Certified Welding Supervisor FAQs

The CWS seminar can enhance supervisory skills, providing added value to your processes. The program can dramatically increase productivity by helping you gain the essential knowledge for implementing key factors such as:

• Effective throughput of parts past the welders
• Welding precisely what is called for in the plans
• Reducing rejected work, evidenced by excessive rework and scrap
• Reducing the amount of time that the arc is on per part 

You may download the seminar registration from the AWS website.  On-line registration will be available in the near future.

Daily instruction, reference books and other handout materials, breaks and lunches.

Hotel information will accompany your confirmation letter. By identifying yourself as an AWS customer, you will be able to get a room rate that is generally discounted from normal rates charged by the hotel. Reservations at the discount rate should be made 30 days prior to the seminar.

If you are training groups of six or more, then AWS In-House/On-Site Training may be a cost-effective option. We'll bring in our expert instructors to train your team at your facility. Training can also be customized to meet your specific needs for increasing welding productivity and improving weld quality. For more information, contact AWS at 800-443-9353, ext. 264.

If you are a non-member who is attending the seminar and/or taking the exam, your fee includes a one-year membership in AWS. Your membership will become active after the completion of the seminar and/or exam.

Yes, the contact hours apply to renewals and 3-year and 9-year CWI recertification. 

In order to qualify as a Certified Welding Supervisor candidate you must:

Be a high school graduate or hold a state or military approved high school equivalency diploma.

Provide employment information to verify that you have three years of practical welding experience in a fabrication, construction, or welding-related industry. Practical experience in a welding-related industry is an occupational function that has a direct relationship with weldments fabricated to a code, specification, or other standard, and is directly involved in at least one of the following: design, production, construction, inspection, or repair.

As an alternative, three years of relevant teaching experience may be substituted for one year of the practical experience requirement, with proper documentation. Relevant experience is considered when you teach full-time or part-time on a full-time equivalence in a trade, technical school, college, or university, and that you teach the occupational skill of welding or subjects relating to welding, its application, control, materials, and processes.

You can begin the certification process by filling out the CWS application, which is available from our website at http://www.aws.org/w/s/certification/CWS. Or call 800-443-9353, ext. 273 and request that an application be mailed to you.

IMPORTANT: If any application information is incomplete or missing, it will not be processed until all documentation is complete.

You must submit your application by mail because areas within the application must be notarized. PLEASE DO NOT FAX YOUR APPLICATION. 

Applicants will be notified six weeks after their application has been submitted. We strongly urge applicants to not make inquiries prior to the six week processing period, as doing so may delay the processing of your application. Should you need your application processed sooner, call 800-443-9353, ext. 273, for specifics on "Fast Tracking" your application. (Please note that an additional fee is charged for this service.) 

Candidates for Welding Supervisor must pass an exam based on the essential tasks designated for the Welding Supervisor:

• Personnel management
• Supervision
• Codes/quality management (QM) requirements (desirable, but not required)
• Qualification of personnel
• Safety
• Welding preparation and fabrication
• Planning
• Control
• Equipment/consumables
• Quality management and quality control requirements in:
• Personnel (desirable, but not required)
• Procedure
• Procedure testing
• Materials/prefabrication
• Welding inspection
• Documentation

Candidates must also be familiar with and understand the fundamentals of the following processes: SMAW, SAW, OFW, GTAW, FCAW, GMAW, SW, brazing, thermal cutting and mechanical cutting (cutting processes refer only to those that are applied to the fabrication & repair of weldments).

AWS will allow two (2) reschedules per calendar year at no charge; if a request is received two (2) weeks prior to the scheduled exam date. Any requests that do not meet this criteria prior to the scheduled exam, will be assessed a rescheduling fee. For complete details, call 800-443-9353, ext. 273. 

The exam is given in two parts and lasts four hours. 

Part I ­ Fundamentals of Supervision
Part II ­ Welding Practices & Economics 

You will be notified of your results in about four weeks. To ensure your privacy, AWS does not divulge your test results by telephone. 

You will be notified and receive a refund, less a $75 processing fee. 

Yes. Your certification will remain in effect for three years. Prior to the end of the three years, you will need to renew by providing documentation and evidence of continued activity as a welding supervisor. After nine years of continuous certification, you must meet additional CWS recertification requirements.