business issues Certifiable Business Boost BY TRISH FLISS Two fabricators share how AISC and AWS certifications helped elevate their business and create a high standard for quality. OBTAINING CERTIFICATION is a proven business boost for fabricators and erectors. Just ask those who have done it. Thirty years ago, North Alabama Fabrication Company was a collection of smaller dirt-floor shops serving general industrial customers. Today, it operates two technologically advanced steel fabri-cation facilities in Alabama, a 350,000-sq.-ft shop in Cullman and 50,000-sq.-ft facil-ity in Glen Allen. More recently, Advantage Steel & Con-struction in Saxonburg, Pa., functioned as a general fabrication operation to serve its parent company, Brayman Construction. Today, it runs a 32,000-sq.-ft shop known for its ability to tackle complex bridge fab-rication, customized jacking applications, bridge rehabilitation, hydraulic structure fabrication, and other unique steel con-struction applications. Both companies say obtaining two separate and distinct designations—AISC certified fabricator and American Welding Society (AWS) certified welding fabricator (CWF)—was indispensable to their growth. “We recognized the importance of posi-tioning ourselves for more complex and higher-value work,” Advantage general manager Stephen Johnston said. “Starting with our intermediate bridge certification and later earning advanced bridge and advanced hydraulic certifications—along with AWS CWF accreditation—opened doors to more specialized opportunities. Certification allows us to compete for chal-lenging projects that align with our capa-bilities. There are thousands of fabricators nationwide, but fewer than a hundred hold the same level of AISC and AWS certifica-tions we do.” Added NAFCO president Owen Par-rish: “Starting in 2000, we transitioned from a small industrial fabricator to engineering, fabrication, and erection of structural steel of all kinds. That includes 20 | FEBRUARY 2026 power plants, stadiums, commercial build-ings, hangars, material handling, and warehouses. We sought out and secured our AISC certification and then became an AWS CWF. Certification became important to us so we could pursue differ-ent work and grow the business.” pursuing both of them an easy decision,” said Jeremy Dawson, Advantage’s fabrica-tion shop QC manager. “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers required AWS CWF accreditation for fabrication projects we were awarded, including the Bluestone Dam supercavitating baffle armor, which was a series of large duplex steel fabrications.” AISC created its Certified Fabricator program in 1976 to establish an industry standard for demonstrating a robust qual-ity management system. Shortly after, AWS established the Specification for the Qualifica-tion of Welding Fabricators (AWS B5.17) and the Specification for AWS Accreditation of Certified Welding Fabricators (AWS QC17). QC17 establishes the procedure by which a welding fabricator may seek, obtain, and maintain accreditation. B5.17 establishes the minimum requirements for the AWS Welding Quality Program for welding fabricators, helping customers verify whether a company has the person-nel, procedures, knowledge, and equipment to produce proper weldments for purchase. The AISC and AWS programs are complementary and have a reciprocity agreement. AISC-certified fabricators with current building structures or bridge certification can apply to the AWS CWF program at a discount. AWS will waive the initial audit and quality manual submission requirements. “There is a tremendous overlap between the certifications,” said Jason Bowling, NAFCO quality assurance manager. “Our AISC procedures for welding are mostly prequalified welding procedures under AWS D1.1:D1.1M:2025 Structural Welding Code – Steel (D1.1). We never worry about which governing body is doing a certifica-tion audit because we have all our proce-dures and processes documented.” “AISC and AWS standards are similarly understood and accepted, which made Complementary Programs Documenting processes, procedures, specifications, and records retention are at the heart of obtaining certification. The AISC Standard for Certification Pro-grams (AISC 207-25, download or order at aisc.org/standards ) highlights the documentation procedure in Section 1.9. Most of the corresponding requirements for AWS CWF certification are found in B5.17 Section 6 (Quality Manual Requirements). Whether a company wants to obtain certification or not, the B5.17 Section 6 requirements provide guidelines for any fabricator that wants to show customers how it ensures quality. Compiling a quality manual will have varying degrees of complexity depending on an organization’s quality program prog-ress and the types of structures it fabricates. AWS and AISC offer supporting materials to help fabricators obtain certification. AWS materials, including B5.17, QC17, and a copy of the CWF internal QM and audit checklist, can be found at aisc.org/cwf . AISC certification resources are found at aisc.org/certresources . Manually managing the documents required by a quality manual is time-consuming. To increase efficiency, accuracy, and QC time for value-added activities, NAFCO uses a cloud-based welding management system that makes all QC documentation available in one platform. It can create shop travelers, manage welder qualification records, and prevent weld procedure duplication. Documentation
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