Why certified welding consumables matter for critical constructions

What counts most is the practical result of the weld. But as soon as you build a construction whose failure could be life-threatening, the requirements change. Think of bridges, cranes, pressure vessels, boilers, ships and offshore constructions. In these applications strict requirements apply, and those requirements apply to the entire chain.

The chain must be closed

A safe critical construction does not arise from a single good product, but from a complete supply chain of certified products. The base steel must be certified, as must the bolts and nuts, the welding consumables and the welder. The welding procedure must also be defined.

If one link is missing, for example an unapproved electrode or wire, the entire construction can be rejected. In shipbuilding this is explicit. A ship built with unapproved consumables is not approved by the classification society. The whole supply chain must therefore be complete.

Hilco's third party approvals and CE

To ensure this certainty, we have our products independently certified. Well-known classification societies such as Lloyd's Register, ABS, DNV and TÜV test the products, the production process and the factories, and regularly retest them at fixed intervals.

Quality certificates and test reports

For critical applications we supply a quality certificate, also called a test report. It states the expected hardness, toughness and strength, and the chemical composition we measured before packaging. This tells you exactly what you are using and whether it matches the base material. For less critical applications we demonstrate the composition via the datasheet.

Trust and responsibility

An approval is more than a technical guarantee. When a designer chooses a brand with independent certification, responsibility is also better covered. Every link has demonstrably done its work properly.

This is exactly why customers choose Hilco. We have been active in these markets for generations and are trusted by both end users and classification societies. For professional and critical applications, that means certainty.

Do you need certified welding consumables for your project, or would you like to know which approvals apply? Contact us for advice and the accompanying documentation.