The European Federation for Welding, Joining and Cutting (EWF) is an organization dedicated to education, training, qualification and certification in the field of welding and related technologies.
In 1992, welding course providers of several EU countries wanted to harmonise their education, training, qualification and certification procedures. Thus, they set up the European Federation for Welding, Joining and Cutting (EWF). The objective was that the same qualifications could be awarded in any country by using a single syllabus for each level of the training course and a harmonized system for examinations. EWF developed a comprehensive and harmonized system for training, qualification and certification of welding personnel and managed its application ever since. It took a leading role in the innovation of learning methodologies. It is also responsible for the certification system of companies that use welding, focusing on quality, environment, health, and safety.[1]
The challenges addressed by EWF are two-fold: Respond to the industry's professional profile requirements and provide courses that leverage current technological trends and their impact on evolving lifestyles and information acquisition patterns.
Currently (2018), EWF has members from 28 European countries and two observer members from outside Europe, represented by their national welding societies: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, as well as Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation.[2]
The federation licensed its qualification system to IIW (International Institute of Welding) in 2000, and since then, a combined EWF/IIW System has been offered in 46 countries worldwide, totaling 44 ANBs (Authorized National Bodies) and 683 ATBs (Authorized Training Bodies).
The network also includes 55,000 companies worldwide.
A certification system has been developed to guarantee manufacturer compliance with EN ISO 3834 and environmental and health safety schemes and its implementation is harmonized within EWF members.
The EWF has a General Assembly, a Board of Directors, a Secretariat and a Technical Committee with five working groups.
The EWF is governed by the General Assembly, which is representative of the member organizations. The General Assembly, composed of the members of the association, has full powers to accomplish the objectives of the association.[3]
The General Assembly is responsible for electing its president and a Board of Directors.
| Bent Koch | 1992 | FORCE Technology | Denmark | |
| Jean Quéré | 1993-1995 | IS - Institut de Soudure | France | |
| J. van den Brug | 1996-1998 | NIL - NEDERLANDS INSTITUUT VOOR LASTECHNIEK | The Netherlands | |
| Giulio Costa | 1999-2001 | IIS - ISTITUTO ITALIANO DELLA SALDATURA | Italy | |
| Jan Pilarczyk | 2002-2004 | IS - Instytut Spawalnictwa | Poland | |
| German Hernandez | 2005-2007 | CESOL – Asociación Española de Soldadura y Tecnologías de Unión | Spain | |
| Tim Jessop | 2008-2010 | United Kingdom | ||
| Dorin Dehelean | 2011-2013 | ASR - Asociația Română de Sudură | Romania | |
| Henk Bodt | 2014-2016 | NIL - NEDERLANDS INSTITUUT VOOR LASTECHNIEK | The Netherlands | |
| Chris Eady | 2017-2019 | TWI - The Welding Institute | United Kingdom |
| Chris Eady | President | Chief Executive of the TWI Certification Ltd and associate director for professional affairs at TWII | United Kingdom | |
| Michal Kubica | Vice-President | Deputy Manager at Instytut Spawalnictwa | Poland | |
| Luísa Coutinho | Executive Director | Professor at University of Lisbon | Portugal | |
| Rute Ferraz | Chief Executive | Director of Training Division at Instituto de Soldadura e Qualidade | Portugal | |
| Jorge Huete | Treasurer | General Manager at CESOL | Spain | |
| Stefano Morra | Director | Technical Manager at Istituto Italiano della Saldatura IIS | Italy | |
| Martin Lehman | Director | Head of Training and Certification in DVS e.V. and CEO of DVS ZERT GmbH | Germany | |
| Vaclav Minarik | Director | Director at Czech Welding Society ANB | Czech Republic |
The Secretariat is elected for a period of 5 years by the General Assembly from among the proposals made by the full members, in accordance with the criteria established by the General Assembly. [<ref>http://ewf.be/organisation4.aspx {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005114804/http://www.ewf.be/organisation4.aspx |date=2008-10-05 }}: Secretariat</ref>]
| Luísa Coutinho | Executive Director | Professor of Mechanical Engineering, at Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal, as well as Executive Director of the European Federation for Welding, Joining and Cutting since 1992.Prof. Luísa Coutinho coordinated and participated in more than 100 national and international projects ranging from research to transfer of technology and training since 1986 and has published more than 200 papers, in national and international journals and conference proceedings, and books. Her work has been recognised internationally in different forums through two honorary doctorships and ten international awards. | |
| Rute Ferraz | Chief Executive | Manages the International System for Qualification and certification of Personnel and Companies, since 2002 and is EWF Lead Assessor.Mrs Ferraz has an international professional career of over 25 years in Quality Management in Italy, Brasil and Argentina and at present also is Director of the Training Department at ISQ – Instituto de Soldadura e Qualidade. | |
| Eurico Assunção | Deputy Director | Deputy Director of EWF as well as an invited lecturer at Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, in Laser Processing. Mr Eurico Assunção holds a degree as Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Welding Engineering, from the Cranfield University and a European and International Welding Engineer Diploma. Is responsible for the Collaboration Projects of EWF and has coordinated more than 20 large projects involving organisations from all EU. Also manages the Joining Platform, as a sub-platform within the EU Platform “Manufuture”. |
| Technical Committee | The EWF Technical Committee is set up by the General Assembly for covering several areas of competence: Standardisation, Certification, Training and Qualification in the welding, joining and cutting fields and EWF System Rules. Each area of competence consists of several working groups implying a continuous activity, without any time limit. It consists of the Chairman of Technical Committee, a convenor per area of competence and the representatives of the members and working groups. | Stefano Morra | IIS - ISTITUTO ITALIANO DELLA SALDATURA | Italy | |
| Training and Qualification | Develops, maintains and updates the EWF system for qualification of personnel to keep it consistent with the European rules and industry needs, assure consistency of the overall EWF system and keep liaisons with the personnel certification schemes. | Luca Costa | IIS - ISTITUTO ITALIANO DELLA SALDATURA | Italy | |
| Certification | Develops the strategy for the EWF System for certification of Personnel and Companies in line with the European Standards, directives and industry needs; assures consistency of the EWF Certification Schemes with EU legislation. | Stefano Morra | IIS - ISTITUTO ITALIANO DELLA SALDATURA | Italy | |
| EWF System Rules | Ensures the update of EWF rules and requirements for Personnel Qualification and Certification (PCS) according to the EWF developments; Develops the EWF Operational Systems documents depicting the EWF organisational structure and terms of reference for each body. | Italo Fernandes | ISQ - INSTITUTO DE SOLDADURA E QUALIDADE | Portugal | |
| European Union Tools | European projects, collaboration between the European organisations, EU rules and instruments. Assists EWF members in developing project proposals and facilitate the dissemination of upcoming European project calls. | Luisa Coutinho | INSTITUTO SUPERIOR TECNICO | Portugal |
The EWF qualification system has several types of professional training covering welding, bonding and related techniques. This harmonized system of education and training has been adopted by IIW as an international qualification system since 2000. Its relevance has been recognized both by ISO and CEN, which have EWF as a liaison member. These different technologies, like particular processes, require that the quality of the product be incorporated during the and maintenance, and cannot be ensured only by final testing. That entails personnel with particular high level of knowledge, skills and competencies, which can be obtained through the EWF qualification system.
There are three pillars which support the EWF Harmonized International Qualification System:
In 2012, in its annual report about international qualifications, the European Center for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP), has considered the EWF qualification system as the best-case example, recognising the ground-breaking work done by EWF on creating a qualification framework which has been globally adopted.[6]
The EWF training guidelines cover all professional levels in welding technology and related areas, such as thermal spraying, adhesive bonding, plastics welding and underwater welding, leading to recognised qualifications in 30 European countries and also at international level. They can be listed as follows:[7] [8]
Three certification schemes for personnel have been developed:[9]
• Welding Coordination Certification has existed since 1998, was adopted by IIW in 2007 and is currently recognised worldwide, allowing Welding Coordinators to be certified according to the requirement of ISO 14731.[10]
• Plastic Welders Certification has existed since 2004, providing training and certification according to EN 13067.[11]
• Welders Operators and Brazers Certification exist since 2010. The goal of this scheme is to harmonise the welder's certification process, which is necessary for welder approval.
EWF has created an integrated Manufacturers Certification Scheme, which complies with ISO 3834 on welding quality requirements, which is in place since 1998, ISO 14001 and OSHAS 18001 on environment and also health and safety, which are in place since 2000.[12] The scheme has been adopted by IIW, only for the quality field.[13]
A good part of EWF's activities have been related to its participation in European cooperation projects, in particular under the European Commission's programmes such as Lifelong Learning 2007-2013, 7th Framework Programme, Erasmus+ and H2020.
The project focuses on modernisation of teaching methods, harmonisation of qualifications, support for learning, implementation and benchmarking to other teaching areas. It covers a variety of areas like additive manufacturing, health and safety, microbonding, laser processing and adhesives that go beyond welding and joining but target manufacturing as a whole.
Board of Directors
Working Groups