newinsp
No witnessing and developing is two different things.
Again not enough information.
AWS D1.1 gives the manufacturer or contractor the responsibility of preparing a written WPS, the same are responsible for qualification Testing also.
Where in AWS B5.1 does it limit this to SCWI only?
1.3 Responsibility. It shall be the responsibility of the
employer to determine that the AWI/WI/SWI is capable
of performing the duties involved in his/her particular
welding inspection assignment.
Marshall
That language in B5.1 is not perfectly clear; in my opinion the meaning is that an SCWI should be expected to do this kind of work rather than excluding others.
There are plenty of companies who have engineers, supervisors and welders write D1.1 code compliant procedures without any AWS certification at all.
My opinion is that the only limitations apply to the CAWI "associate" designation.
The testing is the procedure to make sure it works is the reason for a procedure qualification PQR... But I'm pretty sure our conversation is centering around "prequalified procedures" and performance qualification...
Sometimes it's hard not to mix up clauses and text... it's important to understand when they are referring to "procedure qualification" and when they are referring to "performace qualification"....
I'm going to go ahead and chime in here with maybe some different wording that MAY clarify your query:
It is not that ONLY an SCWI can do/develop welding procedures, ONLY the SCWI is expected/required to have that knowledge, experience, ability as part of his qualifications.
There is nothing that PROHIBITS the CWI from developing WPS's if asked and they feel knowledgable enough to do so. Many people, company employees, engineers, CWI's, etc find themselves without adequate training and knowledge when they actually start looking at D1.1, B2.1, and other reference material with all the essential and non-essential variables listed, types/grades of steel, welding processes and all their variables, manufacturer's specifications for electrodes, gases, etc, etc, etc. There are many beginners at engineering firms who are tasked with evaluating the submitted WPS's who haven't a clue and can really mess things up or at least complicate a contractors job.
To further Marshall's comment: there is a difference between developing, witnessing, testing to, and/or reviewing for compliance to the job at hand.
Welding procedures are developed BEFORE the procedure qualification. Then they are witnessed as the welder attempts to qualify both the procedure and himself. The testing confirms rather all worked well or not and if all passed then you develop your WPS's from the Procedure Qualification Record (PQR).
Anyone can develop that procedure, anyone can write the WPS from the PQR of that procedure, But only an SCWI is expected to be able to accomplish all that.
The items you are expected to be able to accomplish are listed in the B5.1 Specification. It doesn't limit the top end of how much you can do. It lists the Minimum that you should be able to do.
Hope I made things clearer and was helpful.
Have a Great Day, Brent