Welding Procedure Example: A Complete WPS Sample and Step-by-Step Guide for Real Shop Work

A fabricator in Ohio lost a $180,000 structural package not because his welds were bad, but because the inspector asked for the WPS at the point of use and there was no controlled document to hand over. The welders were qualified, the machine settings were right, and the steel was correct – what was missing was the piece of paper that proves the process was planned before the arc ever struck. That gap is exactly why so many people search for a welding procedure example: they need to see what a real WPS looks like, what each field means, and how to make one that survives an inspector’s questions.

Why One Missing Sheet of Paper Stops a Fabrication Job Cold

It was the kind of job that a small structural shop in Ohio had run a hundred times before. The beams were cut, the plates were laid out and a seasoned crew had run every joint with the precision that comes from years behind the hood. However, when the inspector arrived for a final check on a $180,000 structural package, one question brought the entire job to a halt: “May I see your Welding Procedure Specification for these joints?” With no controlled copy to hand over, the package was rejected on the spot. The welders were more than qualified, the machine settings were correct and the steel was exactly what was specified. All that was missing was the piece of paper that proved those decisions were planned before the arc ever struck.

For those in the trade, this scenario perfectly showcases the importance of a welding procedure example. A welding procedure example is a real, working sample of a Welding Procedure Specification (WPS) that breaks down the exact parameters to follow in order to produce a sound weld for a specific joint. Rather than guessing ranges or copying notes off of a scrap of cardboard, these examples allow welders and quality staff to study a controlled document and see what an inspector will expect to see. This is why the term is so heavily searched for by a wide variety of people: welders studying for the welding certification exams, QA/QC staff building a shop quality system, estimators pricing a job, students in a welding program and contractors responding to a specification that is demanding a WPS.

The trade as a whole is incredibly vast. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were about 437,700 welder, cutter, solderer and brazer jobs in the U.S. in 2025, with a median annual wage of $53,750 ($25.84 per hour). From 2025 to 2035, the BLS projects roughly 40,300 openings per year for these workers, even though overall employment growth is only about 2 percent. With so many careers relying on compliance, it is no wonder that industry standards are heavily documented. The American Welding Society (AWS) has authored more than 350 standards, including AWS D1.1/D1.1M:2025-AMD1 Structural Welding Code – Steel, which governs most structural steel WPS work in North America.

The Paperwork Protects the Craft

A common misconception amongst newer welders is that skill alone will carry a job. In reality, a welder’s ability can only go as far as what is permitted for that specific material, joint and application. A documented WPS does not restrict a good welder, it protects them from liability, protects the client from failure and protects the shop from losing an entire job over preventable oversights. This is especially crucial when working to prevent welding defects by verifying parameters before production begins.

Furthermore, compliance does not stop at the blueprint. The act of welding carries its own hazards, which is why safe work practices are intertwined with procedure control. For this reason, OSHA’s welding, cutting, and brazing topic page serves as an excellent resource for the safety responsibilities that travel alongside any welding procedure.

What This Article Will Cover

With that being said, knowing that a WPS is important is far different from knowing how to read or write one. Over the course of this series, we will break the process down into ten sections, covering every angle of a welding procedure example:

• Definition: Untangling WPS, PQR and WPQ documents.
• Anatomy: A field-by-field breakdown of every line an inspector checks.
• Worked Examples: Two full, real samples to study and adapt for your own shop.
• Qualification: The PQR testing and paper trail that proves a procedure.
• Code Comparison: AWS D1.1, ASME IX, ISO 15614 and API 1104.
• Common Mistakes: The eight errors that fail inspections the most.
• Your Own WPS: A practical template to build one from scratch.
• Safety: Hot work, fume control and OSHA requirements.
• Action Plan: A concrete checklist to implement it all.

By the end of this article, you will be able to read any WPS, spot gaps, and build one from scratch. The cost of a few hours of documentation will always be far less than the cost of losing a job like the one in Ohio. That small sheet of paper isn’t red tape, it’s the thing that lets your hard-earned skill actually ship.

What Is a Welding Procedure Specification? A Plain-English Definition

A welding procedure specification, or WPS, is a controlled recipe for making one specific weld. It names the process, the base metal, the filler, the gas, the settings, the position, and the technique, all written as ranges that have been proven to produce a sound joint. If you have been searching for a welding procedure example, this is the document everyone is pointing at: the sheet that turns “we’ve always done it this way” into something an inspector can verify.

The Three Documents People Constantly Mix Up

Most of the confusion in a shop office comes from three similar-sounding documents that do completely different jobs:

• WPS (the plan): what the welder is permitted to do on production work.
• PQR, or Procedure Qualification Record (the proof): the test results showing the plan actually works. It records what was really done during the qualification weld, not what someone hopes to do later.
• WPQ, or Welder Performance Qualification (the person): the record proving a particular welder can follow that plan to an acceptable standard.

Confuse these three and you will fail an audit in the first five minutes. The plan is not the proof, and the proof is not the person.

To keep terminology consistent, AWS publishes AWS A3.0M/A3.0:2025, Standard Welding Terms and Definitions, which is the reference AWS uses for vocabulary such as “procedure qualification” and “essential variable.” When your WPS, your PQR, and your inspector all cite the same dictionary, arguments about wording get a lot shorter.

Who Actually Writes a WPS

In the real world, authorship depends on the shop. A welding engineer drafts it at a larger fabricator. A Certified Welding Educator or a Certified Welding Inspector may build the document set when a smaller shop is standing up a quality system. And under AWS D1.1, a contractor can take the prequalified route, using procedures that satisfy the code’s stated conditions without running procedure qualification testing at all. Prequalified does not mean undocumented; it means the testing burden is already satisfied by the code.

Where the WPS lives matters as much as what is on it. Common homes include a controlled binder in the shop office, laminated copies at the weld bench, a tablet at the fitting station, or parameter locks on a CNC or robotic cell. A WPS is not the same thing as a work instruction, which tells the operator the sequence of steps, or an inspection and test plan (ITP), which lists hold points and who signs them. The WPS defines the metallurgical recipe; the work instruction and ITP wrap around it.

Welding Variables: What You Can Change and What Breaks Qualification

Every WPS is built on welding variables, which split into three buckets:

• Essential variables: change one and the procedure must be requalified with a new test. In ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code Section IX, these live in the QW-250 series of variable tables.
• Nonessential variables: procedural details you can adjust and simply document. No retest required.
• Supplementary essential variables: they become essential when the service demands them, most often when toughness or impact testing is specified.

Different codes label these categories differently, but the logic is identical: some changes are cosmetic, and some quietly invalidate the test coupon behind your procedure.

If you are new to reading procedure paperwork alongside drawings, our guide to pipe welding procedures walks through WPS fields, passes, and inspection in a pipework context.

Five Things Every WPS Must Answer

1. What metal? Grade, specification, and thickness range.
2. What filler? Classification, diameter range, and consumable designation.
3. What gas? Composition, mixture, and flow rate.
4. What settings? Current type, polarity, amperage, voltage, and travel speed ranges.
5. In what position? Welding position and progression direction.

If a WPS on your floor cannot answer all five, it is not a controlled procedure yet — it is a wish. In the next section, we read a real welding procedure example line by line, the same way an inspector would.

Anatomy of a Welding Procedure Example: Every Field Explained Line by Line

Open a real WPS and it can look like a tax form: boxes, codes, ranges, and numbers that seem to mean nothing until someone explains them. An inspector doesn’t read it that way. They read it left to right, top to bottom, looking for specific answers in specific places. Once you learn to read a welding procedure example the same way, you can evaluate any WPS in about five minutes.

Here is the field map you’ll find on nearly every controlled WPS, in the order an inspector checks them:

• WPS number, revision level, date, and approval signatures
• Supporting PQR number(s)
• Code and edition (for example AWS D1.1/D1.1M or ASME BPVC Section IX)
• Welding process and type of operation (manual, semi-automatic, machine, automatic)
• Joint design, sketch, and welding symbol reference
• Base metal specification, grade, and grouping (P-number, group number)
• Qualified base metal thickness range
• Filler metal classification, F-number, A-number, and diameter range
• Flux or consumable trade name
• Shielding gas composition and flow rate
• Welding position and progression direction
• Preheat and interpass temperature limits
• Electrical characteristics: current type, polarity, amperage, voltage, travel speed, heat input
• Technique: stringer or weave, bead sequence, backstep, cleaning, back-gouging
• Post-weld heat treatment, backing gas or purge, and required nondestructive examination

Header Data: Who Owns This Document

The WPS number and revision level are the document’s identity. A WPS marked WPS-101, Rev. 3 is a controlled, versioned document, not a suggestion sheet. The revision date and approval block tell you a named engineer or inspector authorized it. If the copy in the field says Rev. 2 and the master says Rev. 3, the weld in progress is being made to a superseded procedure, and that is a legitimate reason to stop work.

The supporting PQR number is the trail back to the test that proved the procedure works. No PQR reference usually means the WPS was never qualified, only borrowed.

Process, Joint, and Materials

The code and edition matter because ranges and acceptance criteria change between versions. A structural shop citing AWS D1.1 should name the specific edition on the document.

The process field states more than “MIG.” It identifies GMAW and the transfer mode, plus whether a human controls the arc (manual), an operator triggers a machine feed (semi-automatic), or the weld is mechanized. That distinction drives the qualified position range and the applicable variable list.

The joint design field should carry a sketch: bevel angle, root face, root gap, land, and whether the joint is backed. Cross-check it against the drawing symbols. If you need a refresher on reading those symbols correctly, see our guide to welding symbols.

Base metal is specified by specification and grade (A36, A572 Grade 50, 316L), then grouped by the code. AWS D1.1 uses P-numbers and group numbers; ASME uses P-numbers and group numbers with different boundaries. The qualified thickness range sits right beside it, because the coupon you tested only covers a window of thickness, not every plate in the yard.

Consumables and Gas

Filler is listed by AWS classification, for example ER70S-6 or E7018, along with the F-number (weld deposit chemistry family) and A-number ( deposited weld metal composition for SMAW and FCAW). The diameter range is qualified too: a procedure tested at 0.035 in. wire does not automatically cover 0.045 in. If classification codes still feel opaque, our breakdown of electrode classifications explains what each digit means.

Shielding gas is listed as a composition, not a trade name: 75% Ar / 25% CO2 at 30 to 40 CFH. Flow rate is a real variable. Too little, you get porosity; too much, you get turbulence that draws air into the arc.

Positions, Temperatures, and Electrical Characteristics

Position (1G, 3G, 4F, 6G) and progression ( uphill or downhill) are qualified ranges, not preferences. Preheat and interpass limits follow the code’s tables; AWS D1.1’s minimum preheat table starts as low as 32°F for thin Group I steels and climbs with thickness and carbon equivalent. Interpass maximum protects the heat-affected zone from over-tempering.

Electrical characteristics list current type and polarity (DCEP, DCEN, AC), amperage range, voltage range, travel speed in inches per minute, and sometimes a heat input ceiling. Heat input is calculated as:

Heat input (kJ/in) = (Volts × Amps × 60) ÷ (travel speed in ipm) ÷ 1000

Technique, Post-Weld, and Examination

Technique fields specify stringer versus weave beads, maximum weave width (commonly three electrode diameters), bead sequence, backstep patterns, interpass cleaning, and whether the root must be back-gouged and rewelded. Post-weld heat treatment, backing gas or purge requirements (critical on stainless and alloy pipe), and required NDE complete the document.

Why Everything Is a Range

Every number on a WPS is a window, because production conditions never sit at one fixed value. But the window has edges. A weld made at 240 amps on a procedure specifying 180 to 220 amps is, by definition, outside the qualified procedure, no matter how good the bead looks. The weld metal was never proven at that energy level, and the inspector has no technical basis to accept it.

That is the whole purpose of the field list: not to restrict skilled welders, but to keep every production weld inside the envelope that testing actually proved.

A Full Worked Welding Procedure Example: GMAW on 3/8 in. A36 Plate, 1G

Descriptions only go so far. Below is a complete, realistic welding procedure example for a common shop job: joining 3/8 in. A36 plate in the flat position (1G) with gas metal arc welding. Every number here is the kind of value you would actually find on a controlled WPS sheet, and every range was set by what the test coupon qualified.

Why These Choices, In Plain Language

Why ER70S-6 on A36. A36 is a mild structural steel with moderate strength and good weldability, so a 70 ksi minimum tensile filler matches it comfortably. The “-6” suffix means the wire carries extra deoxidizers, which makes it forgiving on mill scale and field-cleaned plate, exactly the condition A36 arrives in. If you are still learning the classification system, our guide to setting up a MIG welder walks through wire grades, gas mixes and dial settings step by step.

Why DCEP. Direct current electrode positive puts more heat into the workpiece, giving deeper penetration and a stable arc with 75/25 gas. It is the standard polarity for short-circuit and spray transfer GMAW on steel.

Why transfer mode matters. At 180–220 A on 0.035 in. wire with argon-rich gas, this procedure runs in globular or spray transfer, which is ideal in flat and horizontal positions but difficult overhead. A shop that wants to run the same filler in 3G or 4G would either drop into short-circuit transfer at lower amperage or qualify the position separately. Transfer mode is not just a preference; it changes spatter, penetration profile and which positions are realistic.

Why contact tip to work distance (CTWD) is on the sheet. Stretch the stick-out and amperage falls while the arc softens; shorten it and you risk burn-through and tip spatter. A CTWD of roughly 3/8 to 1/2 in. keeps this procedure inside its qualified amperage range. Note that the voltage a welder reads off the machine meter is a setpoint, not the true arc voltage measured across the arc, which is why WPS ranges are verified with calibrated equipment rather than eyeballed.

Two Compact Secondary Examples

• SMAW 6G pipe, ASME Section IX: root pass with E6010 at 70–90 A DCEP for deep penetration and good bridge across the gap, hot pass and fill with E7018 at 90–130 A DCEN (per the qualified PQR), 5/32 in. electrode, 1/8 in. wall, no purge required. Position 6G qualifies a wide range of fixed positions under QW-403. Settings for the fill electrode are covered in our 5/32 E7018 amperage guide.
• FCAW 3G on 1/2 in. steel: E71T-1C (CO2) or E71T-1M (75/25) at 0.045 in., 240–300 A DCEP, 26–32 V, with a strict 3/4–1-1/4 in. electrode extension. Flux core is unusually sensitive to stick-out: extra extension lowers deposited amperage and can cause incomplete fusion even when the machine meters look correct. Practical technique notes live in our flux core wire welding tips.

Where the Ranges Come From

A WPS is always a range document, never a single setting, because the range is the qualified envelope. Under ASME Section IX, tables such as QW-451 state exactly how much base metal thickness a given test coupon qualifies, while QW-403 and related essential variables control thickness, diameter and position qualifications. AWS D1.1 ties position and thickness qualification to the test coupon configuration and the code’s qualification clauses. And an increase in electrode diameter is an essential variable for many processes and often forces requalification, which is why the 0.030–0.045 in. limit above is not a suggestion. Any production weld outside the range is technically outside the qualified procedure, even if it looks perfect.

How a Welding Procedure Example Becomes Qualified: PQR Testing and the Paper Trail

A welding procedure example only becomes real the moment someone proves it works. Nothing on a WPS carries authority by itself. The authority comes from a test coupon, a sheet of numbers recorded while that coupon was actually welded, and mechanical tests that either pass or fail. That paper trail has a name: the Procedure Qualification Record, or PQR.

The Eight-Step Qualification Cycle

1. Identify job requirements and the governing code. Read the contract, drawings, and owner’s specification first. The code decides everything that follows: test type, variable lists, and acceptance criteria.
2. Select the process and materials. Choose the welding process, base metal, filler, and shielding gas that the shop can actually run in production.
3. Draft a preliminary WPS. Write the ranges you intend to qualify before anyone strikes an arc. Under the AWS D1.1 structural welding code, some jobs can skip testing entirely by using a prequalified procedure route.
4. Weld the test coupon under supervision. This is the critical moment: record the actual as-welded variables, not the planned ones. As-welded values matter because the qualified ranges you later publish come from what was really deposited and tested.
5. Cut and prepare specimens. The coupon is sectioned into tension bars, bend strips, and macroetch slices per the code’s required orientation.
6. Run the mechanical tests. Results are checked against fixed acceptance criteria with no room for interpretation.
7. Examine the results. A pass generates the ranges; a failure sends you back to step three.
8. Review and approve. The engineer or authorized signatory reviews the data, approves the PQR, and releases the WPS for production use.

The Tests Behind the Numbers

For groove weld procedure qualification, ASME BPVC Section IX and AWS D1.1 both lean on tension and bend testing as the standard pair. In practice you will encounter:

• Reduced section tension tests that pull a machined bar until it breaks, proving the weld meets minimum tensile strength.
• Guided bend tests in three orientations: face bend, root bend, and side bend. Each one exposes a different zone, which is why a coupon can pass face bends and still fail side bends on lack of fusion.
• Fillet weld break tests that crack a fillet open to reveal penetration and soundness.
• Macroetch examination, which etches a cross-section so an inspector can measure penetration, fusion, and bead profile directly.
• Hardness or Charpy V-notch impact testing, required when the specification or a supplementary essential variable calls for it, common on low-temperature and high-strength work.

Nondestructive examination plays a supporting role. Where the code requires it, radiography or ultrasonic testing of the coupon confirms soundness without destroying it, and acceptable results can widen confidence in the ranges you publish. Detailed coupon evaluation is covered further in our guide to pipe welding procedures, which walks through position ranges and pass sequences.

The WPS Qualifies the Method; the WPQ Qualifies the Hand

Procedure qualification and welder qualification are two different exams. The PQR proves the recipe works. A Welder Performance Qualification, or WPQ, proves a specific welder can follow that recipe and produce sound work with it. A shop can own a perfect WPS and still fail an inspection if the welder at the machine has no current qualification for that process and position.

Qualifications also quietly expire. Under industry continuity practice, ASME Section IX QW-322 states that a welder’s performance qualification expires when the welder has not welded with a process for six months or more, unless requalified. One vacation away from a process can invalidate a card that looks perfectly fine on paper. That is why a defect-tracking discipline and a continuity log belong next to the qualification records.

What It Costs, How Long It Takes, and the Master Procedure Trick

Welding the coupon is usually the quick part: a plate procedure coupon can be welded in a single shift, with lab turnaround measured in days to a couple of weeks. Budget runs from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars for third-party testing, with pipe and multi-process procedures sitting at the higher end. Retests are common, and they almost always trace back to the same culprits: porosity, lack of fusion, incomplete penetration, or a bend test that cracks on a hidden lack of side wall fusion.

The practical trick experienced shops use is qualifying a master procedure. Instead of testing one thickness at one position, you design the coupon so a single test covers the widest useful thickness, diameter, and position ranges your work will ever need. One test, many jobs, one maintenance headache instead of six.

AWS D1.1 versus ASME Section IX versus ISO 15614 versus API 1104: Which Code Governs Your WPS?

Before anyone types a single amperage value into a WPS, an experienced QA manager asks a different question: which code applies? A procedure legal under one standard can be noncompliant under another. One contractor prequalified a structural procedure under AWS D1.1, only to discover the spool was headed for a B31.3 process piping system. Same steel, same wire, same welder, different rulebook, and the paperwork had to be rebuilt. Getting the code right is the cheapest quality control step you will ever take.

AWS D1.1: The Structural Steel Rulebook

AWS D1.1/D1.1M:2025-AMD1, the Structural Welding Code – Steel, is the code most fabricators touch daily. It covers welding of carbon and low-alloy steels for buildings and similar structures, and it offers two qualification routes:

• Prequalified WPS: stay inside the code’s tables and you can write a procedure and use it without ever welding a test coupon. The limits are strict: filler metal must match the base metal group, thickness is capped, position is restricted, and preheat requirements must be met.
• Qualified by testing: weld a coupon, run the tests, and produce a PQR that supports a wider range than the prequalified tables allow.

D1.1 ties everything to base metal groups, filler classifications, preheat categories, and position rules; changing any one of them can push you out of qualification. Bridges take you out of D1.1 entirely and into AASHTO/AWS D1.5M/D1.5:2025, which governs bridge welding with its own fatigue details and toughness requirements.

ASME BPVC Section IX: Qualification by Test

ASME BPVC Section IX covers qualification of welding, brazing, and fusing procedures and personnel. It is a qualification standard, not a design standard: Section IX does not tell you how to design a joint or what a pressure vessel looks like. It dictates how qualifications are proven, and it is referenced by pressure and piping codes such as B31.1, B31.3, Section I, and Section VIII, which remain the design and construction documents.

There is no prequalified shortcut either: even the most routine procedure needs a PQR from a tested coupon. Section IX works through essential variables, supplementary essential variables (activated when impact testing is required), and nonessential variables, issuing welding ranges from tables keyed to P-numbers and group numbers.

ISO 15614-1 and ISO 9606: The International Route

ISO 15614-1 specifies the qualification of welding procedures for metallic materials by welding and testing a test piece. The test produces a welding procedure qualification record (WPQR) defining ranges of approval, and it sits alongside ISO 9606, which covers welder qualification, typically ISO 9606-1 for steels. If you are bidding European or international contracts, this is the language your customer’s inspector speaks, and a D1.1 package will not automatically satisfy it without a cross-referenced qualification.

API 1104: Pipeline Welding

API 1104 is the standard for welding pipelines and related facilities, with its own procedure and welder qualification requirements recognized across the pipeline industry. It allows qualification by test coupon and also provides production-test routes for welders, which matters when crews move from job to job across a long right-of-way.

The Rest of the Family

Other AWS and AASHTO documents handle specific materials and industries: AWS D1.2 for aluminum structures, D1.5 for bridges, D15.1 for railroad equipment, D17.1 for aerospace, and D9.1 for sheet metal. Even specialized joining methods have their own specifications, which is why a shop doing railroad thermite welding works to entirely different acceptance criteria than one running arc welding on railcar frames.

How to Tell Which Code Applies

Do not guess. Read the contract drawings, the specification behind them, and the owner’s quality plan, in that order; those documents usually name the governing code and edition, and the edition year matters as much as the code title. For a practical walk through pipeline and piping pressure requirements, see Gas Line Welding: Codes, Safety, and Purging Rules You Must Follow.

The practical rule: know your code before you draft, because it decides which ranges you must qualify, which tests you must run, and what an inspector will accept at the point of use.

Eight Mistakes That Make a Real Welding Procedure Example Fail an Inspection

Most inspection failures have nothing to do with the weld bead itself. The metal fused beautifully, the UT scanner came back clean, and the job still stops because someone hands the inspector a document that does not match what happened at the bench. These failures are cheap to prevent and expensive to discover, and almost every one of them comes down to document control rather than welding skill. Here are the eight that show up most often in real shops, each paired with a fix you can apply this week.

Two quieter failures deserve their own warning. Unit conversion drift ruins dual-unit documents when someone re-types 6.4 mm as 1/4 in. and the inch and millimeter columns stop agreeing, so reconcile both columns against one source at every revision. And uncontrolled consumable substitution happens when purchasing swaps in a cheaper wire to save money: substituting a different filler metal classification without evaluating whether it is an essential variable change can invalidate the procedure entirely, turning a purchasing decision into a requalification.

The ventilation side of a complete shop system belongs in the same conversation. OSHA 1910.252(c)(1)(iii) requires local exhaust or general ventilation sufficient to keep airborne contaminants below the limits in 29 CFR 1910.1000, so gas flow, extraction settings, and fume control data should sit beside the WPS in a full package rather than in a separate safety binder nobody opens. Pair that with the protection guidance in the complete guide to welding PPE and the safety layer is covered.

The pattern behind all eight is the same: the weld was fine, the paperwork drifted. Fix document control first, ranges second, and verification third, and your next inspection becomes a conversation instead of a hold point.

How to Write Your Own WPS: A Practical Template and Shop-Floor Tips

You do not need a welding engineering degree to write a Welding Procedure Specification. You need a drawing, a code clause, mill certificates, and a few hours of careful note-taking. This section turns what you have learned into a working method and a template you can copy directly into a spreadsheet.

Step 1: Gather Your Inputs Before You Write a Single Field

Collect these seven things first:

• Contract and client requirements — demands beyond the governing code.
• Governing code and edition — AWS D1.1/D1.1M:2025, ASME BPVC Section IX, ISO 15614-1, or API 1104.
• Base metal certifications — mill test reports with grade, chemistry, and carbon equivalent.
• Joint design from the drawing — groove angle, root face, root gap, backing condition, and welding symbol.
• Process availability and welder skill — a procedure no qualified welder can run fails at the bench.
• Equipment capability — machine output range, gas delivery, and wire feed capacity.
• Facility conditions — wind, temperature, ventilation, and shop or site location.

Step 2: Fill the Blank WPS Template

Copy these fields in order. If a field does not apply, mark it “N/A” rather than leaving it blank.

1. WPS number, revision, date, approval signatures
2. Supporting PQR number(s)
3. Code, edition, and qualification route (prequalified or tested)
4. Process and operation type (manual, semi-automatic, machine, automatic)
5. Joint design with sketch and welding symbol reference
6. Base metal specification, grade, and P-number or group
7. Qualified thickness range
8. Filler metal classification, F-number, A-number, diameter range
9. Shielding gas composition, flow rate, backing or purge gas
10. Welding position and progression direction
11. Preheat and interpass temperature limits
12. Electrical: current type, polarity, amperage, voltage, travel speed
13. Technique: stringer or weave, bead sequence, cleaning between passes, back-gouging
14. Post-weld heat treatment requirements
15. Required nondestructive and visual examination

For turning technique fields into real bench settings, our MIG welder setup guide maps machine dials to WPS ranges in practice.

The Prequalified Shortcut Under AWS D1.1

Under the AWS D1.1 structural code, you may write a prequalified WPS and skip procedure qualification testing entirely when steel falls inside listed groupings, joint details fit prequalified tables, thickness stays inside limits, and process and filler combinations are accepted by D1.1. Meet all four and document without cutting a coupon. If any condition is violated — unlisted steel, unusual groove, thickness outside range — you must qualify by testing.

The 30-Minute Shop-Floor Audit

Walk the floor with this checklist and a stopwatch:

• Document control binder with revision log and sign-off column.
• Current WPS revisions present at the point of use.
• Consumables stored to manufacturer requirements with lot numbers traceable.
• Preheat equipment at station: contact thermometer, IR gun, temperature sticks.
• Welder qualification records current with continuity tracked.
• Machine meters and gas flow meters on calibration schedule.
• Weld maps on drawings linking weld IDs to WPS and welder.

Most codes expect welder performance qualification records, procedure qualification records, and current WPS revision to be retrievable within minutes. If retrieval takes longer than a coffee break, paperwork is effectively missing. For the broader quality system this audit plugs into, see our guide to shop safety and quality documentation practices.

Cut Costs Without Cutting Corners

• Standardize on a small filler metal portfolio; fewer consumables mean fewer procedures. Our E7018 amperage guide covers one workhorse worth standardizing on.
• Digitize records with a consistent naming convention, e.g. WPS-D11-GMAW-004-R2, for predictable sorting.
• Keep every PQR with its mill certificates and consumable lot records in one folder, physical or digital.
• Train welders once on the procedure, then prove comprehension with a verification weld at the actual machine. The pipe welding procedures guide shows how verification works on position-critical work.

Running multiple codes? State the governing hierarchy plainly in your quality manual: contract drawings first, then specification, then owner’s quality plan, then code. Every revision history entry should show date, revision number, what changed, why it changed, and who approved it.

When an inspector questions a variable mid-job, do not debate it. Walk them to the PQR, point to the code clause permitting the range, and show as-welded values in the weld record. Three documents, one answer.

Safety, Fume Control, and Hot Work: What Travels With Every WPS

A WPS answers one question: how do we make this weld sound? It does not answer the other question every supervisor asks before the arc strikes: is it safe to make it here, right now, in this spot? Quality and safety travel together. A procedure that calls for 220 amps of GMAW on a tank shell is only as good as the ventilation, fire watch, and PPE that surround it. Before you hand a welder the controlled copy, walk the same document through the hazards that follow the work.

Fire Prevention and the Hot Work Authorization

Hot work is any activity involving open flame, sparks, or molten metal, and it starts with authorization. Someone with authority signs the permit only after combustibles have been moved or protected, extinguishers are staged, and the area is checked.

The 35-foot rule is the practical yardstick. OSHA 1910.252(a)(2)(iii)(A) requires a fire watch when appreciable combustible material sits closer than 35 feet (10.7 m) to the point of operation, when combustibles farther away can still be easily ignited by sparks, when openings within 35 feet expose adjacent combustibles, or when combustibles sit on the opposite side of a metal wall or roof. The fire watch does not leave when the arc does: 1910.252(a)(2)(iii)(B) requires it to continue for at least half an hour after welding or cutting ends, watching for smoldering fires. OSHA 1926.352(d) requires suitable fire extinguishing equipment to be immediately available in the work area and maintained ready for instant use. The OSHA hazards and solutions page walks through all of this in plain language.

Used drums, tanks, and containers deserve their own rule: clean them, vent them, and never weld on one that has held flammable material until the required cleaning and gas-free procedures are complete. If the vessel was a closed space, the confined space rules take over.

Confined Spaces: Ventilation First, Torch Second

Welding inside a tank, pit, or vessel is where fume control stops being advice. Ventilation is a prerequisite, not an afterthought, arranged to keep toxic fumes, gases, and dusts below the maximum allowable concentrations in 29 CFR 1910.1000, as required by OSHA 1910.252(c)(1)(iii). Gas cylinders stay outside the space. The welder wears a lifeline with an attendant posted at the opening, and torch fuel gas is shut off and disconnected outside the space before the torch goes in.

Fume Control and the Manganese Question

On an open bench, general ventilation often carries fumes away. Inside a tank, the same arc concentrates them. The hierarchy of controls runs from local exhaust ventilation and fume-extraction guns down to general ventilation and, last, respirators. Respirator selection belongs with an industrial hygienist, backed by air sampling for manganese and hexavalent chromium.

Manganese is the number worth knowing. NIOSH lists the OSHA permissible exposure limit for manganese at 5 mg/m³ as a ceiling, with a NIOSH recommended exposure limit of 1 mg/m³ as a time-weighted average and 3 mg/m³ short-term, and an ACGIH respirable threshold limit value of 0.02 mg/m³. NIOSH research also indicates that welders exposed to low manganese levels below 0.2 mg/m³ performed more poorly on some tests of brain function and motor skills, and that confined space welding significantly increases manganese exposure. Translation: an open-bench welder and a welder inside a tank are not having the same exposure day, even with the same WPS.

Eye, Skin, and Adjacent-Worker Protection

Filter shade follows the process and current: roughly shade 10 to 13 for stick and flux core, 8 to 12 for MIG depending on amperage, and lighter shades for TIG. Screens protect nearby workers from arc flash and spatter, and the fuller kit of hoods, leathers, and gloves is covered in our guide to welding PPE.

WPS Execution Steps Mapped to OSHA Requirements

The OSHA welding, cutting, and brazing topic page and the NIOSH welding fume page are the two bookmarks to keep. For process-specific hazards, our MIG welding safety guide goes deeper on gas, wire feed, and electrical risk.

Your Action Plan: Turning the Example Into a Living Document

You started this article with a fabricator in Ohio who had qualified welders, correct machine settings, and the right steel, and still watched a $180,000 package get rejected over one missing controlled document. That story is the whole point in miniature. A welding procedure example is not academic material for a filing cabinet. It is the artifact that proves your shop planned the weld before the arc was struck, and everything so far has been building toward the moment you put that artifact in place on your own floor.

The Journey So Far, in One Pass

Here is the map you have already walked. A WPS is a controlled recipe that fixes the process, materials, ranges, and technique proven to produce a sound joint. You learned to read one field by field, from the WPS number and revision block down through base metal group, filler classification, gas, electrical characteristics, position, preheat, and technique. You saw finished documents rather than descriptions: a GMAW procedure on 3/8 in. A36 plate in 1G with ER70S-6 and 75/25 argon-CO2, a 6G pipe root in E6010 with an E7018 fill, and a 3G flux cored example where electrode extension really does move the arc. You followed the PQR cycle that turns a preliminary procedure into a qualified one, and you saw why the WPS permits ranges while the PQR records what actually happened on the test coupon.

You also compared the four rulebooks most shops meet: AWS D1.1 for structural steel, ASME BPVC Section IX for pressure equipment, ISO 15614-1 for international contracts, and API 1104 for pipeline work. Add the eight inspection failures that sink real shops, a template for writing your own procedure, and the safety layer that always travels with hot work.

Your 30-Day Action Plan

Everything above is only worth what you do next. Seven steps, one month.

1. Days 1 to 5: Audit current document control. Walk the floor with a clipboard. For every active weld, ask whether a WPS exists, whether it is the current revision, and whether it was physically at the bench when the welder struck the arc. Write down what you find, even if it is ugly.
2. Days 6 to 10: Confirm which codes govern your active jobs. Read the contract drawings, the written specification, and the owner’s quality plan. Where two codes appear to conflict, document the hierarchy in your quality manual before an inspector does it for you.
3. Days 11 to 14: Build or buy a template. Use the field template from earlier in this article, populated with real ranges from your code’s tables, not numbers copied from a stranger’s downloaded WPS that names a filler you do not stock.
4. Days 15 to 18: Decide the prequalified versus tested route. If AWS D1.1 prequalification conditions are met, you can qualify by past experience without a test coupon. If they are not, plan the test.
5. Days 19 to 23: Qualify one master procedure if needed. Aim for the widest useful thickness, diameter, and position ranges the code allows so one test coupon serves many jobs.
6. Days 24 to 27: Put controlled copies at the point of use with a revision log. Laminated sheets at benches, tablets in CNC cells, and a sign-off column when anything changes. Point-of-use availability and a controlled revision history are the two cheapest fixes for most audit findings.
7. Days 28 to 30: Train, then schedule a quarterly internal audit. Train once, then verify at the arc with a short qualification weld rather than a classroom quiz.

Recap Checklist

• Every active weld procedure has a WPS, a matching PQR, and a current revision number.
• Controlled copies sit at the point of use, with a revision log anyone can read.
• Welder qualifications, including continuity, are on file and current.
• Ranges on the WPS match what production actually runs.
• Preheat, interpass, and consumable control are verified, not assumed.
• Safety requirements, from fire watch to fume control and PPE, are documented alongside the procedure. Refresh your gear knowledge with our guides to welding PPE and MIG welding safety.

Keep learning in the directions that matter next: pipe welding procedures, welding defects like undercut, electrode selection, and MIG machine setup.

One last thought. The cost of a single procedure qualification test is a few thousand dollars and a couple of weeks. The cost of rejected work, rework, and lost client trust runs into six figures, as that Ohio fabricator can tell you. A WPS is not a poster on the wall and not paperwork imposed by someone who has never held a stinger. It is a controlled, revisable, living document. The best welders are not diminished by it. They are protected by it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a WPS, a PQR, and a WPQ?

A WPS is the written procedure that tells a welder what is permitted on production work, including ranges for materials, settings, and technique. A PQR is the supporting record that proves the procedure was tested and passed, capturing the actual as-welded variables. A WPQ, or welder performance qualification, is the separate record proving that an individual welder can produce sound welds with that procedure.

Do I legally need a WPS for every welding job?

OSHA does not directly require a WPS, but most fabrication contracts, building codes, and quality specifications do, and inspectors will ask for it. If your work falls under a code such as AWS D1.1, ASME Section IX, or an owner specification, a qualified and controlled WPS is effectively mandatory. Even on exempt work, a WPS reduces rework and gives you a defendable answer if a weld is questioned.

Can I just download a welding procedure example and use it in my shop?

You can use a published sample as a template, but you cannot treat a downloaded WPS as qualified for your work unless it fits your code, materials, equipment, and processes and carries valid supporting documentation. Changing an essential variable such as process, filler classification, thickness range, or position typically requires requalification. Use samples to learn the structure, then build or qualify your own document.

What are essential variables in a welding procedure?

Essential variables are the factors that, if changed, require the procedure to be requalified because they can affect the mechanical properties of the weld. Typical examples include welding process, base metal grouping, filler metal classification, thickness, position, preheat and interpass limits, and sometimes shielding gas composition. Nonessential variables are changes that can be made by revising the WPS without testing, provided the documented ranges still cover the work.

How long does a WPS stay valid?

A properly qualified WPS does not expire on a fixed clock the way a welder’s continuity does, but it becomes invalid if the code referenced changes, if an essential variable changes without requalification, or if the supporting records are lost. Good practice is to review every WPS when the code edition updates and to keep revision control so nobody welds to a superseded document.

What tests are required to qualify a welding procedure?

Most codes require a groove weld test coupon that is visually inspected and then mechanically tested, typically with reduced section tension tests and guided bend tests such as face, root, or side bends. Fillet procedures often use a fillet weld break test plus macroetch examination, and some applications add hardness testing or Charpy V-notch impact testing. The exact specimen count and orientation come from the governing code.

How much does it cost to qualify a welding procedure?

Costs vary widely, but many shops pay a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per procedure once you add up material, welding time, specimen preparation, laboratory testing, and documentation. Pipe procedures, multiple processes, impact testing requirements, and third-party witness fees push the number higher. Using a prequalified route where the code allows it, or qualifying one master procedure with wide ranges, is the fastest way to control that spend.

What is the difference between a prequalified WPS and a qualified WPS?

A prequalified WPS is used under code conditions that allow the procedure without physical testing, such as common carbon steels, standard joint details, and approved consumables in AWS D1.1. A qualified WPS has been proven by welding a test coupon and passing the required mechanical tests, with a PQR on file. Prequalified saves time and money, but only if every code condition is genuinely met.

What happens if my welder deviates from the WPS?

The weld is technically outside the qualified procedure, which means an inspector may reject it and require repair or removal. Practically, the shop should treat deviation as a nonconformance, investigate the cause, and either correct the welding practice or revise the WPS through proper channels. If the deviation touches an essential variable, requalification of the procedure may be the only compliant answer.