February 14 – 16, 2006
Session Abstracts & PowerPoint Presentations
PowerPoint presentations as presented at the NDTMA 2006 Annual Conference may be downloaded at the bottom of the page. PLEASE NOTE: ONE OR MORE OF THE FILES ARE LARGE AND MY TAKE SOME TIME TO DOWNLOAD. The file sizes are as indicated.
BUSINESS PLANNING
“Recruiting and Hiring”
Amy Lynn Schaden
Management Impact, Inc.
Are you doing the right things? Why would someone choose you? Everyone wants the top talent. From the time an open position becomes available to the applicants first day there are many things that need to happen. Many people call this process “recruiting”.
The word “recruiting” encompasses so many different things. What the definition of recruiting to your organization may be completely different from others around you. The first thing you need to do, as an organization, is answer some simple questions for yourself.
WHY, WHERE, WHEN, and HOW are you currently recruiting? What is working for you and what is not? The answers to these questions will help you then define and develop a recruiting plan appropriate to your individual organization. Next, I suggest get that plan on paper. Does it make sense and will it meet your needs for the upcoming year? How are you setting yourself apart from your competition? These answers will ensure you are “recruiting” in the best way for your organization.
“Training – In-House vs. Using an Outside Training Source”
Scott Zimmer
Quality Testing Services, Inc.
Due to the growth expansion of the NDT industry, there is an increasing demand for qualified and certified technicians. This raises the question of proper training for entry level and certified personnel that will represent the nondestructive service company.
Who provides the best training possible, has a high level of instruction and remains cost effective for the company? A company must decide if they want to train their own personnel, have an outside agency come to their facility or go to an outside training facility. This decision has many variables and each one must be considered as a fit for that particular entity.
“Who Is Making What: Trends in NDT Salaries & Benefits”
Michael Serabian
PQNDT
How much money do you make? How does it compare to other NDT professionals in your area? Across the country? The answer to these and other questions are found in PQNDT’s nationwide salary & benefits survey.
NDT personnel expert, Michael Serabian will summarize the trends in the NDT industry’s wages over the past six years, and what we might expect in the immediate future. Michael offers a glimpse into which industry segments are the most lucrative, and which parts of the country offer the best wages and benefits. PQNDT has been the leading placement firm in NDT for 40 years.
Claude Davis
UTE Services
Since the publication of the 2001 Recommended Practice No. SNT-TC-1A there has been a lot of activity generated in the upcoming revision of this document.
During this presentation, we will be discussing the process the document goes through for review, modification and approval prior to publication.
Some of the major changes that we will present include the following topics:
Limited Certification
Definition of method versus technique
Separation of Electromagnetic Testing into 3 techniques
The addition of Magnetic Flux Leakage as a technique
Recertification of Level I and II’s to 5 Years
Removal of the Body of Knowledge and the creation of CP-105
Recommended Initial Training and Experience Tables
During this presentation we will be able to provide some of the current motives and reasons these changes are being made.
NDT MANAGEMENT SESSION I
“Compliance with New NRC Requirements for Industrial Radiography”
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Garry Allen & Eugene Reinhart
Reinhart & Associates, Inc.
Recent NRC requirements regarding the handling, transport, use and storage of radioactive sources used in industrial radiography will usually require a modification of existing company procedures. In addition, facilities, vehicles, radiation monitors and alarms may need to be modified. An approach to complying with the NRC requirements will be presented and should be useful to groups providing radiographic testing, either on-site or at remote locations.
“Strategic Planning 101: Creating a Strategic Culture”
Kurt Andrews
X-Ray Industries
Most business people have heard the term “strategic planning” and usually the thought of attempting the process evokes immediate connotations like “I’m too busy”, “It’s just window dressing”, “I’m already doing it, really”. The reality is most of you running a business have a plan, sort of, but 95% of businesses have no formalized plan.
This presentation will take you through formalizing the process and dare you to infuse it into your company. Strategic Planning is truly a top-down process because its success as a process and the success of your business can run in parallel, actually converging as part of the culture of planning. The true definition of leadership is the ability to get other to share your vision. If a strategic plan is developed at the 10,000-foot level but not assimilated down your organization, you have wasted your efforts.
Strategic Planning is a dynamic process that evolves and adapts just like your business over time. At X-Ray Industries, we have developed a culture of planning at all levels in our organization over the last 10 years that has been instrumental in focusing our efforts on key market segments and providing great utilization of our human and financial capital. I will share the process we utilize and dare you to do the same.
“The Care and Feeding of Technicians”
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Ricky Morgan
Smith Emery Company
Having been on both sides of the Company fence and at times sitting right on it, I will attempt to provide my own interesting perceptions of the two sides and how they can survive in a mutually agreeable manner. The implementation of coaching, communication, leadership, management, marketing, psychiatric and socialization techniques can assist with the tasks at hand. Understanding the expectations and the perceptions of technicians will require a much deeper look into an individual’s education, family, work, employer and life experiences. Not only those of the Employee but those of their parents, past co-workers and friends. Most of these influences had laid claim to your Technician’s psyche long before the Technician steps foot into your facility. Our challenge is to bring out the Qualities and Strengths we need and to discard and/or eliminate the weaknesses. The relationship between Management and Technicians is extremely dynamic and must be monitored and adjusted to meet both the needs of the company and those of the employees to insure a productive work environment.
“More Effective Management of Your Human Resource Programs”
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David Park
VLP Corporate Services
Businesses today need help managing increasingly complex employee related matters such as COBRA, HIPAA, Fiduciary Guidelines, health benefits, workers compensation claims, payroll, and numerous other Human Resources functions but do have the knowledge, staff or the time. Learn how to mitigate these risks and leverage your time so you can focus on growing your company.
NDT MANAGEMENT SESSION II
“NDT Service Company Perspective for Evaluating the Business Aspects of Integrating New NDT Technologies”
Michael Creech
Acuren Inspection
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“Comparison of RT Technologies for Automotive Casting Inspection”
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Bill Movalson
Envision Product Design
This paper describes the experiences of using a variety of RT technologies to perform quality assurance inspection of cast steel diesel fuel rails. X-Ray film, Computed Radiography (CR), Digital Radiography (DR) using amorphous silicon, and DR using CMOS linear array will be compared in performance and inspection costs. Currently over one million castings have been inspected.
“Productivity Enhancements in Remote Visual Inspection (RVI)”
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Bruce Pellegrino
GE Inspection Technologies / RVI
A historical review of Remote Visual Inspection (RVI) technology illustrates how this modality has evolved over the past several decades with inspection productivity enhancement as its primary driver.
Current state-of-the-art inspection methods and test protocols will be used to demonstrate how ergonomics, industrial design, digital connectivity, technical advances and industry-specific mandates have pushed the development, application and acceptance of RVI as a credible and viable inspection technique.
This presentation will give real-world examples of efficiency gains through the application of RVI to plant facilities and aircraft engines.
Data capture, including measurement, reporting and archiving will be addressed as the final step in the inspection process including recent and expected advances in this area.
“Implementing New Technology in an Aged Infrastructure: Case Study of Incremental Automation”
Steven Willard
Avistar, Inc.
This presentation examines an innovative approach introducing recent technological advances into an aged infrastructure, thereby overcoming numerous implementation barriers normally preventing upgrades. The presentation will focus on the existing aged electric utility infrastructure, specifically on substation equipment. The age, status and current mode of operation of typical substation equipment will be discussed as well as the financial and technological barriers that have created a situation where operating life has exceeded equipment life. A listing of innovations pertinent to the improvement of substation efficiency and operation will be presented. A case is then analyzed where incremental technological advances are applied, overcoming barriers to implementation through generation of O & M savings, yielding positive impacts to both system reliability and the environment. Most importantly, each potential solution will be examined with a focus on creating and enhancing a platform that can sustain upgrades.
REGULATORY SESSION
“Update & Q&A – NRC Industrial Radiography Security Regulations”
Speaker, To Be Announced, USNRC
Presentation Cancelled
“An Update on Airport Security”
Jim Blair
US Department of Homeland Security
Presentation Cancelled
“The Future of the Nuclear Power Industry & an Overview of the Nuclear Sector Coordinating Council-Radioisotopes”
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Felix Killar
Nuclear Energy Institute
This presentation will provide an overview of the country’s energy security. It will focus on were the country is today and how it arrived in this position. With this background the role on nuclear energy will be presented. This will cover today’s nuclear generation as well as the future for nuclear power. It will touch on concerns expressed about nuclear power including the need for resources. One of the resources to be discussed is NDT professionals. The nuclear industry’s expectations are for the near, intermediate and long term will be discussed along with what the industry is doing to build sustainability.
In addition to the future of the nuclear industry, a sub-topic on the Nuclear Sector Coordinating Council-Radioisotopes will be presented. This part of the presentation will provide the origins, relationship to other sectors, its mission/role, the company/organizations participating, agencies that are active, and the issues being pursued.
The presentation will conclude with demographic data on NDT professionals supporting nuclear power plants.
TECHNICAL SESSION
“Portable Phased Array Applications”
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Michael Moles
Olympus NDT
Portable phased arrays are commercially available and now field-proven. Portable phased arrays can provide many different displays, plus combined displays which significantly improve imaging. Most applications take advantage of one or more of the following features: special scan patterns (e.g. S-scans), imaging (e.g. corrosion mapping or weld inspections), inspection speed, and restricted space. Portable phased arrays offer advanced reporting capability, including pre-prepared reports and automatic pasting of images into reports for archiving. Sample applications for portable phased arrays will be given, plus progress with code acceptance of phased arrays, (specifically ASME, API and AWS).
“Radiography Using Selenium (SE75)”
Dennis Chedraui & M. G. Shilton
QSA Global / Sentinel
New and advanced designs of gamma radiography projectors and sources have been developed with the aim of exceeding today's high safety and performance standards in anticipation of future needs of the Industry for continual improvement. The importance of safety combined with high performance and good value is paramount in the Gamma Radiography Industry. Product safety and performance go hand in hand. They are achieved through the application of innovative design solutions within a safety-oriented design culture.
This paper describes the quality and safety features of Selenium-75 and the enhanced features of new lightweight radiography devices. Selenium-75 provides advantages of longer half-life, improved operator safety, smaller exclusion zone and high image quality, particularly in the 5-30mm steel working range. This paper also describes how safety and performance can be designed-in. The main safety and performance features are described as well as the suitability of the SENTINEL Se-75 sources for digital radiography.
All new products require rigorous operational trials combined with destructive integrity tests to confirm fitness for purpose. The results of these tests are described. Products are designed to meet all of the international safety and regulatory standards throughout the world such as BSI, ISO and ANSI and to anticipate future changes in the regulations so that users can be assured products will continue to comply in the future throughout the world. Safety is enhanced through simplicity of operation and through clear procedures, which assure low operational radiation exposure during use. An important part of the design process for products is the participation of regulators, industry leaders and users who provide valuable input and feedback throughout the development process to ensure all aspects of the product and future needs of the Industry are met.
“Recent Revisions to NDT Requirements in 20th Edition of API Standard 1104”
David Culbertson
El Paso Corp.
In November of 2005 the American Petroleum Institute published the 20th edition of API Standard 1104 – Welding of Pipelines and Related Facilities. This standard contains two sections that involve nondestructive testing (NDT) requirements. This presentation is intended to enlighten NDT service companies of the recent revisions that have been made to the NDT acceptance requirements and NDT procedures requirements within the newly revised standard.
“A New NDT Method – Ultraviolet Optical Observations and Applications for Specialized NDT Inspection”
Dan Ninedorf
Ox Creek Energy Associates
The imaging and quantification of ultraviolet light is a technical advance paralleling infrared and airborne ultrasound. The three technologies each have advantages and disadvantages and offer complimentary information. Dan Ninedorf has been involved with providing these technologies to a number of industries including utilities, universities, service companies, and OEM’s of high power switchgears and rotating machinery.
