Fab shop records and certs

[ATSE]

Here is my understanding of D1.1-2020, Clause 5 and 6.2
Steel Fab Shop A has a single owner and 20 employees
All the employees leave to start Fab Shop B.

Fab Shop B cannot bring with them any of the WPS or PQR documents, but instead must start from scratch - PQR and WPS.
Fab Shop A hires a new bunch with lower skill and no knowledge of the PQRs, but the WPS records stay with the original company regardless of the wholesale personnel change. Shop A new staff takes ownership of existing PQRs and WPS in the binder, even if they have no idea how to write one themselves.

Correct?
I realize similar questions have been asked previous on this post - looking for an Amen or blunt correct.

 

[Sparweb]

ab Shop B cannot bring with them any of the WPS or PQR documents, but instead must start from scratch - PQR and WPS.

Protected as "trade secrets" by the US Economic Espionage Act of 1996.

 

[SWComposites]

Yep, likely correct.

 

[EdStainless]

The other issue is that those procedures were developed under a different quality system.
And maybe their equipment isn't identical, and other issues.
They need to hire someone that knows how to do this to help them through it.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed

 

[ATSE]

Thanks for the responses.
What I was trying to communicate is that the new Shop B is actually the brain trust that developed everything for Shop A, and Shop A now has nothing but the paper (no talent). Shop A owner claims, "Yep, I've been doing this for 30 years" but lost all the intellectual base (he didn't do the work), and just hired a bunch of yahoos to replace the brain trust. And Shop B must start over.
Seems like an injustice - at least for my cherry-picked scenario - but that's my understanding of the code.
Eventually Shop B will win (as they should), provided the economic burdens to entry are not too great.

 

[gtaw]

As mentioned, the WPSs and supporting PQRs are the intellectual property of the company that developed them. If that company, call it company A is purchased by a different company (company B), the intellectual property of company A now becomes the intellectual property of the new owner, i.e., company B. Company B can use the WPSs and supporting PQRs as if they had performed the leg work themselves.

Also mentioned, the employees of company A that developed the WPSs have no right to take them and transfer the intellectual property to their new employer when they jumped ship.

Interesting.

Best regards - Al

 

[dik]

It can be... it depends on the conditions of the sale.

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

 

[SWComposites]

Seems like standard company IP ownership, which stays with the company not employees. Though it could be illogical in this extreme assumption.

 

[DekDee]

Development of PQR's / WPS,s does not come cheap in time or money.
Who paid for the PQR's / WPS's ? - Company A.
Why should Company B have any right to these documents ?

 

[ATSE]

Yes, agree with you all.
No contention about ownership or legal rights.
My heartburn is in the obvious - said ownership of documents and AISC certifications have little correlation with fabrication quality. Zero link with personnel or staff credentials. It's all just paper.
That's all - thanks for the responses.

 

[kingnero]

Most important part of a pqr is the pWPS. Recreating the pqr's merely cost money, assuming you have all necessary equipment. If the employees were able to obtain the pqr's in the past, and you still have the pWPSs, just redo them?

 

[dik]

For non-welding engineers, this might be helpful.

https://technoweld.com.au/2019/05/17/wps-pqr-and-wpq-the-acronym-soup-explained/

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik