I would advise firstly to follow your companies QA program in regards to documentation.
For me I record everything anyway, even if it's not required. This may mean taking it home and
recording, but You never know when that will come back to cover you. That philosophy has
covered my butt many times in my career.
Regards,
Gerald
I report everything, because as the two distinguished gentlemen before me noted, it's a liability to leave yourself open to interpretation. The last thing I want to hear the day before a contract is due: "But QA bought it off."
ctacker,
What degree of responsibility, with respect to quality, is placed on the welder? Many of my clients realize that his/her job is not complete until the weld is ready for inspection: The welds are free of slag and spatter, shall have no surface porosity or undercut areas. They are the proper size and profile (in addition to standard profiles, many welds require toe grinding or a smooth grind at gusset terminations). Once the welder confirms these things, the weld is to be stamped.
Once stamped, the weld is ready for a QC inspection (visual), the results of which is documented. Any rework areas are marked on the part and are initialed by the welder upon completion, and the inspector upon re-examination. I too work on some huge weldments and sub-weldments so photographs, even though they are not a required part of most inspection reports, are a wonderful addition to the notes in my journal.
To answer part of your question, prior to a final QC inspection (visual) any mark-ups by lead men, foreman or myself may not be formally documented in an inspection report. I tend to look at these things as a courtesy and focus on ususual things on the shop drawings that may easily be missed. Communication with a welder now, may save all of us a lot of rework later on.
~thirdeye~
right now, there really not any degree of responsibility with our welders, we run 2 shifts, and could be different welders day by day working 1 joint, its not uncommon to have 6 welders weld 1 joint. and with them being slow to move me to inspection, all i get to "inspect" is the final product. and the welders dont stamp,initial or lay claim to thier work. so if its a bad weld, the guy that happens to be closest gets stuck fixing it! Not the best policy by my standards. I have always advocated and will continue to advocate the phrase
"you screw it up, you fix it". that way you learn from mistakes. if someone else is always fixing your f-ups you will continue to f-up. until you are held accountable why should anyone care what the next guy gets stuck with?
Well, it sounds like a written shop practice is needed. As far as stamping goes, I'm suprised that the production department doesen't want to keep closer tabs on each welder.
~thirdeye~
I have not checked in in a while but this seems like a good time. I admittedly work in what many of you would consider a small shop so my job is easier than many or probably even most of you. As a result, I usually get to see most welds from fitup through completion. As the responsible inspector, I make it my duty to monitor more critical welds. I make sure I get to see root passes and then, through routine observation, I am around to see the rest of the welds through the cap. Communication with the welders as to what I expect is the key to "compoliance". They know if I don't like it, it is not going anywhere. Besides, how else do I know if the procedure was maintained throughout? At most we have 2 welders on a weld so that is not a big issue. Also, welders are required to initial (stamp) their welds so later on, we will know who welded them.
In regards to documentation, absolutely: document, document, document. That is part of the professionalism you bring to your position and it may be a while before you actiually need it, but some day you will and you will be glad you did!
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