Manufacturer of air filtration solutions for the nuclear sector with 30 production sites worldwide, including 3 in France.
The challenges to address: documentary compliance and the search for suitable office tools.
Being part of the world-leading group in the manufacturing of air filtration solutions, CAMFIL France places great emphasis on the quality of its products, especially those intended for the nuclear sector. In this highly regulated field, clients expect transparency and precision in the traceability of delivered filtration solutions from their suppliers.
Addressing quality and safety concerns, the documentary traceability of equipment manufactured by CAMFIL France is essential. However, managing this documentation can be “time-consuming on a daily basis“, notes Alexandre Kurzer, IWT/QHSE technician and Welding Cloud coordinator at CAMFIL France.
For each order, the documentary tracking traces the Welding Procedure Specifications (WPS) and the Welding Procedure Qualifications (WPQ) in Excel or PDF templates, connecting Welder Qualifications (WQ) with the welding log. However, “we observed customer feedback.” These issues stem from the repetitive nature of these tracking tasks and the variety of data editing tools used (EXCEL, WORD, PDF…).
To ensure that documentation work does not compromise welding expertise, “we started looking for a professional and easy-to-use software solution to modernize the traceability of our projects.“
Project progress and use of the tool
In 2017, CAMFIL France implemented Welding Cloud for the sheet metalwork section focused on supplying nuclear equipment. Indeed, “clients in this sector require robust quality monitoring.”
Prior to the launch, the user team underwent training and received support in transferring historical data (over 70 PQRs, 300 WPSs, and WPQs). Following these steps, CAMFIL France was able to retrieve its welding qualifications in the online digital workspace and generate the content of a client project from a web browser.
Within the solution, the welding coordinator can outline all the preparatory steps for equipment fabrication: drafting Operating Procedures, managing company qualifications and welder certificates, locating welds on the equipment plan, importing certificates of materials used, etc. Specifically, “welding traceability in sheet metalwork is established by various authorized individuals in the Welding Cloud solution,” explains Alexandre Kurzer. These users can synthesize this information and export it to a customizable welding data book in PDF format.
Furthermore, the welding coordinator and the team of project managers can collaboratively manage a manufacturing project until its delivery using a schedule of welds and non-destructive testing.
With production data, the company can generate a final work dossier (or End of Fabrication Report) with content and format expected by the client. This document provides valuable information for the commissioning of the device (completed inspections, detected non-conformities and corrective actions, consumables used, etc.).
To customize the tool over time, SIRFULL incorporates new templates for WPSs and welding logs specific to CAMFIL France’s requirements. All these updates are performed remotely through the Welding Cloud.
Results and future of the project
Welding quality is not the responsibility of one person but of an entire team. Indeed, the welding coordinators operating within Welding achieve good results in terms of “increased autonomy and time savings” through improved coordination around welding preparation and monitoring tasks.
“The tool was quickly adopted by all project managers.”
These individuals can collaborate with the welding coordination on project management, access, and update documents in the shared environment.
Moreover, Welding Cloud provides better visibility into welding quality management during audits; the digital support allows easy reading and sharing of PQRs, WPSs, WPQ, as well as all certificates of consumables and materials.
“The tool represents a real competitive advantage, in a market where not all manufacturers are capable of reconciling adherence to standards, compliance, and responsiveness. Thus, the digital transformation undertaken by CAMFIL France paves the way for ISO 3834 certification; a new asset for its competitiveness. Furthermore, the solution can assist CAMFIL France in showcasing its welding quality system to future auditors.
Alexandre KURZER, IWT / QHSE Technician at Camfil France
