MINIMUM CERTIFICATES WHICH WOOD MANUFACTURERS MUST HAVE

             

          I called it as "minimum" because there are other certificates might be important, depends on the required project submittals, specifications and even project locations (either they are implementing American Standards, British/EU Standards, DIN Standards, JISC Standards, etc.)

            1. IMS - Integrated Management System. - Integration of Quality, Health, Safety and Environmental Management System. It is the integration of the following standards:

            - ISO 9001 (2015) - Quality Management System. - Of course, if we are talking about quality, what comes first in our mind is the main policy, - the customer satisfactions thru quality service, quality products by having quality management and quality manufacturing procedures. All are quality, all must be quality.

           
             I will not focus much more on the standards such as the scopes, principles of quality management, process approach, etc. You can goggle those things through internet. What I want to emphasize are the important documents which will guide the manufacturers on their process.

            
            Besides Standard Operation Procedures and Operational Control Procedures, the less emphasize in the process is the Work Instructions (WI). Work instructions is the actual procedures based on the manufacturing set-ups to produce the products step-by-step with specified materials, tools, machineries, etc., from A-Z or till delivered/installed at the site. Why?

            One of the required documents for Projects, is the Method Statement (MST).

            There are several Method Statements required in the projects, depend what are the Consultant's requirements. It may be required from the manufacturing of the wood products and/or for the installation of the products at site. If these are included or you have these steps in your WI, then, you just copy-paste to the MST. WI for site installations can be also included in Material Technical Submittals (MTS) and another copy-paste to Inspection & Testing Plan (ITP). So, those are the important things of having a good WI. It can be used to ease the burdens of complying different project document requirements.

            - ISO 14001 (2015) - Environmental Management System. Compliance with the Environment. Again, just goggle the manual and you must learn this important standard. Just want to emphasize the importance of having this analysis, the Environmental Aspect - Impact, in which you can categorize if not significant, significant or highly significant. It can also included in your Method Statement (MST).

            - OHSAS 18001 (2007) - Occupational Health and Safety Series. Occupational Health and Safety Management System. Again, goggle this standard. Just want to emphasize the importance of having the OHS Hazard-Risk Assessments. Either Acceptable or Unacceptable. Although every projects have Risk Assessments implementing by the Contractor, as the installer/sub-contractor, you must observe and integrate your assessment (also included in MST) with the projects. Of course, with the approval of safety management at site.

               
            Why this IMS is the most important for all the standards? Beside of being adopted internationally, all other standards are considered this as the "Father" of all standards. If you are accredited by this standard, it means, your manufacturing company is organized and it will be integrated to other standards. Periodical Inspections (Auditing) regarding the implementations of other standards might be reduced from quarterly to every six months or even once a year as long as your accreditation in IMS is valid.

          
            2. AWIQCP License - Architectural Woodwork Institute Quality Certification Program. American Standard. This certification program was created jointly by the Three (3) Institutions/Associations, namely, Architectural Woodwork Institute (AWI), Architectural Woodwork Manufacturers Associations of Canada (AWMAC) and Woodwork Institute (WI). These three prestigious institutions created, adopted and published jointly the Architectural Woodwork Standard (AWS) now on its Second (2nd) Edition. Note that, it is a Quality Licensing Program. It is not just a membership accreditation in which you will pay your annual dues, purchase the standard book, subscribe in their journal and apply it to your manufacturing procedures-NO, it is different.

               
            In this Quality Program, You have to take and pass the AWS Written Test. After you passed the Test, another test should be passed, QCP Policies Test. After passing these tests, you can now apply for the inspections of your wood products. Shop drawings will be required base on the standards and following the Standardized Minimum Sample Criteria (can be downloaded from their site - just goggle AWI sites). Be aware the materials, required sizes and dimensions (especially the spaces of the screws, holes, etc.). It means, you should know well the standards before applying for inspections so that it can be applied to your shop drawings and productions of your wood products, otherwise, it will waste your time, efforts and money.

               
            Once you passed all these things, AWI will issue the accreditation certificate (valid yearly) and your company will be published on their portal. Any projects that require QCP Certificates, you can register with them and they will check your drawings and do the inspections. Note the Project Certification Fees of ½ percent of the total woodwork contract value, or a minimum of $500. So, if project require QCP Certification, then include this fees to your costs/quotations.

               
             How to renew? It is written in the policy that every certificate will be expired every 31st of December. Earlier that date, they will start to send invoices together with The QCP Code of Ethics. You have to agree and sign the Code of Ethics and send to them together with the proof of payment.

Once they received, they will send your renewed certificate by courier.

              What is the important of this standard? If the Project adopting American Standard and Specifications, then your manufacturing company and all your documents must comply with these standards.

            3. FSC-CoC - Forest Stewardship Council - Chain of Custody. - Required for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Projects, another American Standard. The supplied woodworks in the projects must be certified and should be purchased from controlled sources, recorded from the forest to the end user.

               
            To adopt this standard, your company must be accredited by the Council. You must create your FSC Team. All personnel must go to the proper training and all materials and procedures must follow the standard. FSC items must be separated in other raw materials, separated in the production line and must be marked properly for easily identification from other Non-FSC items.  It is recommended that all records can be integrated in your MIS so that paper works can be minimized. Auditor always check your records especially the Input-Output Volume Report. You should know how to compute FSC Claims, otherwise your awareness will be questioned by the Auditor.

               
           Another important forms, Delivery Vouchers & Invoices. As I mentioned earlier, FSC Products must be separated from other products, also with documents and records, as well as these forms. You may search in FSC site the required information that must be printed with these forms. Also, these forms will be required by your client in applying the LEED point credits in Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) together with other LEED requirements.

            FSC is US based standard, while Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) is the corresponding UK based standard.

FSC required for LEED Material Resources (MR) Credit 7 - Certified Wood (early version of LEED). In version 4 of LEED, this credit requirements moved to Building Product Disclosure and Optimization - Sourcing of Raw Materials.

VISIT MY NEXT BLOG REGARDING "LEED FOR WOODWORKS" - SOON.

            4. FIRE RATED DOORS - US STANDARD. - Standards includes but not limited to ASTM E2074 (Standard Test Method for Fire Tests of Door Assemblies, including Positive Pressure Testing of Side-hinged and Pivoted Swinging Door Assemblies); ULC/CAN4-S104 (Standard Council of Canada Fire Tests of Door Assemblies); NFPA 252 (National Fire Protection Association Fire Tests of Door Assemblies); UL 10b (Underwriters Laboratories Standard for Safety of Fire Tests of Door Assemblies); UL 10c (Underwriters Laboratories Standard for Safety of Positive Pressure Fire Tests of Door Assemblies); UBC 7-2 (Uniform Building Code Fire Test Standard for Swinging Fire Doors).

               
            Fire ratings are 20 minutes, 45 minutes, 60 minutes and 90 minutes. Hose Stream Tests are also integrated with the standards. Mostly the sizes are 4' x 9' (1219mm x 2743mm) for singles; 8' x 9' (2438mm x 2743mm) for pair doors.

            Another important standards for doors under American system in general (Fire Rated and Non-Fire Rated) which are included in Project Specifications (required to submit for your compliance in your Technical Documents submittals) are Window and Door Manufacturers Association - WDMA TM-5 Split Resistance Test; WDMA TM-7 Physical Endurance Test (Cycle Slam); WDMA TM-8 Hinge Loading Resistance Test; WDMA TM-10 Screw Holding Capacity Test. These tests can be conducted in 3rd Party Laboratories and issue the result of the reports.

            The following WDMA standards which are also required to submit proof of evidence (Technical Documents submittals) that your door products were checked according to Section T-1 Telegraph - maximum 0.010" in any 3" span (0.25mm in any 76mm span); Section T-2 Warp Tolerance - maximum 0.25" in any 3'-6" x 7'-0" (6.4mm in any 1050mm x 2100 mm) door section; Section T-3 Squareness - diagonal variance 1/8" (3.2mm). These tolerances will be also included in your Warranty. So, if these standards are not yet included in your quality procedure, better revise and include these in your standards and procedures.

           5. FIRE RATED DOORS - BRITISH STANDARD. - Standard to conform BS 476: Part 22 - Fire tests on building materials and structures. Methods for determination of the fire resistance of non-load bearing elements of construction. Another standard also specified in Project Specification is the BS EN 1634-1- Fire resistance and smoke control tests for door and shutter assemblies, openable windows and elements of building hardware. Fire resistance test for doors and shutter assemblies and openable windows.

               
            Fire ratings are 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes and 120 minutes. Sizes permitted in BS Standard is different than US Standard. They are using of what we call "size envelope".

            Accordingly, based on Test Report and expertise, 3rd Party Testing Laboratories can evaluate the Fire Resisting Doors and issue of what they call "Global Fire Resistance Assessment" or "Field of Application Report" or whatever terms they might call it. If the size of the required door fall inside the size envelope, then it is permitted, otherwise if it more than the size envelope, it is not permitted.

            There are many ways on how to determine accurately if the required size is permitted or not. One is by plotting in AutoCAD which is not advisable if you have different sizes of doors (time consuming). Another method is by formulating the condition with Door Schedule in spreadsheet file.

FIG. 1 ENVELOPE OF APPROVED LEAF SIZES.

The above figure shows the envelope of approved leaf sizes for the proposed door leaf configuration.

            As example above, A Latched Single Acting-Single Leaf of 120 minutes Fire Resisting Door with the approve envelope sizes from 1101mm x 2202mm to 945mm x 2513mm. Point A represents the maximum leaf height and its associated width. Point B represents the maximum leaf width and its associated height.

Any combination of leaf width and height that falls within the envelope is permitted.

FIG. 2 ENVELOPE OF APPROVED LEAF SIZES with the REQUIRED DOOR LEAF.

The above figure shows the envelope of approved leaf sizes for the proposed door leaf configuration with the plotted required door leaf size of 1050mm x 2350mm.

            As visually checked, the size of the required door leaf exceeded on the approved envelope sizes. So, make some adjustment on the sizes of the required doors and inform your client that the size is "NOT PERMITTED" together with the proposed size (see Fig.3 below).

FIG. 3 ENVELOPE OF APPROVED LEAF SIZES with the ADJUSTED DOOR LEAF SIZE.

The above figure shows the envelope of approved leaf sizes for the proposed door leaf configuration with the adjusted door leaf size of 10260mm x 2350mm.

            As plotted accurately in AutoCAD, the width of the door leaf adjusted and maximized which is now complying and "PERMITTED" with the approved envelope sizes.

IMPORTANT! Don't forget to ask approval and signature from your client regarding the adjustments.

VISIT MY BLOG REGARDING "HOW TO FORMULATE AND DETERMINE WHEATHER PERMITTED OR NOT PERMITTED THE SIZES OF BS STANDARD FIRE RATED DOORS" - SOON.

               Another important standards for doors under British/EU system in general (Fire Rated and Non-Fire Rated) which are included in Project Specifications (required to submit for your compliance in your Technical Documents submittals -copy-&-paste from above) are BS EN 1191 Windows and Doors - Resistance to repeated opening and closing; DD 171 Guide to specify performance requirements for hinged or pivoted doors; BS EN 1192 Doors - Classification of strength requirements.

That's all folks! Any additional information and comments are most welcome.