Weld done! Burnside Autocyl achieve coveted standard

Standard awarded February 2005

A Tullow-based engineering company can now rate itself among the best in Europe in its chosen field, having been awarded the highly regarded European Welding Standard EN729-2.

Burnside Autocyl (Tullow) Ltd was recently awarded the certification, which now marks it out as the first company in Ireland to have achieved this comprehensive welding quality standard to date.

Burnside Autocyl is one of only a handful of companies within the British Isles and, indeed, is the first Hydraulic Cylinder Manufacturer in Europe, to attain this welding certification.

This standard also demonstrates that Burnside Autocyl (Tullow) Ltd is amongst the best in Europe in the welding field.

Burnside Autocyl supply to some of the world's leading producers of mobile machinery including Jungheinrich, Moffett Eng, Case and New Holland.

This accreditation is given in recognition of the excellence in the control of the welding processes in Burnside Autocyl (Tullow) Ltd over its 30 years in operation.

"In order to achieve this certification, a factory-wide effort was required. This included all areas of the company - management, production, quality control, design, maintenance, engineering and purchasing," stated Development Engineer, Kieran Phelan.

"The path to the EN729-2 certification started three years ago when, as part of the continuous improvement culture within Burnside Autocyl, the management committed to reaching this high quality standard," he added.

"Achieving this standard has many advantages and benefits, such as increased productivity, higher quality products, reduced quality costs and retention of competitive edge in the market place," explained Quality Manager, Vincent Hutton.

"It is also an advantage as the company faces into the future where there will be increasing competition from lower cost regions of the world," he added.

The initial driver of the certification programme was Vincent while to comply with the standard it was necessary for Kieran to sit European Welding Federation Exams and assist in the implementation and maintenance of this standard as part of the existing overall Quality Management System.

Areas covered in the pursuit of this standard included training, reviewing of contracts, design, sub-contracting, welding personnel, production planning, in-process inspection, inspection personnel and facilities, equipment and maintenance.

All of the welders employed at Burnside Autocyl are certified to an ISO Standard while all welding plant is maintained to the highest standard.

Independent external analysis of the company's raw materials has to be undertaken on a regular basis while they are also required to rationalise all their weld preparation design.

In order to remain competitive and be able to respond to future expected growth, Burnside has introduced several new automated processes. One of these is the introduction of five robotic welding stations, which allows for excellent repeatability and weld quality.

In order to achieve the award, Burnside had to demonstrate that they had sufficient facilities and competent personnel to analyse their welding output.

Burnside Autocyl (Tullow) Ltd also has an ongoing relationship with the Engineering Departments within leading universities such as UCD and Trinity College, which ensures that they are kept up to date with all the latest available information.

Article and photos courtesy of The Nationlist