xieyinglong @iiw-canb.org ( Xie Yinglong ) |
