The fast path to EN 1090 certification

ESAB applies its industry-leading expertise to help fabricators comply with the requirements of EN 1090, the new European quality standard for all steel and aluminium structures built as of July 1, 2014.

ESAB's tested and approved Welding Procedure Qualification Records (WPQR) for MIG/MAG and MMA welding eliminate the effort of costly and time-consuming qualification of welding procedures required by EN 1090 for CE certification.

WE MAKE IT EASY.

Creating, verifying, and approving new procedures and checking, adapting and approving existing ones is a time-consuming job that requires expert skills. ESAB has developed welding procedure tests under the oversight of a qualification body and has obtained the necessary WPQR certificates. Fabricators order a SWPS certificate to produce Welding Procedure Specifications (WPS) for their structural steel work. Depending on the number of qualifications required, savings could be in the tens of thousands of Euros.

ESAB’s EN 1090 WPQR SOLUTION.

  • Certified by notified body TÜV Rheinland, Germany or Inspecta Sweden AB
  • Approved for steel constructions EN 1090-2 of Executions Class (EXC) 2
  • Cost-effective offering – not an expensive bundled package; WPQRs are grouped in economical sets by filler metal type
  • Standard Welding Procedure Specification
  • Covers ESAB consumables commonly used in structural steel fabrication, including sold metal wires, flux-cored wires and metal-cored wires:
    • OK AristoRod™ 12.50
    • OK Autrod 12.51
    • Coreweld 46LS
  • Covers all ESAB inverter-based and digital chopper series machines currently offered, and can also be applied to many machines already in use:
    • Origo™ Mig (digital chopper series only)
    • Aristo® Mig (complete current offering)
    • Warrior™

HOW TO ORDER.

Follow these steps to order certified SWPS´s from ESAB:

  1. Login to ESAB’s WPQR Online Tool (enter Username: [email protected], Password: esab) to browse a list of available WPQRs. (This is a general login, only.)
  2. Filter available WPQRs according to your requirement. Specify joint type, material, material thickness and welding consumable to define your order by WPQR name. This is an order planning tool, not an order form.
  3. Identify the name of the WPQR(s) you want to order and then place your order in one of two ways:
  4. Our Application specialist will then make a SWPS and send you all the documents you need.

Have questions or need additional assistance? Contact ESAB or see our Frequently Asked Questions.

FAQ: EN Certifications

No, welding equipment cannot be certified to fulfill the EN 1090 standard. Under certain conditions and limitations, standard welding procedures or tested welding consumables are a legal approach to qualify welding procedures using a WPQR provided by a third party, such as the manufacturer of the welding equipment or the filler metal.

EN 1090 does not require annual calibration of welding equipment or parameter readings. How often welding equipment calibration is performed is determined by you, the user. However, welding equipment and all reading and measuring devices that can influence product quality, should be checked regularly. Per EN 1090, inspections and maintenance shall be carried out and recorded in accordance with the manufacturer’s written procedures, and records must be maintained for the period defined in the manufacturer’s factory production control procedures. ESAB’s unique True Arc Voltage™ system ensures that displayed welding parameters can be compared to the WPS.

No, it’s not necessary to purchase WPQR packages to pass an audit. EN 1090-2 offers different ways to qualify welding procedures. Any steel or aluminum construction fabricator can qualify welding procedures on their own. Appropriate procedures include a welding procedure test (EN ISO 15614) or pre-production welding test (EN ISO 15613).

Absolutely not. There are no EN 1090 certified pieces of equipment. None of the standards EN 1090 relates to recognize the term “certified equipment.”

Yes, ESAB allows you to purchase WPQR packages separate from equipment. In fact, our WPQR offering covers a broad range of equipment. If you are already using ESAB equipment that is covered, you don’t need to buy new equipment. In addition, all our approved equipment uses the same control circuits, ensuring the controlled parameters are reproducible even when ported to another machine of that range.

No welding equipment manufacturer can promise that once a WPQR package is purchased, no further tests are required to comply with EN 1090. The notified body is the ruling authority. If the notified body does not believe the welders are able to consistently produce welds of the desired quality, they will order welding procedure qualifications. This is why ESAB offers very specific groups of WPQRs. Doing so enables you, the fabricator, to benefit from our expertise without having to purchase welding procedure specifications that you will need to qualify on your own.

The only execution class under which a manufacturer can make use of a third-party WPQR is EXC 2. In no other class does this apply. EXC 1 addresses “elementary quality requirements” and puts forth no requirements for qualified welding procedures or welding coordination personnel. Therefore, it is of no value to purchase a WPQR for EXC 1 projects.

How much you can save using ESAB’s WPQRs depends on how many qualifications are needed. Keep in mind that butt joint approvals do not cover fillet joints under EN 1090. Completing your own welding procedure qualifications can easily add up to tens of thousands of Euros. The actual cost depends on the particular conditions. In most cases, there are significant savings to be had by using ESAB’s tested and certified WPQRs.

Data does not need to be logged and filed to meet the requirements of the new standard. The equipment must allow the control of all essential welding parameters. This means the welder must be able to verify whether he is able to maintain the parameters stated in the WPS. A V/A reading accomplishes this task. ESAB’s equipment guarantees a deviation of just 1% between set and displayed parameters, while the applicable standard EN 60974-1 allows for a total of 12.5%.

No, synergic lines are not a must! One can use synergic lines and the related equipment but there is no requirement to do so in the standard. The standard is about making sure intended welding parameters can be set, used and kept stable. Synergic lines only help to set parameters. ESAB’s Warrior™ multi-process welding machine is approved for use with our WPQR, as well as other control panels without synergy.

There are such offerings available on the market; however, ESAB cannot recommend using them because they do not fulfill a clear requirement of EN ISO 15612 that necessitates the equipment used in production to be capable of achieving the same electrical and mechanical properties as the equipment used for qualifying the procedure. In most cases, an inverter-based welding machine is used to qualify the procedure. There is no guarantee that any arbitrary piece of equipment can replay the parameters and achieve the certified result. For instance, step-controlled equipment cannot provide mains compensation or reliable readings.