ABSTRACT
As long as human beings are involved in welding operations, as welders or as machine operators there will be variability in performance and some inspection of their work will be required.
It was earlier hoped that the move to automatic and semi-automatic welding would improve on the quality of manually made welds and that the need for post inspection would decrease. This has not proved to be the case and, indeed, some feel that new developments in welding technology, material and in design have themselves contributed to welding problems by introducing complications that may not have been assessed for the effect on quality assurance. In Chapter 4, A. Gifford gives such examples.
