Interview with Jörg Mährlein, Deputy Head of the GSI mbH SLV Duisburg in The Windfair Newsletter

Jörg Mährlein: SLV is the German abbreviation for Welding Training and Research Institute. The abbreviation is usually followed by the city or region the SLV is located in, e.g. SLV Duisburg.


Windfair: Please tell us a little about SLV's history: How long have you been in the market and how many employees connected with wind energy do you have at the moment?

Jörg Mährlein: The individual SLVs used to operate as independent companies. Although the economic aspect was certainly one of the important factors for amalgamating the individual companies, the high synergies – particularly regarding technical know-how – proved to be decisive. Combining this technical expertise enabled the creation of a centre of excellence for welding, testing and corrosion protection, which since 1999 has been operating under the name GSI Gesellschaft für Schweißtechnik (Association of Welding Technology) International mbh. GSI consists of various branches, four cooperating establishments and several subsidiaries abroad. SLV Duisburg, founded in 1928 is the largest branch with currently 134 employees. In the area of wind energy, the company has in the SLV Duisburg branch alone 18 employees available for the most diverse range of tasks.


Windfair: What main focuses does SLV have in regard to wind energy?

Jörg Mährlein: The priorities lie particularly in the area of training, and this includes further training. However, our portfolio also contains supplier assessments (suppliers audits / certifications in accordance with the EN 1090 standards and GSI 2944 guidelines) of production monitoring, together with test engineering and damage appraisal. In this regard, we are also able to undertake underwater activities, e.g. in the areas of welding training or assessment.


Windfair: Have you been developing particular innovations in the wind energy sector?

Jörg Mährlein: Yes. The results of numerous monitoring and controls suggested a need for action in the area of “protection layers via thermic injections”. There was also a high requirement for improvement in both quality assurance and staff training. Current activities include the investigation of various influences in these fields as part of the WINDCATS research project.


Windfair: Education is an important factor with SLV. What training do you offer in wind energy?

Jörg Mährlein: For the wind energy sector we train not only welding supervisors (e.g. welding engineers) but also the welders themselves. For this purpose we offer special in-house seminars tailored to the product range at our customers’ request. In addition, we train the testers as well as thermic injection personnel and coating inspectors. There are also demand-oriented seminars for construction engineers.


Windfair: What would you consider the biggest challenges SLV has had to confront within the last years?

Jörg Mährlein: Globalisation has forced our inspectors (and instructors) to deal with international standards on a much more intensive basis. Furthermore, our staff are expected to have fluent speaking and writing skills in at least one other language. At the moment we have recourse to employees who can speak not only one of the EU languages, but Arabic or Chinese as well.


Windfair: How international is SLV especially in the educational sector?

Jörg Mährlein: There are many countries in which personnel training cannot be compared to German standards. In this regard, the manufacturer must ensure that his staff are properly trained. Our training is based on internationally recognised standards. Thus our training of welding supervisors ensues in accordance with the regulations set down by the International Institute of Welding (IIW), our non-destructive testing personnel are trained to European standards and our coating inspectors trained in accordance with the Norwegian NS 476 standards and certified by FROSIO – a worldwide recognised certification procedure.


Windfair: Is SLV concerned with offshore wind?

Jörg Mährlein: There are clearly tasks awaiting us in the future in the area of training underwater welders, corrosion protection workers as well as coating inspectors in their monitoring and supervisory roles.


Windfair: Thank you very much for the interview.