Most fabrication shops don't have a WPQ problem. They have a WPQ volume problem.
There will typically be at least one WPQ for every PQR. Generally, there will be more WPQs than any other document type. A shop with 30 welders and 10 active procedures can easily accumulate over 100 WPQs. When those records live in spreadsheets, filing cabinets, or scattered drives, gaps show up at the worst time: during an audit, or when a welder gets assigned to a job their records don't actually cover.
This post covers how to get more qualification coverage out of fewer test coupons, how WPQ duplication works, and how ProWrite handles WPQ creation and welder tracking.
WPQs 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.
That is the part worth paying attention to. A WPQ can be thought of as "what was done by a specific welder and what that qualifies the welder to" regarding welding. A single test coupon qualifies a welder across a range of thicknesses, diameters, positions, and base metals. Shops that understand how to maximize those ranges run fewer test coupons and spend less on requalification.
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. If you are not reviewing qualified ranges against your active WPSs, you are probably requalifying welders who are already covered.
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".
This is how larger shops keep assignments flexible. Instead of building every welder's qualification stack individually, you duplicate a WPQ structure so the crew carries consistent coverage. When a new job comes in, you already know who can weld it.
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 made after the PQR is typically that of the welder who welded the coupon. That first WPQ is also a PQR. After that, other coupons will be WPQs only.
Just as with PQRs, WPQ coupons are welded on test coupons (physical components joined together, made of plate or pipe) that are typically destructively or radiographically tested to assure compliance with a given specification/Code. A bend test, for example, bends the coupon in a given direction to confirm that any failure occurs above a given value and in the base metal, not the weld metal.
The real value: WPQs build a welder's qualification ranges and can be analyzed to show a welder is qualified to a given WPS, even if that WPS is not directly associated with the WPQ or PQR. Shops that review qualified ranges against their active WPSs run fewer test coupons and spend less on unnecessary requalification.
Tired of wasting time doing work the old fashioned way? Sign-up here for a Prowrite Demo or to get pricing.
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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Weld Toolbox - CAD is a FREE welding joint and weld symbols utility that utilizes design wizards to help you easily document the types of welds, including the weld symbols you need to give your documents a professional appearance.
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Follow along the rest of the series
What is a WPS and why is it important?
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