QA/QC Welding Software

By pipewelder_1999 (****)

Date 05-14-2001 03:11

What type of welding/Ndt data do you want to manage. Procedures, certifications, production information?

I could maybe help with a custom solution or you could talk to a person familar with database application development.

By M-Squared (**)

Date 05-14-2001 13:35

Try C-Spec. They have a software package called NDTspec. which creates, stores, and prints NDE Reports. They also have a software package that is called Welding Co-ordinator. This package is set-up depending on your needs. They will come into your company and spend time with you in order to develope the software package for you. You can get a free demo for most of the software thay have at www.cspec.com. I use their Turbo IX software and find it great for reviewing WPS and PQR's.

By stan ford (*)

Date 05-21-2001 19:23

You can easily get by using off-the-shelf software. Weldspec, Welderqual, Ndtspec, Turbo-IX and/or Turbo-INT programs from C-spec will do what you need (see http://www.cspec.com). Welding Co-ordinator can integrate all of the above components, based on your Company's practices. Unless you wish to dig deep in to your pockets and settle for unknown delivery schedule, I suggest staying clear of custom (or in-house) developments. IMO it would be foolish to develop something that is readily available for a tiny fraction of the development cost.

By pipewelder_1999 (****)

Date 05-22-2001 13:46

Regarding "Foolish"

Suppose I wanted a package that
1) Recorded PQR information.
2) Partially Filled out related WPS's and let me fill out the rest
3) Allowed me to draw custom joint designs or any other 2D ACD compatable drawing
4) Automatically updated a welders qual log when he welded on the PQR
5) Tracked welder qualification records
6) Interfaced with any other SQL or ODBC database
7) Provided lookups to welder qualifications while entering weld joint tracking information to verify continuity and qualification status
8) Provided lookups to WPS variables while entering weld tracking information to verify it is suitable for the job.
9) Provided Joint ID lookups to 3d piping or cad software that produced ODBC databases of information related to entities.
10) The ability to change formats of wps's, pqrs, and wpq's as you need.
11) Fully compatable with most off the shelf office productivity software.
12) The ability to sort all data in any manner with any filter.
13) A database for project specification review with relational features
14) A receipt inspection database for indicating status of items recieved for all users to see. If a suitable PO database did not exist for someone then that coould be provided also.
15) An NDT database for qualifications, Procedure and inspections with the ability to lookup joints from the same database of weld joints as mentioned in #9
16 A database for recording Non-Conformance reporrts and related corrective and preventative action.
17 The ability to publish in real time any of the above information on a web server for anyone with the proper password to view.

Please let me know what cost that would be and also what the numerator and denominator are in the above mentioned fraction for the Oh so powerful off the shelf package.

You notice I did not mention code checking in the above software. If your gonna use "code checking" whose gonna verify the code that does the code checking is correct?

Anyway I would like to see what the comparisons are especially with price. Maybe someone else here would like to see the same information.

An individual with a core application that does all of the above and that has the ability to add or modify features on a case by case basis in say 20 - 40 hours may not be able to compete with a company such as c-spec but I would like to see what the costs would be for an "off the shelf" package similar to the above mentioned. I see that you have a good knowledge of the comercially available products so maybe you can shed some light on my above statements regarding price and features. How much would all of the C-Spec products cost if purchased and do they communicate with each other.

Don't get me wrong, the commercially available products are very nice with all the bells and whistles and grahics a person could want. I wish that I had pusued this 10 years ago when I wrote my first welding related application using DbaseIII. I didn't though. I had to continue on with my job as a welder and inspector. I'm now working on some bells and whistles myself.

If the Lord allows me to continue on as I am, there will be another source of welding/quality control software.It won't be off the shelf. There will be "Fraction of the cost " involved but I feel it will be a reciprocal of that previously mentioned. All of the above mentioned items are possible and I hope to get them done soon.

The main thing is don't rule out the possibility of developing a suitable application in-house with IT people you may already have (Or Welders/QC/Inspectors with database programming knowldge) I will be glad to help someone for free with getting started and what they need. I hope to have a website that will help with building an application around Microsoft Access and Visual Basic.

Off the shelf software is always made by somebody. Some times a bunch of somebodies or maybe just one. Sometimes a little dust can gather on the shelf.

Gerald Austin
gaus@weldinginspectionsvcs.com

By - Date 05-22-2001 18:29

I have also written some "in-house" software for tracking welder qualifications. It even does "code interpretation". This has been used for around four years. The point made by "stan ford" is however understandeable for those welding personnel that just want something that can do the basics, and then "get on with the job". Some of us however always want something different, and are not easily satisfied with what is available. Under these circumstances, writing a custom application is quite fast these days if you have a reasonable grasp of an application like MS Access.

I see you are quite keen on writing something for "distribution". If you have written something that you want to "distribute", you can place your software free on the following website:

www.proknownet.com

Then anybody will be able to download it, also free.

Regards
Niekie

By Jun Gian Date 05-23-2001 13:38

Speaking from painful experience, I STRONGLY recommend that you stay away from "in house" development or even development done by a "one man operation". My IT department and I spent over a year and a half developing a WPS/PQR/WPQ/Weld tracking program to my specifications. It was coming along just fine but still had a tons of bugs in it. Then the key computer guy left us for a different job. Unfortunately, he was by far the brains of the VB programming and we wasted a fortune trying to figure out how to complete the job. My VP figured that we wasted over $500,000 on this disaster and commanded me to talk to C-spec and TWI regarding their Welding Co-ordinator. I’m glad we did. Even though I was rather upset over throwing away all that effort, these guys really took care or us. A couple months later (and for a fraction of the price), the guys at C-spec and TWI had us up and running with a system that was far more sophisticated than the disaster that we threw away. They designed the Welding Coordinator part of the development EXACTLY the way that I specified. But as for the WPSs, PQRs, WPQs, and NDE reports, those were already handled in the "off the shelf" programs and they were a whole world better than anything we could produce in house. Plus, we didn’t have to pay for the development costs since they’re "off the shelf". I couldn’t possibly be happier with this system and even more so couldn’t be happier with their support. If ever I need to bounce a code or welding topic off someone, they’re always there. Give them a try, you’ll be impressed. This is not exactly a forum to rant and rave about a service or product but I owe a lot to these guys.

As far as you go Gerald, good luck on entering the QA/QC Welding software market. If you can produce something superior to C-spec and TWI, I’ll be highly impressed and the first one to send some money your way. But before that happens, in addition to catching up with their level of software, make sure that you also have over 100 years of experience in the welding industry so that we are certain that you won’t flake on us like our last software developer did. The C-spec/TWI team is able to offer this level of security which is obviously one of the key reasons why we decided to go with their system.

By pipewelder_1999 (****)

Date 05-23-2001 15:03

I probably won't be able to produce a product superior to those already available. What I hope to do is provide a product that can be easily modified by the users with only a small amount of VB and Microsoft Access experience. I would like to not only provide the core program but also provide the information needed to modify the program and improve it as the users needs change.

My software will not be on the level of those packages already available as my experience in the welding field far outweighs my experience in database application development. Both are far from 100 years.

Not every company in the industry has the resources to purchase welding information related software that does everything for you. Some fabricators would probably have more welding related software if they could afford it.

I hope to get more people to use computers in an efficient manner for welding related information as opposed to a high dollar typewriter. I can't provide a product on the same level as other organizations but I am striving to produce something that will have many of the same end results. If an organization does not have a person with an interest in computers and database programming than I would highly suggest an off the shelf program also.