What is a WPQ and why is it important?

Welder Performance Qualifications (WPQ's) can be thought of as "what was done by a specific welder and what that qualifies the welder to" regarding welding. There will typically be at least one WPQ for every PQR. WHAT IS A WPQ AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Generally, there will be more WPQ's than any other document type. The first WPQ made after the PQR is typically that of the Welder that welded the coupon. The PQR essentially allows the Company to do "x" and the WPQ allows the Welder to do "y".

The WPQ can be thought of as a combination of the PQR and the WPS for one specific Welder as it holds both the Actual Values and the Range Qualified based on those values.

Watch this VIDEO to discover the easy way to produce WPQ's:

The same basic WPQ may however be copied for multiple welders (allowing many welders to have similar qualification ranges to enable flexibility in management). Each WPQ is associated with just 1 Welder in ProWrite but a WPQ number can be duplicated across WPQ's so every welder in a shop may have their own "WPQ 6".

In ProWrite S9 a WPQ can be made from a WPQ Template, a PQR, a WPS or as a stand-alone document. A WPQ in ProWrtie D1.1 can be made from a WPS or as a stand-alone document.

For more information on the document flow in ProWrite, please watch the following video snippet -

As indicated above the first WPQ is also a PQR typically. Following that WPQ other coupons will be WPQs only.

Just as with PQRs they are welded on "test coupons" (physical components joined together made of plate or pipe) that are typically destructively or radio-graphically tested to assure compliance with a given specification/Code. A "Bend Test" where the coupon is bent in a given direction to assure any failure of the coupon occurs above a given value and in a given portion of the coupon (e.g. above the base metals tensile strength with the failure in the base metal, not the weld metal).

WPQ's are used to build Welders' qualification ranges and can be analyzed to show a welder is qualified to a given WPS even if that WPS is not associated with the WPQ or PQR.

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Download Antonio's article from the February edition of AWS Welding Journal right now, if you would like to learn more from about how CEI helps the Welding Industry year-round!

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