There are hundreds of welders, no probably thousands of welders that own their rigs and operate off their truck or a small shop with valid welder certifications. For the most part, they can weld the majority of their products with one or two welding procedure specifications.
Most structural steel welding can be performed with one "well" written WPS. It will consist of more than a single page document as shown in ASME Section IX or the annex of AWS D1.1. Likewise, the majority of welded mechanical piping on carbon steel (P1 material) can be a single WPS and stainless piping (P8 material) with a second WPS. Heavy equipment repairs can also be accomplished with a single WPS, but as I stated, it will consist of more than a single page document.
Among the only owners that I have encountered that requires separate WPSs for each project and each joint or groove type are the state DOTs. Most customers are satisfied with a single WPS that addresses each material group based on group numbers, P numbers, S numbers, etc. for each welding process. Still, that can add up to a multitude of WPSs that can create a paperwork nightmare.
To help me sort and keep the WPSs manageable, I use a "naming" system that is relatively easy and intuitive. Each WPS is listed by the process/base metal (1) / base metal (2) / and the filler metal. For example:
GTA-1/8/6 is for gas tungsten arc welding carbon steel to austenitic stainless steel with an F6 filler metal.
There are times, such as when meeting notch toughness is required, where instead of listing the material group, I simply list the material specification(s) strength and filler metal. Another example:
FCA-516 gr55 / E71T-8
The simplicity and beauty is that I know exactly what is being welded by "reading" the name of the WPS. The fluxcored example is simply fluxcored arc welding of 516 grade 55 steel using an E71T-8 all position multipass electrode that meets impact requirements.
Some people have made jabs and comments about the "length" of the names, but compare the system I have adopted to those WPSs that simply start with 001 and stop at 368 (or more). I had one client that did just that. Every time you needed a WPS you had to read each one to find the one that was for welding austenitic stainless to carbon steel using gas tungsten arc welding with a ER309. There was no systematic approach to their numbering system.
The system may not work for bridges where it is probably simpler to simply include the project number in the identification of the WPS.
Best regards - Al