COMPUTER PROVIDES QUALITY ASSURANCE MONITORING.

Quality control procedures for offshore structures have generally required a high level of clerical input, storing and retrieving information on every weld to ensure that it meets the relevant codes and standards. The vast amount of data to be stored and retrieved indicates that computerization would be an advantage. What is needed is a computer system that uses graphical and interactive techniques to minimize possible errors. Quadstar, standing for Quality Assurance Data Storage and Retrieval, is claimed to be such a system, offering benefits in three main areas: quality assurance - reducing the clerical burden but ensuring the accuracy of records; project control - updating graphical and statistical records of construction progress; and in-service problem identification - if a weld is found to be defective, the system identifies all welds made by the same welder or with the same consumables so that they can easily be checked.