New Thatcham TQA for Mig Brazing Equipment

THATCHAM, UNITED KINGDOM – March 17, 2010: Thatcham are announcing a new criterion for the accreditation of MIG Brazing equipment, adding to the growing range of Thatcham’s product certifications for repair equipment and consumables.

The new criteria, established to demonstrate a machine’s ability to generate a consistent and effective braze, will now be integrated within Thatcham’s Quality Accreditation scheme. The Thatcham Quality Accreditation program (TQA®) is a robust verification programme for the assessment and recognition of automotive aftermarket devices. TQA concentrates on building and verifying quality in the manufacture, design and performance of a product.

Also, fundamental are the annual manufacturing conformity audits, which ensure that those products intended for retail continually meet the same exacting standards as those that have been exhaustively tested. Consequently, TQA is now widely recognised as the standard for automotive aftermarket products.

Each product is rigorously tested to predefined criteria established by Thatcham and, where appropriate, it’s partnering organisations. This testing, supported by rigorous examination of quality system and manufacturing process controls, is intended to provide confidence in the product performance and an objective evaluation of its capabilities.

Thatcham’s criterion and testing methods, utilising a semi automated fixed bed, ensures that the machine is capable of producing robust brazed joints and is able to repeatedly deliver consistent tightly controlled bead height while maintaining good penetration of the braze without adversely effecting the base metal or creating excess splatter.

As well as announcing the launch of the criteria in support of the repair industry, Thatcham also announced the first product to achieve accreditation to this robust standard. Cebora’s Jaguar 2035, supplied by Wilkinson Star in the UK, was extensively assessed against the criterion and found to comply with all requirements.

Thatcham’s Accreditation Manager, Dean Lander stated “This is an important move forward and we are delighted to be able to help repairers to identify quality safe products that they can use with confidence. We have purposefully developed a highly robust criterion to ensure that when the product is in the hands of a skilled and competent operator there is sufficient tolerance to allow that operator to deliver a quality braze.”

Steve Murray of Wilkinson Star stated “We are the largest supplier of bodyshop welding equipment in the UK and the Jaguar 2035 is the flagship product from Cebora’s automotive programme. Thatcham’s accreditation of the product and our company’s ISO 9001 status, which includes our after sales service and has been held since the early nineties, should assist repairers in this difficult area of equipment selection.“