Founded as a federal state institute in October 1952, SLV Mannheim moved into a new building with ample and modern equipment in 1976. Since the privatisation in 1978, it has been managed as a non-profit-making and state-recognised joint institute (GmbH = limited liability company) belonging to the City of Mannheim and the German Welding Society (DVS). At present, SLV Mannheim has around 45 full-time employees. Moreover, teaching assignments are awarded to numerous lecturers from the economy and universities. Due to the constant updating of existing investigation, testing and welding facilities and the purchasing of new ones, SLV Mannheim has equipment for nearly all the questions and teaching contents arising in the field of welding technology (metals and plastics). SLV Mannheim‘s services are recognised at home and abroad.

Modern welding installations and devices in gas welding (30 places), arc welding (30), TIG welding (25), MAG welding (30) and plastics welding (12) are available for the practical training in which not only the trainee but also the certified welder and welding shop foreman can be qualified in welding according to the national and international guidelines. The courses are checked by CERTQUA and certified by the Accreditation and Authorisation Regulation for Employment Promotion (AZAV). Thus, they are eligible for promotion by the Employment Agency. The ongoing education and retraining measures (also in cooperation with companies, the Employment Agency, the Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) and other institutions) impart knowledge which, as a rule, leads to welder qualification tests according to ISO 9606 and/or the Pressure Device Directive.

The prerequisite for the recognised Welding Coordinator is created in the specialist theoretical training for International Welding Specialists, Welding Technologists and Welding Engineers which is carried out both at home and abroad. The training is staged according to curricula recognised all over Europe and the world and offers a certified final qualification test according to the sets of rules of DVS (German Welding Society), EWF (European Federation for Welding, Joining and Cutting) and IIW (International Institute of Welding). Seminars lasting one day or more (also staged as in-house seminars) supplement the ongoing education programme with new results and experience in all the fields of welding technology, particularly also about standards and sets of rules.

Qualified training and ongoing education in welding technology: (in the SLV and in companies and organisations at home and abroad) Practical training

– Gas welding
– Manual metal arc welding
– Gas-shielded metal arc welding
– TIG welding
– Plastics welding and others

Specialist theoretical training for International

– Welding Specialists
– Welding Technologists
– Welding Engineers and others

Special courses
Seminars

As a recognised body for the construction supervision field, SLV Mannheim GmbH is responsible for the issuing of certificates for the welding of steel structures at home and abroad within the framework of applicable standards and regulations, amongst others, for:

– Structural steel engineering
– Road and railway bridge construction
– Crane construction
– Hydraulic steel engineering
– Temporary structures
– Welding of reinforcing steel

Moreover, SLV Mannheim GmbH is a testing, monitoring and certification body for construction products according to the list of construction rules.

Another field of activity encompasses advice about welding technology and construction monitoring in both the fabrication and assembly of components and their acceptance. If necessary, this also includes the monitoring and acceptance of corrosion protection work on the basis of DIN EN ISO 12944. In cooperation with the certification body DVS ZERT® GmbH, we audit companies so that they can obtain certificates on the basis of DIN EN ISO 9001, DIN EN ISO 3834 (Quality assurance in welding), DIN EN 15085 (Railway vehicles) and DIN EN 1090 (Steel construction) as well as SCC. These activities guarantee the demanded quality and thus the necessary component safety.

The quality assurance includes: (at home and abroad)

Plant acceptances

Manufacturer qualifications

Construction monitoring and acceptance of welded structures including corrosion protection

Assessment

Certification

SLV Mannheim‘s test laboratory is accredited according to DIN EN ISO/ IEC 17025 and, as a neutral body for industry, skilled trades and authorities, carries out investigations, expert reports and damage case analyses on materials, welded joints and components. In all the fields, ultramodern testing devices and installations are available for this purpose and are operated by experienced personnel. Reference should be made not only to the facilities for the classic testing procedures such as radiographic and ultrasonic tests, tensile and bending tests as well as macroscopic and microscopic structural investigations but also, in particular, to a scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy-dispersive X ray microanalysis (EDX), installations for filmless X ray testing with small and microfocus tubes as well as spectral analysis devices of the newest generation.

Due to this basis and the constant adjustment to the, in part, stormy development in materials engineering and joining technology, SLV Mannheim’s materials testing will satisfy all the requirements in the future too.

Tests on components and welded joints: 

Destructive materials testing Tensile test / notched bar bend impact test (amongst others)

Non-destructive materials testing

Conventional and filmless radiography

SEM and EDX investigations

Spectral analysis

Damage case investigations

Expert reports

With its specialists and test facilities, SLV Mannheim is available to skilled trades and industry for solutions to questions relating to welding technology and materials science. These include, for example, investigations into the optimisation of welding and cutting processes, the weldability of materials and the designing of components in a way appropriate for welding. Welding jobs for series fabrication on small and medium scales are also accepted on the basis of such investigations. The process development focuses on the beam welding processes. A 5 kW CO2 laser with a CNC station, an Nd:YAG laser with a power of 500 W including a CNC station and a manual workplace as well as a CNC electron beam welding installation with a power of 15 kW (60 kV) are available for investigations.

Furthermore, a CNC cutting installation for oxyacetylene flame cutting and plasma arc cutting as well as a water jet cutting installation with 2,800 bar are available for the development of cutting processes.

Research and development work relating to welding technology extends across:

All the conventional welding processes

CNC-guided welding and cutting machines

Electron and laser beam welding/cutting as well as materials machining

Process anlaysis and process optimisation

Process development

SLV Mannheim

Käthe-Kollwitz-Straße 19
68169 Mannheim

Phone: +49 (0) 621 / 30 04-0
Fax: +49 (0)621 / 3004-292

E-Mail: Contact SLV