Courtesy: Welder qualification Certification
The American Welding Society (AWS) was founded in 1919 as a non-profit organization to advance the science, technology and application of welding and allied joining and cutting processes, including brazing, soldering and thermal spraying.
Headquartered in Miami, Florida, and led by a volunteer organization of officers and directors, AWS serves over 73,000 members worldwide and is composed of 22 Districts with 250 Sections and student chapters.
The roots of the American Welding Society stretch back to World War I, when the sudden demands of swiftly producing military equipment brought about the need for standardization of the manufacturing industry. An evolving metal joining process, welding, suddenly became very necessary to enhance the war effort. To ensure that industry took advantage of this technology, President Woodrow Wilson called upon a Harvard professor, Comfort A. Adams, to chair the Welding Committee of the Emergency Fleet Corp.
Welding performed well in the war effort and its success motivated Adams in 1919 to bring together industry leaders for the purpose of merging the Welding Committee of the Emergency Fleet Corp. and the National Welding Council into a new organization, the purpose of which was to provide dependable and objective information on the developing technology of welding. On March 28, 1919, the American Welding Society was born for that purpose, with Adams serving as its first President.
That first year the Society grew to 217 members; introduced the Journal of the American Welding Society, a technical publication with a life of one issue, but the precursor of the Welding Journal; found a home in the Engineering Societies Building in New York City; and established the foundation of the committee system for the production of its operating procedures and industry standards on welding. In 1920, the first local Section was organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
By 1922, the American Welding Society had held its first Annual Meeting. Attendees were told of the formation of Sections in eight cities, and also of the establishment of the Journal of the American Welding Society. However, the first meeting also called into discussion the growing financial issues surrounding the depression and proposed solutions to alleviate it. Financial reports delivered at the meeting stated an income for fiscal year ending March 31, 1922, of $12,683.74. The budget for fiscal year 1922-23 was projected at $15,540. It was clear more earnings were needed, so the Society turned to increasing membership numbers of advertising in the Journal as a solution.
The American Welding Society’s first headquarters were located in New York City, inside the Engineering Societies’ Building. For 42 years the organization held all their business in this building, before finally making the move to the United Engineering Center, which was also in New York City. In 1971 the Society once again moved their headquarters – this time to Miami, Florida. The American Welding Society held this location for 30 years before buying its current property in Doral, Florida – only seven miles northwest of the old facility.
In August 2012 the American Welding Society moved from their longtime headquarters just outside Coral Gables to their current location in Doral. During the grand opening of the new building, AWS President William Rice said “Our newly renovated five-story building in Doral offers us exactly what we need. It gives us more than three times the office and meeting space of our previous headquarters, and it provides room for our board, committee, and educational activities.”