160+ Craftsmen. 60+ AWS-Certified Welders. 75 Years of Stainless Steel Fabrication.

Northern Manufacturing employs over 160 craftsmen across 160,000 sq ft in Oak Harbor, Ohio. More than 60 hold active AWS certifications. We keep a full-time Certified Welding Inspector (CWI) on staff, an ASNT SNT-TC-1A Level III NDE technician in-house, and weld procedures qualified to ASME BPVC Section IX and AWS D1.6. This page lays out exactly what those qualifications mean for your project and why they matter when you’re evaluating a stainless steel fabrication partner.

Welding Qualifications

Welding stainless steel and specialty alloys isn’t the same as welding carbon steel. The heat input windows are tighter, the interpass temperatures matter more, and mistakes show up months later as corrosion failures, cracking, or metallurgical degradation. Our welding program exists to prevent those failures before they start.

ASME BPVC Section IX Qualified Procedures and Personnel

Every weld procedure we run is qualified per ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section IX. That means each procedure has been tested, documented, and verified through destructive testing (tensile, bend, and where required, impact testing) to confirm it produces sound welds in the specific material, thickness, and joint configuration your project requires.

Our welders are individually qualified under those procedures. Each welder’s qualification records are maintained, tracked, and current. When your spec calls for ASME Section IX compliance, we don’t need to develop new procedures or qualify new welders. The program is already running.

AWS D1.6 Structural Welding: Stainless Steel

For structural stainless fabrications, our welding and fabrication team works to AWS D1.6, the structural welding code written specifically for stainless steel. This code governs everything from joint preparation and fit-up tolerances to welder qualification and visual inspection criteria. With 60+ AWS-certified welders, we carry the depth to run multiple large-scale projects simultaneously without pulling qualified personnel off one job to cover another.

Welding Processes

We run the full range of welding processes required for stainless and specialty alloy work:

  • GTAW (TIG): The foundation of our stainless welding program. Used on virtually every project for root passes, thin-wall work, and applications requiring the highest weld quality and lowest heat input.
  • GMAW (MIG): For higher-deposition fill and cap passes where the application and material allow it, reducing cycle time without sacrificing quality.
  • Laser welding: Minimal heat-affected zone, ideal for heat-sensitive alloys like duplex stainless and thin-gauge austenitic grades where distortion control is critical.
  • Robotic welding: Programmed for repeatability on production runs. Consistent travel speed, wire feed, and heat input, weld after weld.
  • Pipe welding: Qualified procedures for stainless pipe in all positions, including purged root passes for corrosion-resistant service.
  • Spot welding: For sheet metal assemblies and attachment work where full-penetration welds aren’t required.

Quality Certifications

ISO 9001:2015

Northern Manufacturing’s quality management system is certified to ISO 9001:2015 by an accredited third-party registrar. This certification covers our entire fabrication operation, from contract review and material procurement through cutting, forming, welding, finishing, inspection, and shipping. For procurement managers building a supplier qualification file, ISO 9001:2015 provides the documented, auditable framework that confirms our processes are controlled and repeatable.

Certified Welding Inspector (CWI) On Staff

We employ a full-time AWS Certified Welding Inspector. The CWI isn’t a consultant we call when there’s a problem. They’re on the floor every day, reviewing weld procedures, overseeing welder qualifications, performing in-process inspections, and signing off on final weld quality. Having CWI capability in-house means inspection happens on our schedule, integrated into the production flow rather than waiting for a third-party inspector to become available.

ASNT SNT-TC-1A Level III Non-Destructive Examination

Our in-house ASNT Level III technician manages Northern’s NDE program per SNT-TC-1A (the Personnel Qualification and Certification standard from the American Society for Nondestructive Testing). This covers development of written practices, training and qualifying NDE personnel, and performing or supervising examinations. When your spec requires liquid penetrant testing (PT), magnetic particle testing (MT), visual testing (VT), or other NDE methods, we handle it internally. No outsourcing, no scheduling delays, no third-party coordination.

Positive Material Identification (PMI)

We perform PMI testing using handheld XRF analyzers to verify material chemistry on incoming stock and finished weldments. For projects in corrosive service (chemical processing, food and beverage, water treatment), PMI verification confirms that the 316L your drawing calls for is actually 316L, not 304 that was mislabeled at the mill. This is especially critical for duplex grades and high-nickel alloys where material mix-ups can cause premature failure in service.

Materials Expertise

We don’t just weld stainless. We understand the metallurgy behind each grade and what it takes to fabricate them without compromising the properties that make them worth specifying in the first place.

  • Austenitic stainless (304, 316, 309, 321, 347): The workhorses. We run these daily across every process in the shop. Stabilized grades like 321 and 347 require attention to sensitization during welding. We use controlled heat input and, where required, post-weld solution annealing to maintain corrosion resistance in the heat-affected zone. Learn more about our austenitic fabrication.
  • Duplex stainless (2205, 2507, LDX 2101): Twice the yield strength of 304, but unforgiving on heat input. Ferrite-austenite balance must be maintained through controlled welding parameters and interpass temperature limits. We run duplex regularly and have procedures dialed in for plate, pipe, and structural sections. Learn more about our duplex fabrication.
  • High-nickel and specialty alloys (AL-6XN, Hastelloy C-276, Hastelloy C-22): These alloys exist for extreme corrosive environments. Fabricating them demands clean handling (our dedicated stainless-only production space prevents carbon contamination), tight heat control, and filler metals matched precisely to the base material chemistry. Learn more about our specialty alloy fabrication.

Facility and Equipment

Northern Manufacturing operates from a 160,000 sq ft indoor facility with approximately 90,000 sq ft of outdoor laydown in Oak Harbor, Ohio. The facility includes a dedicated stainless-only production space (roughly 40,000 sq ft) where no carbon steel is processed. This separation prevents iron contamination on sensitive stainless and specialty alloy work, a requirement for many food-grade, pharmaceutical, and chemical processing applications.

Key equipment supporting our fabrication qualifications:

  • Cutting: Flat laser, tube laser, 5-axis laser for compound angles and 3D profiles
  • Forming: Press brakes for bending, plate rolls for cylinder and cone rolling
  • Welding: GTAW, GMAW, laser welding, robotic welding cells, pipe welding stations
  • Finishing: 55-foot pickling and passivation booth (handles oversized assemblies most shops can’t process in-house), stainless bead blasting
  • Inspection: Laser projector layouts for template-free verification, 3D model-based inspection, handheld XRF for PMI, full NDE capability

Leadership and History

Northern Manufacturing was founded in 1951 and has operated continuously for 75 years under private ownership. Tyson Smith serves as President, and together with Haley Lonero, they have owned the company since 2019. Under their leadership, Northern expanded the facility from 120,000 to 160,000 sq ft (completed January 2026), added four overhead cranes, and invested in laser welding, robotic welding, and 5-axis laser cutting capability.

The company’s growth has been driven by a simple principle: invest in the technology and people that make the customer’s product better. That means continuous reinvestment in equipment, welding R&D, and training, not because it’s trendy, but because stainless fabrication keeps getting more complex and the shops that stand still fall behind.

Industries We Serve

Our team’s qualifications are built around the demands of industries that require certified, traceable, high-integrity stainless steel fabrication:

  • Food and Beverage: Sanitary finishes, contamination-free fabrication in our dedicated stainless-only space
  • Water and Wastewater: Duplex and austenitic fabrication for corrosive service environments
  • Power, Energy, and Chemical: ASME-qualified procedures, high-nickel alloys, full NDE documentation
  • Pollution Control: Specialty alloy fabrication for scrubbers, ductwork, and stack liners
  • Architectural and Art: Precision finishing and complex geometries in stainless
  • Pulp and Paper: Duplex stainless for high-chloride environments
  • Mining and Bulk Materials: Heavy-gauge stainless for abrasive and corrosive service

Put Our Qualifications to Work on Your Project

If your project requires certified welding procedures, documented NDE, traceable materials, or fabrication expertise in stainless and specialty alloys, request a quote and tell us about your requirements. We’ll show you exactly how our qualifications apply to what you’re building.

Learn more about our quality program, our welding and fabrication capabilities, or what makes us a stainless steel specialist.