Société Générale de Surveillance

SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 48'000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 1’000 offices and laboratories around the world.

Originally founded in 1878 in Rouen as French grain shipment inspection house, the Company was registered in Geneva as Société Générale de Surveillance in 1919. Shares of SGS were first listed on (SWX) Swiss Exchange in 1985. Since 2001, SGS has only one class of shares consisting of registered shares.

   

The core services offered by SGS can be divided into four categories:

• Inspection Services. SGS inspects and verifies the quantity, weight and quality of traded goods. Inspection typically takes place at the manufacturer’s/supplier’s premises or at time of loading or at destination during discharge/off-loading.

• Testing Services. SGS tests product quality and performance against various health, safety and regulatory standards. SGS operates state of the art laboratories on or close to customers' premises.

• Certification Services. SGS certifies that products, systems or services meet the requirements of standards set by governments (e.g. GOST R), standardisation bodies (e.g.ISO 9000) or by SGS customers. SGS also develops and certifies its own standards.

• Verification Services:                                                                                                                  SGS verification services ensure that products and services comply with global standards and local regulations. Combining global coverage with local knowledge, unrivalled experience and expertise in virtually every industry, SGS covers the entire supply chain from raw materials to final consumption.

SGS’s SERVICES ON SCRAP METAL

Visual Inspection Steel
The objective of this service is to provide additional trust that the goods to be shipped are the same or substantially similar to those described in the order form as being the object of a transaction.
 
Where available, buyers and / or vendors are offered the opportunity to order a Visual Inspection of the goods after close of the sale transaction in order for the buyers and / or vendors to obtain confidence that the goods presented for inspection are the same or substantially similar to those purchased, i.e., described on the order.

This visual inspection is performed at the time of loading / unloading and determines if the characteristics of units chosen at random (chosen according to the sampling plan appropriate for the product) match those which were declared on the purchase order’s product description, product specification and features.

Checks may also be made on packing, marking and labelling. Product marking and packing details are checked to confirm that the goods are to be shipped in suitable packaging for the transit. The inspector will check manufacture dates, batch numbers, expiry dates (when these details are available), shipping marks, packing lists, supplier certificates and labels.

Weight Determination Steel
To establish the value of a parcel that is being bought or sold, the first step is always to determine the weight. The weight must be determined in a manner which is seen to be fair to both sides involved in the transaction and wherever possible, the weight should be traceable to a known calibration and check weights.
 
How the weight is determined can depend on the requirements of the clients and/or the facilities that exist to determine weight at the designated weighing location. Means of determining weight include static weighbridges, dynamic weighbridges, belt scales, hopper scales and draft survey. Through local knowledge and past experience SGS staff can advise clients of the best system to be used at a given location.

Once on site to determine a weight, our staff is trained to look for proper performance of the weighing system and to check this performance against known weights and recent calibration data. Detailed field records are kept of all the data that is used to determine the final declared weight and these are made available to clients upon their request.

For instances where weight is to be determined by draft survey, only trained and approved SGS draft surveyors or approved sub-contracted mariners are used, and they all work to the approved SGS Standard Operational Procedure (SOP) for the determination of weight by draft survey.

Draft Survey Steel
Draft survey is a means of determining the weight of material loaded onto or discharged from a vessel by measuring the displacement of water (Archimedes Principle). By reading the initial displacement of the vessel (prior to loading or prior to discharge commencing) and then reading a final displacement (at the completion of loading or discharge), the weight of the material loaded can be determined.
 
Although this sounds like a very simple process, it takes an experienced and highly qualified surveyor to produce an accurate weight. As well, during the draft readings, several other key factors have to be taken into account and measured before the weight of the cargo loaded or discharged can be determined. These include the density of the sea or river water, changes in the quantity of ballast between initial and final draft readings, and changes in the consumables on the vessel between initial and final draft readings (fuel oil, potable water, etc.). Access to the vessel draft tables is also required to allow for trim and deformation corrections.

The accuracy of a weight determined by draft survey depends upon sea conditions at the time of loading or discharge (pitch and swell) and the weight of the cargo loaded when compared to the total capacity of the vessel.

SGS has trained draft surveyors located in most global ports who all work to a defined draft survey protocol. Raw data is fed into a spreadsheet format, which calculates the weight loaded or discharged. This result is reviewed before being released to the client(s) and the raw data is retained for further review should it be required.