Metallurgical-expertise:can you do without it?SOLUTIONS with Effective, Practical AdviceMetallurgical-expertise, as already remarked in another page on What would you do if your current productions were suddenly faulty and in need of repairs or of being scrapped? Generally any successful welding operation, working and prospering, has reached in time the required knowledge base and Metallurgical-expertise that permits its normal performance. (Sponsored Links) Now and then however, when something goes wrong, most of times the person in charge would try to solve the problem in house, with a few trials of whatever comes to mind that worked in the past in a similar occasion. The question is then raised if the Metallurgical-expertise of someone else could help. The first attempt is done by asking one of the known suppliers, considered a readily available source of knowledge. The sales representatives of materials, welding equipment and consumables, may know a thing or two, and may have met similar situations in the past, at other customers' facilities. They may have indeed large experience, but moreover they have easy access to the professionals of their Company, where somebody with Metallurgical-expertise may be well entitled to deal with the problem successfully. But some caution as to the efficiency of such a step is in order. In fact it is doubtful if any big Metallurgical-expertise effort of research and investigation, if needed, can be launched this way, because dedicating time and assets to a definite customer's problem costs money to the Company, and a positive ROI (Return On Investment) should be assured to justify the expense. I wrote of manufacturing disturbances in another page on If this fails, the Internet is the way to go. Here the problem becomes how to best describe in words and pictures the kind of failure hindering the current production. Looking for an acceptable solution of Metallurgical-expertise means sifting through countless sites in search of applicable suggestions relevant to the case in question. However what is known are the apparent consequences of unknown causes that should be found by investigating all the available information. This website, Welding Advisers, and many others, may offer quite a bit of common knowledge, likely to be of help to any person capable of analyzing the facts. My offer to answer to specific questions may help in part, if the inquirer takes pains at explaining all essential factors involved. From my experience most often the explanations given by e-mail are incomplete so that a lot of possible causes are left out of the exposition, the picture remains unclear and the root cause undefined. Although the stopping of production may amount to a costly loss, those in need of help are often reluctant to spend money in exchange for professional advice, as if the services of a knowledgeable metallurgist were somehow less worthy than those of a doctor or of a lawyer. The person responsible for welding operations in an organization of any size should be able to calculate or to estimate the losses, and to take the painful decision to dedicate a part of that amount to investigate the causes of the problem, to permit recruiting external help for finding how to overcome the difficulties. The other way, which is less and less customary these days, is to grow in house sufficiently prepared personnel capable and willing to dedicate to the problems as long as needed time and as required efforts to solve them. It should anyhow be clear to those in charge, that their decision, whatever it may be, will bear its mark on the bottom line of the economic results of their enterprise. I would like to suggest to any shop owner or foreman in need of some help for metallurgical matters affecting their current operations to consider seriously, in their best interest, if the following notice can bring them some benefits.
An Article on Digital Imaging: A Powerful Quality Tool was published (7) in Issue 91 of Practical Welding Letter for March 2011. To receive at no cost every issue of Practical Welding Letter as soon as it is published please subscribe. Any questions or comments or feedback? Write them down and send them to us by e-mail. Click on the Contact Us button in the NavBar at top left of every page.
To reach a Guide to the collection of the most important Articles from Past Issues of Practical Welding Letter, click on Welding Topics. Welding Education and Training Important AnnouncementIf you need Metallurgical-expertise and knowledge  BUILT BY:
Click on this Logo NOW! Copyright (©) 2010, 2011 by Elia E. Levi and |
