Quality Systems for Steel Fabricators and Erectors
A quality system should do more than satisfy a list of requirements.
It should give your organization a practical way to define responsibilities, control documents and records, manage materials and processes, perform inspections, address nonconformances, and continually improve the way quality is managed.
These AISC quality-system resources were developed by Frank Elias — a 55-year Responsible Quality Authority whose introduction to AISC came during construction of a steel waste-treatment facility at Eagle-Picher Technologies in 2001, the same facility that produced flight batteries for the NASA Gravity Probe B mission. Frank has worked with steel fabricators, erectors, and construction management companies ever since, and every document in these kits reflects that hands-on production floor experience.
Every Company that has applied a comprehensive AISC quality system kit since 2001 has achieved its certification goal. The 55-year heritage behind every kit is documented in the Heritage Registry.
One Quality System — Organized Around the Work
Fabrication and erection may be separate operations, but many of the underlying quality-management activities are shared. A practical system needs both common quality-system controls and operation-specific procedures and records.
The AISC quality-system resources are organized around three connected areas:
Core Quality System
The foundation of the quality program. Core resources address the management and control activities that support an effective quality system, including procedures, responsibilities, document control, records, purchasing, receiving, training, auditing, corrective action, and nonconformance control.
These elements provide the common framework upon which fabrication and erection activities can be managed.
Fabricator Quality System
Steel fabrication introduces its own quality responsibilities and production controls. Fabricator resources are organized around the activities involved in producing steel components, controlling materials and processes, performing inspections, maintaining records, and demonstrating that work has been performed as required.
Erector Quality System
Steel erection presents a different operating environment. Erection activities take place in the field and require quality controls that account for site conditions, installation activities, inspection, bolting, welding, records, coordination, and project-specific requirements. Erector resources provide the documentation framework needed to support those activities.
The shared quality-system foundation provides common controls, while separate Fabricator and Erector resources address the activities unique to each operation. This organization makes it easier for a company to find the resources it needs without losing sight of the quality system as a whole.
What a Quality System Should Help You Do
A useful quality system should make everyday quality activities easier to understand and manage. Depending on the organization’s operations, that may include:
- Establishing responsibilities and authority
- Controlling quality documents and revisions
- Managing purchasing and suppliers
- Receiving and controlling materials
- Planning and performing inspections
- Maintaining quality records
- Controlling nonconforming work
- Taking corrective action
- Managing training and competency
- Performing internal audits
- Maintaining calibration and related controls
- Supporting production and erection activities
- Reviewing quality-system performance
- Improving the system when problems are identified
The documentation is the framework. The organization is what makes the framework work.
Built to Be Adapted
A quality system should reflect the organization that uses it.
A small fabrication operation, a larger structural-steel company, and an organization performing both fabrication and erection may have very different responsibilities, facilities, equipment, personnel, contracts, and project requirements.
For that reason, these resources are provided as working documentation rather than as a claim that one unmodified set of documents will fit every organization. Editable resources can be reviewed and adapted to reflect your actual operations.
That makes the implementation process more practical — and puts the responsibility for the finished quality system where it belongs: with the organization that operates it.
A Practical Approach to Implementation
Developing or improving a quality system does not have to mean starting with a blank page. A practical implementation can be approached in stages:
1. Understand
Identify the organization’s quality responsibilities, applicable requirements, operations, and existing controls.
2. Organize
Establish the structure of the quality system and identify the procedures, records, and responsibilities that support it.
3. Adapt
Review the documentation and modify it to match the organization’s actual operations.
4. Implement
Put the procedures and controls into use.
5. Train
Make sure the people responsible for quality activities understand their roles and know how the system is intended to work.
6. Inspect and Record
Use the system during actual work and maintain the records needed to demonstrate what was done.
7. Audit
Evaluate whether the system is being followed and whether it is producing the intended results.
8. Improve
Correct problems, address nonconformances, and improve the system as experience reveals opportunities to do so.
A quality system becomes valuable when it moves from documentation to daily practice.
A Quality System Is More Than a Certification Project
Certification may be an important objective for an organization, but the quality system should continue to serve the organization after the assessment is over.
The real value is having a system that helps people understand:
What are we supposed to do?
Who is responsible?
What needs to be inspected or controlled?
What records do we need?
What happens when something does not conform?
How do we know the system is working?
Those questions are at the heart of practical quality management.
Getting Started
You do not have to figure out every part of the system alone. Technical support is available by phone and email at no charge with no expiration — from first download through certification.
The AISC quality-system resources are available in configurations for every stage of implementation — from standalone quality manuals to the complete 26-procedure, 140+ document system. An update kit is also available for existing customers upgrading from 207-23 to 207-25.
View all AISC quality-system resources →
Learn more about AISC certification on the AISC website.
Important
This content provides general information about quality-system implementation for steel fabrication and erection. The quality-system resources referenced are documentation and implementation tools. They do not themselves constitute certification, accreditation, or a guarantee of compliance. Each organization is responsible for reviewing and adapting the materials to its own operations, contracts, applicable requirements, and quality-system responsibilities.