I attended ASME Boiler Week last week in Washington D.C. It was a typical meeting where the committee addressed interpretation requested and discussed proposed changes to the Section. There are several proposed changes that would help the welding industry by specifying requirements for new welding technology. The two most notable technologies that are currently under developement are Friction Stir Welding and Laser-Arc Hybrid Welding. I am not aware of any welding codes that address either of these welding processes.
There were some other issues that were discussed, that I did not know about, during the committee meeting. First, ASME is going to a new publishing schedule. Instead of publishing a new book once every three years with yearly addendums; ASME is going to publish once every two years with no addendums. Secondly, an ASME representativce gave a presentation on the direction that ASME is taking with regards to their stamps. ASME is going to go to a single stamp instead of the 20+ different stamps. The single stamp will help with trademark enforcement in all countries that ASME stamps exist. I wasn’t quite sure how they planned on handling the transition from the old stamps to the new stamp but I am sure that everyone that has a stamp will find out soon enough. The new stamp will have a designation such as N or R attached to the nameplate so there will be some level of continuity. That is all I have for now. I will post about the next meeting in Vancouver.
Matt