Steel industry to tackle quality control head on

New Zealand’s structural steel fabricators aim to set themselves apart from imported prefabricated steelwork with the launch of the Steel Fabricator Certification (SFC) scheme.

The scheme aims to ensure participating fabricators not only manufacture product to the specified quality standard, but have appropriate personnel and quality management systems in place representing international best-practice.

Steel Construction New Zealand (SCNZ) manager Alistair Fussell, says: “As with other construction materials, the current compliance regime for structural steelwork relies, for the most part, on self-inspection and selfcertification.

“This scheme raises the bar by providing independent, expert certification of New Zealand fabrication companies.”

Fussell says the SFC scheme creates an important point of difference for locally fabricated steel compared with imported prefabricated steelwork.

The initial group of steel fabricators certified under the SFC scheme are:

Chapman Engineering, Christchurch; D&H Steel Construction, Auckland; Eastbridge, Napier; Jensen Steel Fabricators, Mt Maunganui; John Jones Steel, Christchurch; MJH Engineering, Lower Hutt; Red Steel, Napier, and Whakatiki Engineering, Upper Hutt.