CE acceptance process of passively safe traffic composite poles

Abstract

This work goes through the CE acceptance process of passively safe traffic poles. The main aim of the work is to get the CE approval for different lighting columns and sign posts. Ali the columns and posts are passively safe and manufactures from glass fibre reinforced polyester coated with a layer of polyethylene. Since it is about safety products which are designed to save lives the CE approval has to be issued by a third party, a so called notified body.

In order for the notified body to be able to issue the CE approval the manufacturer has to fulfil demands set out by standards. In this case the standards are EN 40 Lighting columns for the lighting columns and EN 12899 Fixed, vertical road traffic signs for the sign posts. With these standards as the main source it is found out what the demands are which of them are met and what is still to be done. The whole idea with CE marking is to ensure that the product is manufactured in a controlled way which in turn insures that the quality is as promised by the manufacturer. Shortly the demands on the poles in this case are: strength calculations, performed crash tests and Factory Production Control (FPC). As the two first demands were already met this work will mainly focus on the FPC. FPC has features from both production control and quality control.

The demand on a FPC system is that the manufacturing process has to be controlled. Partly all products have to be traceable back to their raw materials and partly controls have to be done to ensure the right quality. Records of all this has to be kept. A discreet, paperless and cost-effective solution is the wish. With this in mind two similar cases in the manufacturing industry were examined. The possibilities of both existing database program packages and tailored solutions were investigated.

In the end a tailored solution showed the most advantages when it came to meeting the demands of the standards and the wishes. The solution and outcome of this work is a quality system in which it is possible to register data about and trace products on an individual level. The system consists of a MySQL database, a webpage based interface, a server computer, two handheld computers, measurement and marking equipment, manuals and documents. The data processing equipment is connected to the local area network (LAN) at the factory. Data is registered into and received form the database via webpage forms. The operators in the factory use the handheld computers when they register data into the database via a wireless LAN connection.