weldNet® - "The smart way to weld" - our new Material Manager

Welding is a very complex joining process and is defined as a "special process" in ISO 9000 / ISO 3834.

This means that each quality-determining weld requires a written instruction, the Welding Procedure Specification ("WPS"), which specifies all the factors relevant to welding. Up to 90 parameters must be defined for a complete WPS - from the base material, the consumable, auxiliary materials, the weld shape, the layer structure, the welding equipment, to the individual welding parameters.

The goal we are pursuing in knowledge management is the complete digitization of these WPSs, so that we can then use them as a basis for digital quality assurance and documentation—but the requisite knowledge for this must also be made available digitally.

Welding isn't "alchemy". On the contrary, a great deal has been standardized and defined in various sets of rules.

So, you don't need to invent anything new—it's "just" a matter of digitally mapping the knowledge contained in the standards.
The basic materials and their fundamental description are a core element. However, this information isn't available to the required extent in any commercial database, so we've built up our own.

This brings us to the "weldNet® Material Manager"—our first "smart service": This is a search tool par excellence for this database! An essential feature of the Material Manager is the ability to compare materials, for example in regard to old and new material designations, their basic mechanical/chemical properties, the standard classifications, and the recommended consumables. There are also complete welding recommendations for a number of unalloyed steels.

The "main function" is definitely the access to the large database that we maintain and the clear, up-to-date presentation of the information. This smart service is mainly for searching for material designations and corresponding comparable materials.

In the Material Manager we also offer the ability to search for recommended consumables with their corresponding data sheets. Comparable consumables, complete consumable recommendations, and even the recommended pickling agent can also be found in an extremely short time with the Material Manager.

A rough overview of mechanical properties, for example strength, can also be retrieved. Of course, the chemical composition of the base material is very important to the welding expert—and here we can contribute the analysis limits for many materials. 

The Material Manager is a cloud-based online tool that can be used with all technological digital end devices via the Internet, i.e. PC, notebook, tablet or smartphone.

Welding engineers and welding technologists, designers, buyers, distributors, and also material scientists, as the Material Manager bridges the gap between chemical analysis-based theory and description-oriented practice.

As far as this smart service is concerned, I don't know what could be done better. It's a compact, extremely fast search tool.

Probably one of the fastest users have ever seen - a search engine optimized for searching has been implemented here and delivers results in a fraction of a second. What will be expanded in the future is the database. American steels, nickel-based and aluminum alloys as well as even more welding recommendations.

We've developed a subscription system that gives the customer access to 35,000 materials, 24,000 chemical analysis along with the appropriate consumables, and over 2000 welding recommendations. 300 of the most important base materials and the entire range of welding consumables including properties are available free of charge.

With the weldNet ® Material Manager, we're taking another important step to support our customers in the future with first-class total solutions for their complex welding tasks. The efficient provision of knowledge and the ongoing development of new digital solutions is already a key factor in the welding industry.