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How-to Manage Hardware Certifications

Various certifications are applied for in the development of products. This guide covers the ten activities of the general certification flow, and includes specific information regarding marine certifications, certifications for hazardous areas, certification affecting manufacturers, and the order of certification applications.

Note: for details on functional safety certificates, please visit How-to Manage Functional Safety Certification Documents.

Intended for​

  • Certification team members (as a reference when working with certificates) and anyone with an interest in the topic of how hardware products are certified.

Activities​

Below flow chart and table give an overview of the key activities applicable for hardware certifications. Each activity is then elaborated further.

Marine certification process




Activity		Marine Certification
BV, DNV, ABS, Lloyd's, CCS		Hazardous Areas/Locations
HazLoc, ATEX, IECEx, INMETRO, UKEx, CCC		Ordinary locations (OrdLoc)
UL
Announced change in certificatexxx
Collect informationxxx
Applying for the certificatexxx
Quotationxxx
Purchase orderxxx
Eyewitness testingNAxx
Correspondence with notified bodyxxx
Review certificatexxx
Storage and distributionxxx
Update labelsNAxx

Announced change in certificate​

Changes typically consist of:

  • Changed standard.
  • Changed product.
  • Outdated certificate.
  • New product.
  • New certificate.

Product management or product owner informs of changes regarding certificates. The certifications may be affected when a component is changed in either software, firmware, or hardware. For software and firmware the update is smaller because usually an argumentation is needed as to why it is not affected.

Note: If you want to find which certifications apply to which products you can check:

  • ABB library.
  • Document management system.
  • The webpages of the notified bodies.

Collect information​

For completely new products drafts can be sent to the notified body to have an early understanding from the notified body. For new development, a suggested time to send the information is at G4. Release candidates can be used for testing at notified bodies. The following information is typically needed to apply for a certificate:

  1. Certificate number (if there already is one). Check in the document management system or the ABB library for the number.
  2. Describe what is intended to be done. Is it an update or an addition to the current product?
  3. Test results from environmental type tests (ETTs).
  4. All relevant documentation for a product:
    • Parts list or bill of material (BOM).
    • Schematics / circuit diagram.
    • Arrangement drawing.
    • Assembly drawing.
    • Other part drawings upon request.

Applying for the certificate​

The certificate is applied through different channels depending on the notified body. Please see the links under References to find contact details for the other notified bodies.

For Functional Safety Certification, please visit How-to Manage Functional Safety Certification Documents.

For marine: ABS has an electronic application ABS Type Approval Product Design Assessment (PDA) and PDA Duplicate Request.

Quotation​

Based on the information that was sent to the notified body, the notified body will create a quotation and send it to ABB. A quotation is needed in order to be able to place a purchase order.

Purchase order​

For purchases made in Sweden:

  1. Write a purchase request and send it to SE-PA-Control_Technologies_POAdmin@abb.com.
  2. The purchase order administrator sends the order to the notified body and has the requester on a copy.

For purchases made on other sites please contact your manager for advice.

Eyewitness testing​

For certain certifications eyewitness testing is necessary. If so then a time at an accredited laboratory needs to be booked and communicated to the notified body who will then come and witness the testing when it is being done.

Correspondence with the notified body​

It is important to actively communicate and follow up with the notified body to make progress run smoothly.

Review the certificate​

R: Certification team member, e.g. someone from the Ex team or a person responsible for the application.
A: Product manager.
C: -
I: Release Owner.
I: Product Owner.

Storage and distribution​

Store the certificate in the document management system. Update product management that the certificate has arrived and is available for publishing.

Product management is responsible for updating the ABB library and includes the certificate in the product release.

Update labels​

For some certifications, certain product labels must be updated after the certificate has been granted.

Details​

Marine certification​

Marine materials and equipment certification is the review and testing process that ensures component parts on ships conform to the technical standards established by regulatory bodies. Certification is required for electrical and automation systems. Certificates are applied for when a product is finalized typically after electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and climatic tests have passed. The different notified bodies can only handle one application at a time therefore it is important to try and consolidate and limit the number of updates per year. The total time from application to a certificate in hand is generally more than six months. For marine certifications, there are five main notified bodies to contact. Which ones depends on what part of the world the products shall be in.

Alternative marine certification process for S800 and AC800M redesigns​

It is possible to use an alternative marine certification process for S800 and AC800M redesigns. The main reason for this alternative is to be able to quicker release a new hardware revision into production. This is needed to save last-time-buy (LTB) components in stock that are needed in several S800 and AC800M designs. To accelerate the process, this alternative enables production start before certification is approved / paperwork is in hand at ABB.

The project or the project manager can decide whether to use this alternative process on any redesign related to S800 or AC800M.

As seen below, the change will result in production release while marine certification is pending. A new part of the process is that the products will be marked as "Certification in progress" in Business Online (BOL) until the certification is completed.

Alternative marine certification process

Hazardous areas/locations​

There is a separate page on what explosion protection is about for more information and reference.

Certifications affecting manufacturers​

For production and placing on the market additional certification and audit requirements for ABB and our EMS need to be observed. For ATEX, UKEX, and IECEx, ABB and the EMS need to comply to ISO standard 80079-34 (which is an add-on to ISO 9001) and is subject of audits. See below the requirements for ABB and the EMS for different product certifications.

Product certificationISO/IEC 80079-34 compliance requiredAudited byAuditsExamples of manufacturers
ATEXYesNotified body (mandatory for Category 2 or 1 products), QAN certificate will be issued
or ABB Ex Team (Category 3 products)		ABB (Västerås and Minden)
EMS (could be covered by IECEx)		TE Poland and Netherland
GPV Sweden
Turck Germany
MSC Germany
Scanfil Poland
IECExYesNotified body (mandatory for all IECEx certified products), QAR certificate will be issuedABB (Västerås and Minden)
EMS		TE Poland and Netherland
GPV Sweden
Turck Germany
MSC Germany
Scanfil Poland
UKEXYesPostponed by UK government
CCCCQM-CCCEMSTE
Scanfil
GPV Sweden & Estonia
AQ Plast
Celestica
ml&s
UL OrdLoc
UL HazLoc		UL Follow Up Service InspectionsEMSTE
Scanfil
GPV Sweden & Estonia
AQ Plast
Celestica
MSC Malta
Functional SafetyTÜV SÜD factory inspectionEMSScanfil
GPV Sweden & Estonia
AQ Plast

Note:

  • UL: Production sites listed in product certificates.
  • CCC: Different product certificates for each production site.

Order of certification applications​

Overview of when what certifications are applied for.

Certifications-order-of-applying
Step 1: Send documentation and samples to Electrical safety notified bodies and to IECEx notified body in parallel. Please see Collect information for more information on documentation. 

Step 2: Electrical safety certificate needs to be in place before IECEx can be applied for. IECEx certification usually arrives before the ATEX certificate.

Step 3: Different Ex applications can be requested at the same time to different notified bodies. At this time different notified bodies can also ask for extra documentation on certain topics. These could be control drawings, samples, specific label drawings, and manuals.

References​

Functional Safety:

Marine:

Hazardous Areas/Locations:

Owner: Hardware Development Team