Page 19 - HIWT Summer 2018 World of Welding

Welder Certifcation vs Welder Qualifcation

When a student attends one of our two programs here at HIWT, difference here. Instead of testing an employee for a company, now
they have the opportunity to earn four or fve (depending on the we are testing a person and certifying that they properly followed
program) AWS QC7 Certifcations. Many people confuse the terms welding procedures and their tests meet the quality standards set
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certifcation and qualifcation. So, what actually is the difference by the American Welding Society. A buzz word around HIWT is
between a welder qualifcation and a welder certifcation? obviously the QC-7 cert tests. This is the QC7-93. There are three
supplements to QC7-93 each for a particular industry; the frst is
In general, the term certifed is misused. When an employer is QC7-93 Supplement C for Sheet Metal Welding code, next would
looking for certifed welders what they are actually looking for be Supplement F for Chemical Plants and Refnery Piping, and lastly
or referring to is a QUALIFIED welder. When a company sends is Supplement G. Supplement G is the AWS Welder Performance
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an employee to HIWT for testing or if we send someone to a Qualifcation Testing. This Supplement is used by the school for
company to witness testing (i.e. when one of our CWIs goes to our QC-7 testing. It offers the widest array, and is the best choice
the companys place of business) the employee/welder will take a for us because we do not know which industry each of our grads
weld test. That test is called a Welder Qualifcation. When the will end up working in. Once a student successfully passes a QC-7
welder successfully passes the test people generally say they are test they are in fact, Certifed. They will be issued a wallet card,
certifed. This is not true, they are actually Qualifed to weld a and will be listed on the national registry https://www.aws.org/
certain process/electrodes/positions/material; all determined by the certifcation/page/aws-national-registry-of-certifed-welders The
WPS (welding procedure specifcation) their company had them test cert(s) obtained while at HIWT do travel with the student and they
to. It is important to know that you do not have to be an Accredited can be utilized as long as they renew them every 6 months.
Testing Facility to administer these tests. When a welder takes a
welder qualifcation tests it pertains to their job and the needs of In short, if a person does not have QC-7 certifcation they are not
the company they currently work for. When they leave the company certifed. They may be qualifed to weld various welding procedures
none of the so called certifcations go with them. That is because for a company, but as a far as AWS is concerned they are not a
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they were never certifcations. They were qualifcations. Certifed Welder unless they possess QC-7 certifcation(s)
The American Welding Society started a program for Certifed HIWT is an Accredited Testing Facility for the American Welding
Welders (CW) years ago. In order to tests welders and certify Society. All of our students are tested and certifed on site.
them in accordance with QC7-93 you must comply with the AWS Paperwork is then sent to AWS where it is processed and the
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QC4-89 Standard for Accreditation of Test Facilities for student is sent their certifcation card. For more information on
AWS Certifed Welder Program. So HIWT had to become scheduling welder qualifcation or welder certifcation testing
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an Accredited Testing Facility to offer QC-7 Certifcations. The contact Chip Prinz at 937-332-9502 or email at Chip.Prinz@welding.
purpose of this was to provide a way to actually certify welders org.
to various processes for various industries. There is a major

www.welding.org - 19 - 2018 SUMMER ISSUE