Optimising welding quality control
To optimize the control of the quality of its welding practices, GRTgaz, one of the European leaders in natural gas transportation, has equipped itself with SIRFULL’s welding software solution, compliant with the requirements of its quality standards.
(image : grtgaz)
In search of a solution to harmonise all good welding practices
Welding is a key component of the gas transmission business. GRTgaz’s Operations Division has six welding workshops across France, as well as an Integrity Division with expertise in this field.
These workshops are involved in more than 300 connection projects per year, and produce almost 250 welded assemblies per year in the workshop. The aim is for those involved in this business to have consistent, up-to-date documentation throughout their organisation.
For GRTgaz, all those involved in the business who need to have access to welding documentation must be able to do so under optimum conditions. Libraries of welding manuals, operating procedures, welder qualifications…. More than just a static library, it’s a whole set of skills and processes that ensure that usage complies with business rules and associated best practice.
As a result, the day-to-day implementation of processes by operational staff systematically complies with the prescribed requirements. GRTgaz therefore wanted to harmonise all its best practices and make them easily accessible by introducing a new unified software package.
1 year project in agile mode / 50 users / 1 close support team
GRTgaz has chosen the 4.0 solution proposed by SIRFULL: the WQS welding software (renamed Welding Cloud). From mid-2016 to mid-2017, an agile development phase was implemented.
A team of 10 people from GRTgaz (8 for the welding business and 2 for the IT department) and from SIRFULL has been able to collaborate by quickly taking into account the needs and the results of various user tests.
Thus, this team was able to design and then adapt the different modules of the software. “The software developed by SIRFULL allows all the actors of the welding business at GRTgaz to find all or part of a technical file, wherever it is ” explains Philippe IULIANO, assistant to the head of the Interventions Department of the Technical Division, in charge of this project.
A first positive feedback
Since the fall of 2017, the software and its various functionalities have been deployed progressively in order to make it easier for end users to get the hang of it. About fifty users, with different businesses and needs, have been able to use the platform made available.
GRTgaz was quickly able to see the extent of the capabilities of the SIRFULL software. “The software allows us to considerably increase our traceability capacity. For example, we will be able to find in a few clicks the manufacturing or construction sites involving a batch of electrodes and its certificate several years old. Today, it’s very tedious because all the files have to be accessed manually.” says Philippe IULIANO.
The new tool also makes it easier to manage welder qualifications. “WQS* allows us to perform optimizations, to cross-check qualifications without the operator knowing the standard by heart. The 6 workshops specialized in the field of welding will be able to work with greater autonomy as of 2018 ” adds Philippe IULIANO.
In 2018, SIRFULL will continue to provide support to users to ensure they get the most out of the system.
