Quality Magazine, published in the USA, recently highlighted the current challenges facing the non-destructive testing (NDT)industry. Many of the people they approached are well respected in the USA NDT environment and their input bears scrutiny. A common theme emerged, namely advanced equipment, with related themes such as a shortage of personnel, from entry level to those able to use advanced technology, and the recurring issues of ethics. A quality manager with 40 years in the NDT field stated that the biggest change he has seen is in technology. He remembers how radiography used to require thousands of sheets of film. Although certain areas of industry are still using film, digital technology is rapidly becoming more prevalent. I can agree that ultrasonic equipment has been reduced from the early monsters to the size of a hand-held instrument.
Marybeth Miceli is the Executive Director of the Nondestructive Testing Management Association (NDTMA), Principal of We-NDT Marketing Network and President of Miceli Infrastructure Consulting LLC. She was recently highlighted among significant women in NDT.
“As with manufacturing in general,” Marybeth said, “the main thing is the trend towards automation, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Industry 4.0 stuff is huge right now and everybody is talking about it.
“The biggest problem with the industry is that there are not enough people. In addition to looking for more personnel, companies are also now looking for people who can handle a lot of software programs. In other words, skills that traditionally were more on the computer science of the field. For example, if I am seeing this type of data, what does that mean for the inspection that I am doing? People are having to upskill or learn other methodologies. It is a challenge right now.”
I quote Antionette (Toni) Bailey of TB3 NDT Consulting LLC, who is an American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT) NDT Level 3 in five methods with NAS 410 Level 3 and Industrial Radiography Radiation Safety Personnel (IRRSP) certifications. She describes how the field has changed in recent years: “We lost some key management personnel such as responsible Level 3 roles. Companies cannot find replacements and are struggling to convince younger people to take on responsibility for low pay. This is forcing companies to sharpen their financial pencil and pay people better, which is good. But management is struggling to learn how to treat people respectfully, so young people who take on the roles surprise management by quitting shortly after taking the role.
Management is not used to this lack of loyalty to the company, so human resources and management have some learning curves on how to treat people better to keep them longer regardless of the pay.”
In addition, there are challenges with experienced professionals as well; Antionette said: “Older workers are quitting because they refuse to adapt to updated technology and change. Some large aerospace companies have lost 50% of their knowledgeable NDT upper management.
“This left inexperienced people to fall into those roles before they were ready. Companies are suffering due to the lack of experience and lack of training. It is having a huge impact on lower-quality products manufactured and people just do not care about doing the right thing. I am concerned that flawed products are rolling out the door.”
The trends are poor quality, lack of leadership, poor business management and that financial demagoguery is taking over in a way that is unethical. NDT people and quality assurance (QA) people are violating rules and not caring. ASNT has mentioned that more people are reporting foundational ethical violations every week. This is a terrible thing.
Another viewpoint is shared from the military and aerospace point of view. NAS 410, the standard for all military and aerospace work, was revised in 2014 to reduce the amount of on-the-job training needed in ultrasonics, radiography and eddy current testing. The time requirement was halved from 1600 hours to 800 hours for these more difficult inspection methods as compared to liquid penetrant and magnetic particle inspections. Thus, less-experienced inspectors are accepting hardware. Clearly, lowering qualification requirements does not result in better inspectors.
The trend continues for a shortage of men and women entering the NDT field. Perhaps that is why the requirements have been reduced. On the upside, there is a greater percentage of women entering the field. There is a growing shortage of Level III/3 inspectors. To progress to a Level III/3, the inspector needs to pass a more difficult set of tests. Communication skills, both verbal and written, are essential for a successful Level 3. Computer skills are indispensable within the industry. Some individuals are only working with one test discipline while multi-discipline individuals are increasingly sparse.
In addition, there is a growing trend towards robotic handling of components during the inspection process. From an aerospace perspective, machine vision has yet to be an adequate substitute for the visual scrutiny of a certified inspector.
On the positive side, phased array ultrasound has displaced the older multi-zone inspections pertaining to the inspection of billets. Phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) has also dramatically increased the accuracy of production weldment inspections. Digital radiography continues to get better and less expensive. All major aerospace companies embrace the technology and the accompanying ASTM International standards are mature in their requirements.
Information is extracted from an article published in Quality Magazine, BNP Media, 2401 W Big Beaver Road, Suite 700, Troy, MI 48084, USA.
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