I prevailed and the WPSs were properly qualified and the welders, all 32 of them, were qualified in accordance with the welding standard. I finally stood up on my chair and said, “I know I’m short and it may be difficult to hear what I have to say, but if you insist on doing what you propose, tell me now so I can pack up my gear and move on to a client that has some integrity!” Their response was, “Do you know how much this contract is worth to your company? Are you really willing to walk away?” I told them I could be packed up and ready to leave before they had my property pass printed, but yes, I would walk away if they did what they had proposed to do. I told them they could not do what was being proposed, but they continued their conversation along the lines of what I said was improper and unethical. It had something to do with qualifying welders and what was proposed was absolutely against every code requirements known to man. I remember attending a meeting with a client and several of the corporate officers. I’ve seen it come into play in numerous corporate meetings. There is a name for that type of group interaction, but it escapes me for the moment.

When someone disagrees, they are not a “team player” and are tossed out of the group. They (corporate lackeys) are looking for the 'cheap' way out, not necessarily the best solution.

The fact that you got 'buy in' to your line of reasoning isn't reassuring in the least. Their mistakes are what keep us busy finding solutions to their dilemmas. Then again, their lack of knowledge is what keeps me gainfully employed, so keep them in the dark, and feed them BS so they will thrive. All too many engineers have little understanding of the differences in welding standards or welding for that matter, it scares the hell out of me. ASME Section IX: No RT or UT required, little visual acceptance criteria, looser acceptance criteria for guided bend tests, how can you possibly say a WPS qualified to ASME Section IX meets the requirements for a WPS that has to qualified by testing per AWS D1.1? That’s like a pimp selling a 40-year old whore as a virgin. Your line of reasoning was convincing right up to the point where you said you qualify the welding procedure in accordance with ASME.

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