Subcontract fabrication supplier Hydram Sheet Metalwork puts quality central to all its business activities. The company is certified to the ISO 9001 Quality Standard, the ISO 3834-2 Welding Standard, the BS EN 15085-2 CWRVC Welding Standard, the EN 17460 (formerly DIN 6701) standard for adhesive bonding in rail industry and the ISO 14001 Environmental Standard.
In order to continually meet the requirements of ISO 9001, metal fabrication supplier Hydram operates fully documented Quality Procedures and a Quality Manual. To support these, the company employs a dedicated Quality Team consisting of a Quality Manager, two Quality Engineers and five Quality Technicians, assisted by Project Engineers as required.
The team undertakes all aspects of quality assurance and inspection, utilising both traditional and state-of-the-art precision measuring equipment from a dedicated office. Full dimensional inspection reports suited to specific customer requirements are provided, working to formal processes such as APQP and PPAP if required.
As a minimum, all new sheet metal product introductions are handled by an NPI project group consisting of members from Quality, Production and Commercial teams, and headed by a Project Engineer. The NPI group meet before the production process begins to ensure that the bills of material, routings, drawings and production information are all accurate and provide sufficient information to production operators.
The Project Engineer then follows the pre-production and first production batches through to completion and ensures, with the assistance of the Quality Team, that all metal fabrications are produced precisely to the customer’s requirements first time, recording any detail changes on the production system for future batches.
Shopfloor inspection is the responsibility of all operatives and is carried out in line with the appropriate Quality Plan, plus supporting documentation, at each stage of the production process by trained personnel. A dedicated inspection area carries out final inspection on critical features supported by automated vision systems.
Hydram uses FARO QuantumM measuring arms >
Further information on Hydram’s Quality System is available on request.
Hydram achieved ISO3834-2 in May 2016. ISO3834-2:2005 defines comprehensive quality requirements for fusion welding of metals both in factory workshops and at field installation sites.
Hydram achieved BS EN 15085-2 CL2 in June 2017 and BS EN 15085-2 CL1 in August 2018. BS EN 15085-2 CWRVC demonstrates a manufacturer’s competence for control of welding quality in production of railway vehicles and components.
In December 2018 Hydram became certified to the DIN 6701-2 standard. This accreditation is for the use of adhesive bonding in rail vehicle manufacturing.
DIN 6701 will be superseded by EN 17460 in 2025 and Hydram was certified to this new standard in April 2024.
To comply with this DIN standard, companies are required to demonstrate proof of officially recognised qualifcations in adhesive bonding, a suitable quality management system, documentation for key bonded joints, suitable workplaces and many others.
Hydram is certified to the following quality standards:
Hydram is also certified to:
