The two important inspection action points of an Inspection and test plan (ITP) are the witness point and the hold point. These two points, like in any other industrial inspection, are always found and identified in the welding ITP. These are stages that need additional inspection or verification during the production process. The objective of having a witness point and hold point is to ensure that the specification requirements have been complied properly to proceed for further activities. Therefore, the verification process is marked and defined in the welding inspection plan as the witness and hold points, respectively.
Witness Point
Witness point is a point identified in the process where a personnel having the required qualification, such as an qualified engineer or inspector of the customer or an appointed third party inspection company like AQSS, may perform a witness inspection/test at a certain critical step of production process. Further activities may continue.
Hold Point
Hold Point is a significant point identified in the process where verification is performed by the person having the required qualification, such as a qualified engineer or inspector of the customer or of the appointed third party inspection company like AQSS, at a certain critical step of the production process. The work cannot proceed to the next level unless the quality of the completed work has been verified and approved by the customer or of the appointed third party inspection company such as AQSS.
Having hold points and witness points can affect the pace of your projects, costing a company resources and time for the sign-offs. However, these are extremely crucial points since they are significant to maintain quality and provide assurance of complying with the pre-set standards and quality between the two parties.
Managing witness points and hold points in welding inspections
Handling witness points and hold points is not just important but it can be complex too. The process involves approval from the signatories, cross-party communication, emailing concerns to all required personnel, and obtaining written acceptance and documentation. With witness inspections at many witness and hold points, the company may lose the pace of the project and is required to be mindful of these inspections during planning phase for on-time delivery of the project.
AQSS is a third party witness inspection company based in Houston, TX USA. AQSS extends welding witness inspection services for several industries including aerospace, manufacturing and oil and gas industry. AQSS has a team of qualified and certified welding inspectors to carry out the "Quality" service demanded by the industry. AQSS has extended these services in the USA and abroad.
