Welding process numbers to ISO 4063

111, 135, 141 — the process number replaces the name wherever a document has to be read regardless of language: on a WPS, on a welder qualification certificate, in a WPQR and on a drawing. The full table below, with names and the international abbreviations.

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Short answer

The numbers you meet most often:

• 111 — MMA, covered electrode
• 114 — self-shielded flux-cored wire, no gas
• 121 — submerged arc welding (SAW)
• 131 — MIG, solid wire in inert gas
• 135 — MAG, solid wire in active gas
• 136 — MAG with flux-cored wire
• 141 — TIG with solid filler
• 311 — oxy-acetylene welding
• 783 — drawn arc stud welding

How the number is built

The numbering is hierarchical and reads from the left. The first digit is the group: 1 arc, 2 resistance, 3 gas, 4 pressure, 5 beam, 7 other welding, 8 cutting and gouging, 9 brazing and soldering. The second digit narrows the group, the third names the individual process.

Take 135: 1 arc welding, 13 gas-shielded metal arc welding, 135 with solid wire in an active gas. That is also why two-digit numbers turn up in paperwork: 13 in a WPQR means the qualification covered the whole subgroup rather than one variant of it.

The table

1 — Arc welding

2 — Resistance welding

3 — Gas welding

4 — Welding with pressure

5 — Beam welding

7 — Other welding processes

8 — Cutting and gouging

9 — Brazing, soldering and braze welding

Where the number appears

On the procedure specification. A WPS to EN ISO 15609-1 opens with the process number. It is an essential variable, so changing the process invalidates the specification and calls for a new procedure qualification.

On the welder certificate. In the qualification code to EN ISO 9606-1 the process number comes straight after the standard reference. An approval for 141 does not cover 135 — two processes, two tests, however well the welder handles both.

In the WPQR and in the order for welding work, where the number is the one entry nobody can read their own way: "semi-automatic" means different things in different shops, while 135 means the same thing everywhere.

What sits behind those numbers in practice is covered separately: MMA, MIG/MAG and TIG. How the whole qualification code is read — in the article on the EN ISO 9606 welder test.

Author: SpawBaza Updated: 24 August 2026