We are excited to announce the launch of our new webinar series which will provide insight and an appreciation for core engineering principles, delivered by industry recognised experts.

Our Welding and Joining Processes Technical Group will be the first to introduce a ‘Back-to-Basics’ webinar series covering a range of topics relevant to welding and its associated activities with their first upcoming webinar titled, ‘An Introduction to Steel Metallurgy,’ launching on the 7 April, 2022.

The online event will be held from 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM (UK Time).

About Back-to-Basics

‘Back-to-Basics’ is a webinar series covering a range of topics relevant to engineering. Each of our Technical Groups will be launching their own Back-to-Basics webinars exploring the core and basic engineering principles relevant to their specific industry.

As the ‘Back-to-Basics’ title suggests, these webinars are aimed at those who want to further their understanding of welding technology and the welding industry, whether that be early on in your career or as an appreciation to further your current knowledge.

These CPD qualifying webinars are informal, with the opportunity to ask questions in an allocated Q&A section. They will be given by highly qualified professionals with extensive experience in the relevant subject.

Welding and Joining Processes Back-to-Basic Webinars

For the Welding and Joining Processes’ Back-to-Basics webinar series, individual webinars will discuss a variety of subjects such as how the metallurgy of metals affects their weldability and service performance, the applications and limitations of welding processes, design of welded joints, welding quality assurance and mechanical testing.

‘Back-to-Basics: An Introduction to Steel Metallurgy’

The first of these webinars is titled, ‘Back-to-Basics: An Introduction to Steel Metallurgy,’ and will be delivered by the Chair of the Welding and Joining Processes Technical Group, Eur Ing Gene Mathers CEng, FWeldI, on the 7 April 2022, 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM (UK Time).

The webinar will be covering some of the fundamental aspects of the metallurgy of carbon steel, providing a basic understanding of how a carbon steel achieves its required mechanical properties and the effects of varying cooling rates – all significant when we consider the parameters that need to be controlled during welding.

This webinar will set the scene for the follow-on webinar in the Autumn that will be dealing with the weldability of carbon steel and the various types of cracking that may be encountered when things go wrong due to either a lack of knowledge or care.

Meet Our Speaker

Eur Ing Eugene Mathers CEng, MSc, Dip IIM, FWeldI, EWE, IWE

Gene has over 40 years’ industrial experience working in pipeline, power generation, heavy engineering, nuclear and the pressure vessel fabrication industries.

He worked for NEI-International Combustion Ltd. as the company’s welding and metallurgy manager and, latterly, quality manager for some 10 years before joining TWI Ltd in 1991 as manager, school of welding technology. He then moved into the role of principal consultant in the manufacturing services group before taking retirement. Since then, he has provided a welding engineering consultancy service as a private consultant.

FULL EVENT AND REGISTRATION DETAILS

Welding and Joining Matters is a lively and easily reading journal covering all aspects of welding, joining, and fabrication as well as inspection and structural performance of all classes of materials and welded products.

It has articles of interest for all personnel working in these industries, from practitioners and technicians on the shop floor, to inspectors, welding coordinators, welding engineers, incorporated and chartered engineers as well as managers, researchers, and designers of fabricated equipment and structures.

It focuses on providing content that provides the reader with practical and industry-based knowledge. It represents the technical interests of all our members including the related technical fields of surface treatments and adhesive-bonding and other associated technologies.

The journal is available as an electronic and hard copy publication and is published four times a year. The Welding Institute is partnered with Square One of Sheffield, who currently produce a similar lively journal for another professional body. This ensures the ongoing quality of the journal.

The journal aims to inform and encourage personal and professional development. Issues are mixed of both themed and general content and include feature articles on current projects of interest, current issues, applications and developments in welding and joining technology.

There is a series of regular features on industry news, training and personal development and job knowledge, as well as ‘ask the expert,’ and features on other technologies including inspection and non-destructive testing (NDT). The journal also covers news from the branches and developments in industry standards.

We are actively soliciting content for the journal from members and from industry. Please send news on new projects and developments within your company and new products and services by email to:  WJMeditorial@theweldinginstitute.com

Please contact the editorial team and send your ideas and offers of technical articles by email to:  WJMeditorial@theweldinginstitute.com

Advertising in the Journal

The journal includes feature advertisements and classified advertisements. We are keen to hear from welding equipment and welding consumable companies, suppliers, fabricators, testing and inspection organisations and consultants.

To advertise, please contact: debbie@squareone.co.uk

Discover more here

ENGINEERING ETHICS REPORT LAUNCHED

Due to the important role that engineering plays within society and shaping our world, it is crucial to ensure that the public is confident that the profession acts ethically.

The good news is that the latest Ipsos MORI Veracity Index shows that 84% of respondents trusted engineers to tell the truth, but we should not become complacent as a profession.

As such, the Engineering Council and the Royal Academy of Engineering are holding a launch event to mark the publication of the new Engineering Ethics report on the 21 February 2022 at 6PM (UK time).

Proposing a series of actions for the engineering profession to take forward, the newly published Engineering Ethics report aims to promote a more ethical culture within engineering.

The report has been produced by the joint Engineering Ethics Reference Group (EERG), which was established by the Engineering Council and the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) in 2019, and is chaired by Professor David Bogle CEng FIChemE FREng, Deputy President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE).

The free-to-attend online event will include a panel discussion with industry experts including Professor Bogle, Chi Onwurah MP, Engineering Council Chairman Professor Chris Atkin CEng FRAeS FREng, Dr Ollie Folayan CEng FIChemE, co-founder of AFBE-UK, and others.

Register to attend at 6pm on 21 February 

Read the Statement of Ethical Principles

Rounding off last year, The Welding Institute’s North Western Branch hosted its Annual Dinner in Burnley whilst also raising thousands for the GEM Appeal, a charity dedicated to finding a cure for genetic disorders in children.

Hosted by the North Western Branch and Branch Secretary Ian Fraser AWeldI, the Annual Dinner also celebrated apprentices by awarding certificates and trophies to worthy winners who demonstrated their excellence throughout the past year.

Welding Institute President and BAE Systems Manufacturing Director, Dave Holmes FWeldI was also in attendance, delivering a speech and presenting the awards to the apprentice winners.

Graham Engineering Ltd Sales Manager, Ian Fraser AWeldI offered the following statement to our Branch management team; speaking on the success of the event:

“The event raised £8,000 on the evening and, with gift aid, it has increased the donation to a massive £10,000 on the night, which exceeded anything we`ve ever done before. We would like to firstly thank yourself for your continued support and help, which is invaluable, but also to TWI, which continues to support and help us reach the goals in which we strive to achieve. The Burnley Express article reported at the time that we have raised about £30,000 for the Gem Appeal, but the figure is now more in the region of £60,000 which, without your help, would be nearly impossible.”

We are delighted to hear that the event was a success and, additionally, about the funds raised, and would like to thank Ian Fraser along with all those involved in organising and attending the Branch Annual Dinner Awards evening and making it a success!

The first online Technical Group Event of this year will be hosted on the 24 February, 1:30pm – 4:30pm (UK Time), as part of our Welding and Joining Processes Technical Groups’ programme of online events for 2022.

The event, which is titled, ‘Welding and Repair of High Temperature Steels – Part 2,’ is a continued exploration, from the initial part one online event hosted last year, of the welding and repair of high temperature steels, with further technical insights being explored by a new panel of industry speakers and presentations. As it is a standalone event, you don’t have to have attended part one in order to attend this event.

Who Should Attend?

This event will be of interest to anyone working in the power generation or process plant industries, either in manufacturing or those responsible for the maintenance and repair of pressure equipment. It will also be of particular interest to welding engineers and designers, covering developments in joining technologies and welding consumables, production of bespoke items in high temperature materials and the justification for the lowering of PWHT temperature for P/T91 steel.

Speakers and Presentations

Our speakers from industry include:

Mark Golding, Director of Mark Golding Consultants – ‘Electro slag cladding – past, present and future’

Stephan Marre, Oil & Gas Processing / CPE Industry Segment Manager at Lincoln Electric – ‘The orbital welding of high pressure pipework’

Ronny Krein, Global Application Engineer at Voestalpine Bohler – ‘The challenges in developing welding consumables for creep resistant steels, particularly P/T91 and P/T9’

Emily Davison, Laser Additive Manufacturing Project Leader at TWI – ‘Advances in the additive manufacture of high temperature materials’

John Siefert, Materials and Repair (P229) Programme Manager at EPRI – ‘The perspective on minimum post weld heat treatment temperature for grade 91 steel’

Benefits of Attending

FULL EVENT AND REGISTRATION DETAILS

The last issue of the jointly produced Welding and Cutting journal in its current format will be published this month. The Welding Institute will launch a dedicated publication in 2022, created for our Members by our Members.

We have enjoyed a superb relationship working to produce content alongside both DVS Media and the Institute Soudure over the past 20 years, and have made many great friendships with colleagues along the way.

In that time, we have delivered technical information, historical perspectives on The Welding Institute and information on membership itself, but it was always the content from and about our Members that helped to build the all-important sense of community.

Whether it was recognising the achievements of the engineering community through our annual awards or promoting the next generation of welders through our support for competitions like SkillWeld, we have always sought to showcase the amazing work of our Members around the world.

Of course, our Members have also made important contributions to Welding and Cutting, offering reports on Branch meetings and events that really helped to show the different ways in which our branches operate, while also sharing knowledge and networking.

These reports not only provided an update on Branch events, but would often also prove to be a good source of interesting information, whether that was related to lifeboats, railways and engines, aerospace innovations, subsea corrosion, material properties, or even breaking world speed records!

There have also been articles showing how our Members, and particularly the Younger Members' Committee, reach out to promote STEM topics to schoolchildren and students, helping to ensure there is continued interest in engineering and industry.

We have also paid tribute to many great Members who have sadly passed away over the years, people who have contributed a great deal to The Welding Institute and to engineering in general.

While understandably difficult, we always felt it important to recognise and remember the contributions of these Members, who gave so much back to the engineering community at large and their fellow Members in particular.

As we look back at the reams of fantastic content we are proud to have been a part of over the years with Welding and Cutting, some of you may be wondering what we will do next.

The Welding Institute will launch our own dedicated publication in 2022, created for our Members by our Members. Members have been working for several months on the design, content and production of the new publication. Watch out for more information and details on how you can contribute and access the new look journal.

Finally, it goes without saying that we would like to thank our friends at DVS Media and the Institute Soudure for the work they have put in to help deliver informative and interesting content to our Members and we wish them all the best going forward with Welding and Cutting.

- The Welding Institute Welding & Cutting Editorial Team

Risk is an inherent part of all engineering activities, so it is essential that all engineers and technicians are able to identify, assess, understand and appropriately manage risk. It is also crucial to be able to communicate about risk to others, both professionals and the public.  

To support this, the Engineering Council, the regulatory body for the engineering profession in the UK, has issued updated Guidance on Risk. This guidance is suitable for engineering professionals at all career stages, and across all sectors and specialisms.

The Guidance on Risk describes the role of all those engaged in engineering in dealing with risk, and their responsibilities to society.

The revised Guidance on Risk sets out the key stages of managing risk and emphasises the need to exercise informed judgment and identify what is an acceptable level of risk – the risk appetite.

This Guidance sets out six principles to ensure all engineering professionals integrate understanding of the environment and sustainability of resources into all aspects of their work:

• Apply professional and responsible judgment and take a leadership role
• Adopt a systematic, broad and holistic approach to risk identification, assessment, management and review
• Comply with legislation and codes, but be prepared to suggest or promote further improvements
• Ensure good contextual communication with the others involved
• Ensure that sustainable systems for oversight and scrutiny are in place
• Contribute to public awareness of risk

Alasdair Coates CEng FICE MCIHT CMIOSH, CEO of the Engineering Council said:

“Engineers have a crucial role to play in assessing and managing risk, especially as they frequently work in safety critical areas. This updated Guidance on Risk supports individual engineers and technicians by providing key principles that can be incorporated into their daily practice with engineering teams, inter-disciplinary teams and when communicating risks to the wider public.”

The full Guidance on Risk leaflet, along with a convenient wallet card of the six principles, can be downloaded free from: www.engc.org.uk/risk

The Guidance is reviewed periodically and, following a consultation with the engineering community, this edition replaces and updates the previous Guidance. The Engineering Council also produces guidance on Security, Sustainability and Whistleblowing, in addition to the Statement of Ethical Principals, published jointly with the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng). This Guidance is reviewed regularly and can be found at: www.engc.org.uk/guidance

The Welding Institute’s Branches kicked off their autumn programme of online events in September, with our London Branch delivering the first one.

The London Branch opened the 2021-22 Branch programme of online events on the 9 September with a joint meeting with the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IoM3) titled, ‘Pipelines for Hydrogen: Materials and Welding Issues for New Lines and Re-Use of Existing Lines.’ The event was both held in-person and also live streamed online to a wider audience, with Principal Materials and Welding Engineer at ROSEN, Neil Gallon delivering the talk. London Branch Programme Secretary and Fellow of The Welding Institute, Alan Denney reflected on and highlighted the success of the event, particularly its hybrid nature and therefore ability to reach global audiences. He has created a Hybrid (simultaneous face to face and online events) meeting checklist which he has offered to aid other Branches and is now available for Members to access on our Member's Portal.

The West Midlands Branch were the second to host an event, which focused on, ‘Recognising the Pitfalls that Affect the Testing of Welders’ and was hosted on the 13 September with Director of Weld-Class-Solutions Ltd and Fellow of The Welding Institute, Mark Cozens (CEng FWeldI) delivering the presentation. The talk focused on a number of potential pitfalls that can arise when conducting welder qualification tests (also known as “approval testing” or “welder codings”), which are directly from Mark’s own practical experiences over many years.

The meeting was organised and run by West Midlands Branch Programme Secretary and Chair of The Welding Institute’s Professional Board, Dr Claire Kimpton, with the event gaining positive engagement and feedback from attendees.

The Welding Institute is pleased to hear about the success and positive feedback from both the Branches and event attendees. These events demonstrate how The Welding Institute’s Branches have adapted to deliver events online in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic. This has not only allowed the Branches to continue to share knowledge, but also opens up attendance to an even wider audience.

Find all of our upcoming events here.

The SkillWeld Finalists for WorldSkills UK 2021 have been announced and are headed for the national finals in November.

The talented SkillWeld finalists are:

Competition	First Name	Surname	Organisation
Welding	Joel	Blair	Pembrokeshire College
Welding	Cohen	Lewis	Pembrokeshire College
Welding	Ross	Jones	Pembrokeshire College
Welding	Deriece	Raimann	Pembrokeshire College
Welding	James	King	Rolls Royce
Welding	William	Hunt	Rolls Royce
Welding	Reiss	Killen	North West Regional College
Welding	Michael	Kerr	Wirral College
Welding	Chris	Swales	Grimsby College
Welding	Yasmin	Whale	Wakefield College

The final 10 were decided out of the 27 competitors who submitted their test pieces and include students/apprentices from TWI Industrial Member Company Rolls-Royce, as well as finalists from Grimsby and Pembrokeshire College, who are both members of The Welding Institute’s AWFTE (Association for Welding, Fabrication, Training and Education).

Work is currently underway to organise the national finals, which will be held at Coleg Cambria at their Deeside Campus from Tuesday 16 to Friday 19 November. Coleg Cambria are kindly hosting the three metal trade competitions, which include Skillweld, Construction Metal Work and Sheet Metal Work with the competition being located across two sites.

The Welding Institute wishes all SkillWeld 2021 finalists the best of luck for their WorldSkills UK National Final welding competitions in November!

After publicising some of the incredible artwork displayed in the IIW’s Art Photographic Exhibition, we were delighted to hear from one of our Members, Jaco Koortzen EngTech TechWeldI, who reached out to show some of the incredible work his students have been creating. Jaco has been helping the students, in addition to their plate positional welding programme studies, at TuV Rheinland Saudi Arabia, and he also showed us some of the pieces created by his students from previous organisations.

Jaco Koortzen EngTech TechWeldI is a Technical Welding Trainer at TuV Rheinland Saudi Arabia where he has worked since March 2019. His role currently involves presenting a City and Guilds programme, including SMAW(1>4F, 1>4G), oxy-fuel cutting, layout, hand tools and bench work, and more.

While teaching the welding programmes, Jaco encourages his students to get creative with their welding skills, as he explained, “I've always tried to add something different for trainees that are new to the field. Thus, in the 'extra time' we have for the course, I try to expose them to more. This includes them using their skills to make the ‘artwork’ seen in these images. I enjoy highlighting that there is more to welding than plate and pipe, as per the programme / curriculum, which can add benefit to the training centre, community and self. The projects were always made by using off-cuts of materials, therefore showing that it's not always necessary to buy everything, but start with what is at hand and available.”

You can see images of the welded art and other work provided by Jaco below, including his descriptions and explanations behind their creation:

These first pieces include a Motorcycle, a Pipe Welder, a Pipe Motorcycle Side Stand, Table Tops, Door Handles, a Rock Cow and a Three Block Camel.

 

The next selection of welded pieces were created at a school for deaf and physically disabled children. The school’s facilities had been hired for some training, since it was previously a training centre, and the pieces created included play equipment including a Taxi and Seesaw. In addition, a hard hat was used to make an aid to assist children when typing on the computer and a wheelchair creation was made, which involved attaching a computer mouse to the side of the chair so the user can touch and control the cursor with their cheek, enabling them to type (shown below).

Finally, the images below present the work created at a Boilermakers’ Aid course in a prison, which included SMAW, oxy-fuel welding/brazing and cutting. During the course, the new skills were applied to make items including a portable BBQ, post box, football piggy bank, hose reel, coat rack, dustpan, handbell, and more.

We are pleased to promote these welding applications and demonstrate how they extend the students’ individual skills and knowledge as well as showing the application and ability to address real issues experienced day-to-day by those using them.

We would like to thank Jaco for helping us with this article to promote his students’ wonderful work.