ONE/TÜV/BV-History

ASME Code - The Standard for Pressure Retaining Components

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ASME Code History

In 1905 a disastrous explosion at a shoe factory in Massachusetts was the starting point for the development of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, called ASME Code for short. Up to the day of this catastrophe, which claimed the lives of 58 people, boiler explosions were not uncommon, but somewhat accepted as the price one had to pay for technological process. It was the extent of this horrendous accident which showed the obvious need for a technical standard, with which the safety of boilers could be assured.

In Massachusetts this led to the introduction of a mandatory set of standards for the construction of boilers in 1907. After other states in the USA had published their own standards it soon became clear that uniform rules for the design, construction and inspection were required. The number of differing standards had made it impossible for both the manufacturers and operators to use the same type of boiler in different states.

In 1911 the "American Society of Mechanical Engineers" (ASME) was asked to look into the matter and to develop an appropriate set of standards to find a way out of this dilemma. However it took till 1915, before the first edition of the ASME Code, at that time entitled "ASME Rules for the Construction of Stationary Boilers and for Allowable Working Pressures", was published. Since then the ASME Code has been accepted as a technical Code in nearly all the states of the USA, in Canada as well as in more than 113 other countries worldwide.

What started of as a pure Power Boiler Code, has since been expanded to include various other fields of application and been adapted accordingly. Nowadays a new edition is published every 3 years, which is updated with an annual addenda.

ONE/TÜV/BV´s History

The Company, which is known today as One/TÜV/BV was originally founded in 1984 as FMTUV. RWTUV, one of the major inspection bodies in Germany, together with the Factory Mutual Insurance Company decided to establish this joint venture to provide inspection services in accordance with the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code outside the USA and Canada.

The export-oriented boiler and pressure vessel manufacturers soon realised that using our services greatly facilitates capturing new markets. The successful ASME Certification obtained by many companies in this sector not only helped them to find new customers but also made the ASME Code known much better worldwide.

While our activities initially mainly focused on assisting companies in obtaining the ASME U-Stamp, we later on complemented our scope of services with ASME Code Seminars, Canadian Registration and Design Calculations according to various International Codes and Standards.

1997 marked a further milestone in the history of our company when Bureau Veritas became the third partner in our joint venture. This significant step, which helped us to establish a fully international inspection service network, was reflected in the name FM/TUV/BV.

One Beacon, previously known in the plant engineering industry under the name of Commercial Union, became our partner in the USA in 2003, since Factory Mutual stopped offering ASME Code services. Therefore, the name of our company changed to ONE/TÜV/BV, as it is known today.

In October 2009, together with our business partners, we celebrated the 25^th anniversary of our company. It was a great opportunity to recollect our history and achievements. At the same time it gave us a chance to reflect on the future of our company as we continuously strive to expand and enhance our services.

ONE/TÜV/BV together with its shareholders now offers worldwide ASME Code Inspection Services.

We invite you to explore new markets with us.

Your One/TÜV/BV Team