What Customers Actually Ask For
Requirements vary by industry and purchase order, but the common ask is a certification package with the shipment. 1 material certificates for body, bonnet and stem, a PMI record, NDE reports where specified (radiography or dye penetrant on castings), a hydrostatic shell and seat test record per API 598 or the applicable product standard, and a certificate of conformance. Water and building-service customers may require NSF/ANSI 61 and 372 lead-free compliance records.
The package differs by PO, and a single missed document can hold up payment.
Where Traceability Breaks Down
Material enters as bar, forgings and castings with an MTR from the foundry or mill. At receiving, someone checks the cert against the PO specification, perhaps ASTM A216 WCB, A351 CF8M or A182 F316, and files it. Then parts are machined, cut up, mixed in WIP and assembled.
If the heat number is not recorded when a casting is issued to a work order, the link is lost. Common failure points are bar cut into several pieces under one heat, castings received without a legible heat marking, certificates arriving days after the material, and manual transcription errors in heat numbers that make later lookups fail.
- Heat or lot number not captured at receiving or issue
- Cert received after material is already consumed
- Cert chemistry or mechanical values outside the specification, unnoticed
- Substituted material without updating the traveler
Structuring the Data in Your ERP
Most ERPs, including SyteLine and LN, support lot tracking and can store a lot attribute for heat number plus an attached document. The trick is to make capture mandatory and early: receiving cannot complete without a heat number and an attached cert for controlled items, the issue transaction requires a specific lot, and the work order or serial genealogy report can list heat numbers for every component. Add a validated field for the specification and grade so that the check is against a controlled list, not free text.
Finally, make certificate packages assemble from the data rather than from someone's memory of what the customer wanted.
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Material Test Report Checklist (EN 10204 3.1)
Checklist for incoming review of mill certificates and MTRs against EN 10204 3.1, covering identification, chemistry, mechanicals and heat treatment.
Using AI to Read and Check Certificates
Certificates arrive as scanned PDFs in dozens of layouts. An AI model running on your own hardware can extract heat number, specification, grade, chemistry and mechanical values, compare them to the required ranges for the stated spec, and flag mismatches before material is released. It can also pre-assemble a customer data book by pulling the certificates, test records and drawings tied to a serial number.
The check should produce a draft for your quality person to accept, not auto-release material. Keep processing on-prem when certificates or drawings carry customer proprietary or export-controlled information.
When Manual Is Good Enough
If you build few valves per year, serve customers who only want a basic certificate of conformance, and never face recalls or audits, a disciplined paper or spreadsheet system can work. The case for tighter ERP capture and AI-assisted checking gets strong when you serve oil and gas, power, chemical or nuclear-adjacent customers, when data books are required with most shipments, or when the same people who run quality also spend a day a week finding old paperwork. The most valuable test is simple: pick a shipped serial number at random and time how long a full trace takes.
Frequently asked questions
What is an EN 10204 3.1 certificate and why do valve buyers ask for it?
EN 10204 type 3.1 is a material inspection certificate issued by the manufacturer's authorized inspection representative, independent of the production department, that states the product complies with the order and gives test results. Valve buyers in process industries request it so that body, bonnet and stem material can be verified against the specification they purchased.
Do I need PMI on every valve?
Only if the customer purchase order, the applicable product standard or your own quality plan requires it. Many alloy and critical-service orders specify PMI on pressure-retaining parts, sometimes at a stated sampling rate. Define the requirement by part class in your quality plan so receiving and final inspection apply it consistently rather than case by case.
How long should I keep valve certification records?
Retention is set by your customer contracts, your quality system, and any applicable code or standard, and it is often measured in years or the life of the product for critical service. Check the PO terms and any API or ASME program you hold, and set a retention rule in the ERP document system rather than relying on individuals.
Netray can run a trace test on your shipped valves and show how cert extraction and data-book assembly would work on your own documents, hosted on your hardware.