What it Means to have a Certified Welder on Your Project
“Every time a welder strikes an arc, it’s serious business. If structural fabrication welders aren’t highly skilled in their jobs, people can die. That’s a fact. We take our responsibility very seriously.”
Meet Jack Laudig, lead certified welding inspector, and 22-year veteran of Westfield Steel. He started out as a fabrication administrator and continued to work his way up over the years, eventually becoming our lead certified welding inspector. He now travels between our locations in Westfield and Terre Haute, Indiana and Springfield, Ohio, training our welding team, writing new welding procedures as needed, and certifying our welders. It’s a big job. Westfield Steel employs seven certified welders in Terre Haute, twelve in Westfield and four in Springfield, Ohio.
Certification is not a one-step process. Welders who are doing structural fabrication (like we do at Westfield Steel) must be certified in every type of weld they make. Once they have reviewed the written procedure for making the weld, they must demonstrate the weld, and it must be checked by a certified welding inspector.
In North America, welding certifications are granted by the American Welding Society (AWS). At Westfield Steel, because of our commitment to holding our work to the absolute highest quality, we are also voluntarily certified by the Canadian Welding Bureau (CWB), which has even stricter standards than the AWS, and conducts on-site audits every six months. We are also ISO 9001: 2015 certified.
“So here’s what I think that means for our customers: They get to work with a strong, experienced and knowledgeable team of people who are all working for a common cause—to do the best job we can for our customers. In Springfield alone, we currently have 30 different welding procedures,” said Laudig. “And I’m writing new ones all the time as customers’ needs arise. We now have an associate certified welding inspector helping me out, because our steel fabrication and welding projects continue to grow. We may not be the biggest or the least expensive, but we beat our competitors out every time on quality and service. Many of the customers I work with now were customers before I even started working here. That says a lot.” Laudig concluded.
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. At Westfield Steel, we’re committed to quality and safety, and that commitment includes rigorous and ongoing certification for our team of welders, in all three of our facilities: Westfield, Indiana, Terre Haute, Indiana and Springfield, Ohio. We insist that our steel fabrication customers get top-notch, production-ready steel welding, and can trust that their products are safe and tested to the highest standards.
About Westfield Steel
Westfield Steel has a deeply-rooted midwestern history. They were founded in 1977 as a family owned company, which has grown over the years to encompass not just steel fabrication, but also distribution and light manufacturing. Its distribution arm, Westfield Steel Express, is an authorized-for-hire common carrier that provides affordable, on-time delivery for a wide range of cargo, including lumber, cement, steel coils, heavy equipment and building materials.
Westfield Steel’s industry affiliations include: The Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI), the North American Steel Alliance (NASA), the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI), the Indiana Fabricators Association (IFA), the American Welding Society (AWS), the Canadian Welding Bureau (CWB) and the Ohio Structural Steel and Architectural Metals Association (OSA.)
