This week: Interview with Jörg Mährlein, Deputy Head of the GSI mbH SLV Duisburg

Windfair: Is the Wind Energy Industry a priority for your company? How so?

Jörg Mährlein: The priorities lie particularly in the area of training, and this includes further training. However, our portfolio also contains supplier assessments (suppliers audits / certifications in accordance with the EN 1090 standards and GSI 2944 guidelines) of production monitoring, together with test engineering and damage appraisal. In this regard, we are also able to undertake underwater activities, e.g. in the areas of welding training or assessment.

Windfair: How many employees does your company have?

Jörg Mährlein: GSI - Gesellschaft für Schweißtechnik (Association of Welding Technology) International mbh consists of eight branches, four cooperating establishments and several subsidiaries abroad. SLV Duisburg, founded in 1928, is the largest branch with currently 134 employees.

Windfair: How many dedicated to Wind Energy?

Jörg Mährlein: In the area of wind energy, the company has in the SLV Duisburg branch alone 18 employees available for the most diverse range of tasks.

Windfair: Do you have any new or upcoming Wind Energy Products or Services?

Jörg Mährlein: As told before the priorities lie in the area of education and training. This service sector is continuously adjusted to keep up with the requirements of the Wind Energy sector.

Windfair: Do you have any special training programs for your employees?

Jörg Mährlein: For the wind energy sector we train not only welding supervisors (e.g. welding engineers) but also the welders themselves. For this purpose we offer special in-house seminars tailored to the product range at our customers’ request. In addition, we train the testers as well as thermic injection personnel and coating inspectors. There are also demand-oriented seminars for construction engineers.

Windfair: Tell us about your future developments. What can we expect in the next year or two?

Jörg Mährlein: There are clearly tasks awaiting us in the future in the area of training underwater welders, corrosion protection workers as well as coating inspectors in their monitoring and supervisory roles. There are many countries in which personnel training cannot be compared to German standards. In this regard, the manufacturer must ensure that his staff are properly trained. Our training is based on internationally recognised standards. Thus our training of welding supervisors ensues in accordance with the regulations set down by the International Institute of Welding (IIW), our non-destructive testing personnel are trained to European standards and our coating inspectors trained in accordance with the Norwegian NS 476 standards and certified by FROSIO – a worldwide recognised certification procedure.