Lawrence you are right. Thank you.

I would go to each welder that was having problems and give instructions as to what was wrong and how to fix it. Then was told that I wasn't allowed to talk to the welders because it held up production. So then I went to the supervisor and explained what was wrong. If I was lucky it would get taken care of before it left the welders horses. If not it would have to be returned to the welder to be repaired. My problem was I wanted to skip the middleman in that case it was the shop supervisor. That was my bad.
Finally there was improvement and not as many repairs.

Hello Lawrence, I partially disagree with your assessment of the "welder as the first line of inspection". I do believe that they "are" the first line of inspection and should be the final, but that they have to be trained to know and react to what they see in the process of welding in a manner that provides for corrections to ensure that subsequent inspection does not reveal a need for corrective action.

It is always easier to address a bad restart, porosity, or other weld discontinuities at the time that it happens. You don't want to wait to catch these things later down the line. I believe that what you are saying, is essentially: welders need to have the training to know what is correct or not correct and they need to be allowed to take the necessary steps on their own to address pitfalls/shortcomings without waiting for someone else to catch it, or not. Some welder shortcomings are spot type issues (everyone can make a mistake now and then) and should not necessarily result in their termination or disciplinary type actions. For others, continual issues should lead to a change in employment and sometimes even a career, although I believe that is an extreme view and generally can be addressed by the individual and their passion for their trade.

I reread your post and I do understand that you are saying that welders have the responsibility to produce work that is up to the particular level that is required by their jobs or the applicable code. In other words they should not produce anything sub-par or at least know that if they do produce something like that, that they need to correct it and if they consistently produce unacceptable work they will be looking for a new job.

Sorry if my post sounds like a negative, it is not intended that way. I do tell students that they are the "first line line of inspection" simply because if they produce a weld and in the process of making that weld they know that it will not meet a particular requirement that it is not okay to proceed simply because they think that the odds might favor them and the work might make it through the rest of the inspection process without being caught. They get the full-meal deal on how work that doesn't meet the intended outcome can be costly to repair and even more costly on a personal level if someone's safety has been compromised. 

I believe that we are both on the same page and have chosen to use slightly different tacts to get the information across. Hope all is well for you these days Lawrence, I am sure that you are very busy and I always appreciate your comments. Best regards, Allan