Why Is It Important To Obtain An FPC Certificate
Steel fabrication manufacturers need to assure that they can be relied upon in terms of the quality of their manufactured or fabricated products. These manufacturers adhere to industry standards to safeguard the idea of quality when it comes to steel workmanship. The section sizes and the mechanical properties of these materials may differ according to these prescribed regulations.
This objective is to assess manufacturers of steel materials has been taken on by the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore (BCA) and certainly its introduction of the concept of Factory Production Control (FPC) Certificate has ensured the reliability of steel products over the years.
BCA has developed design guideline BC 1: 2008 for using steel materials alternative to BS 5950. The manufacturers of the construction products may use steels with appropriate properties according to other international standards EN, ASTM, JIS, AS, NZS and GB (Chinese). The BC 1: 2008 also offers guidelines on quality assurance. BC 1 is applicable for submissions being made to BCA for approval of structural plans including steel structures, including nuts and bolts. According to BC 1, the design must be fundamentally based on classification. It includes both adequacy as well as reliability assessment.
What Is FPC Certificate?
The adequacy assessment is applied at the design stage and is involves materials that comply with BS or other accepted standards and actual material testing. The other important part is reliability assessment. FPC certificate is an essential part of reliability assessment that verifies and ensures the steels are manufactured according to quality assurance requirements of BC 1.
Who Issues FPC Certificate?
Manufacturers of steel should have a factory production control (FPC) system for quality. FPC certification is obtained from a recognised third-party certification body and is a vital component of product manufacturing businesses. The list of authorised certification agencies by the BCA is available in Annex B for BC1:2008. You may refer to BCA for agencies that are not included in it. The FPC is applicable at the procurement stage of steel materials. The steel fabricator should obtain a validated copy of the FPC while procuring the material. This will ensure that his product will qualify for the BS 5950 standard in Singapore.
It should be also noted that an ISO 9001 certification is only complementary whereas FPC certification is essential. FPC certification is to be followed by the material test certificate for every batch of steel from the supplier as a form of quality assurance on steel materials. The steel fabrication manufacturers can assure their quality and reliability by obtaining the FPC certificate for the materials they use in their products.