To certify the chemical and mechanical components of its product, the manufacturer is required to issue a Mill Test Certificate (MTC) or Mill Test Report (MTR), ensuring that the product complies with the applicable norms and technical specifications.
In general, Mill Test Certificates serve the same purpose as the EN 10204 standard, which applies to steel products.
On the other hand, a 3.1 material certificate is issued by an independent authority or a third party acting as a validated inspector authorized by the manufacturers, the same as the “old” 3.1.B certificate.
Pursuant to EN10204:2004, a 3.1 certificate serves as an inspection certificate that ensures a metallic product’s compliance with the order requirements as well as supply test results. None of the material for production will be released until a required material certificate is issued.
How to ensure traceability? That is a good question to ask. The purpose of a material’s traceability is to find out what caused the problem. Material numbers kept in a traceability record are allocated for delivery of materials and cross-referenced as corresponding job numbers.
The material received is checked against its material certificate before being scanned into a PDF file to make verification easier an quick for customers.
Traceability management should be done well so that we are confident of providing customers with quality products whose production, inspection, and test records can be traced completely.
A 3.1 Material Certificate is issued by the manufacturer to ensure, test results attached, that the products supplied comply with the requirements of the order. In addition, the product specification describes the test unit, and how the test is to be carried out, along with official regulations, corresponding rules, or related orders.
This certificate is validated by the independent inspection representative authorized by the manufacturer, who is required by law to transfer the certificate and relevant test results obtained by specific inspection.
In addition to the 3.1 certificate mentioned above, EN 10204 contains three other document types, i.e., 2.1, 2.2, and 3.2, among which types 2.1 and 2.2 are validated by the manufacturer while 3.2 is validated by more authorities than just the manufacturer.
The 2.1 certificate is validated by the manufacturer with a statement in compliance with the order. Likewise, the 2.2 certificate is nearly the same as the 2.1 certificate except for indicating the results of non-specific inspection.
The 3.2 certificate is identical to 2.2 certificates except that the inspection representative can be authorized by the manufacturer, the buyer, or proper authorities according to official regulations.