Session Abstracts & PowerPoint Presentations
BUSINESS PLANNING
A - Don’t You Just Hate Insurance?
Jeanna Madlener, Wells Fargo Insurance
Attend this session and eliminate the headaches of your next renewal. This session provides a fun overview of insurance for Nondestructive Testing Organizations – identifying NDT unique risks, what to look for when selecting coverages, how to structure a great and effective program, market updates, and market projections.
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B - Intellectual Property: Strategic Management of Investment in Technological Development
Sue Brooks, Esq., Brooks Associates, Inc.
Control of information and technological developments in the NDT arena have come to represent great economic values. At the same time it is a well-known fact that the dynamic nature of the need as well as the market for this technology and its adaptation to many and various fields of industry challenge the conventional ways of understanding and managing intellectual property rights. This gives rise to a need for legal advice, but precise answers are rarely found in the law itself. In this context, awareness of the predominant underlying legal principles for protecting investment in these technological advances may reduce the uncertainty by providing a “user-friendly” approach to help the non-lawyer more easily understand certain opportunities to enhance the value of these intellectual assets, as well as some potential hazards that could limit some lucrative opportunities if certain procedures are not followed. Understanding these basic principles will aid in the decision-making process and create an overall awareness of the fragile value of intellectual property.
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C - GPS Vehicle Tracking and NDT
David Barr, All Auto Track
GPS asset tracking solutions provides the tools to effectively manage vehicles, employees, fuel, security and safety. The devices are installed in a stealth manner to prevent detection or tampering. Studies have shown that by using a GPS tracking system, a company can realize a financial return of 3 times the cost of the system or more. Lower insurance costs, improved mileage, improved labor, and maintenance efficiency. The system provides location, speed, and usage data to monitor the assets and vehicles in real time and history. Proposed NRC rules require the use of GPS tracking systems as an increased security measure. The asset tracking system provides compliance and improves profits
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D - Computed Radiography: Key Elements to Consider in the Decision Making Process
Fred Morro, Fujifilm NDT Systems
Contact speaker for abstract
NDT MGMT SESSION I
E - How Dollarization Promotes Innovation
Jennifer Dorr, GE Sensing and Inspection
Dollarization is based on the following theory:
People buy for one of two reasons: to feel good or to solve a problem. "Feel good" is measured in intangible values, such as the stylish fit of a sweater, the taste of a fine wine or the tight cornering of a new sports car. The solution to a problem represents either the avoidance of loss (e.g., reduced warranty costs) or the chance for gain (e.g., improved sales). Both the avoidance of loss and the chance for gain can be measured in dollars and cents, or "Dollarized."
Dollarizing is the act of assessing the differences between your products and competitive products and calculating the financial impact those differences have on your customer.
Dollarization has been successfully used to dollarize products ranging from a $1 million pharmaceutical centrifuge to a 2¢ o-ring. It has also been used to fend-off low-price competitors, to sharpen advertising claims, to set pricing and to segment customers. Whether you sell medical devices to hospitals, capital equipment to heavy industry, or pesticides to farmers, you will improve your sales, margins and marketing effectiveness by dollarizing your product's actual value.
Fox & Co. has pioneered the practice of "Dollarization" in sales and marketing. GE Sensing & Inspection has adopted Dollarization as their main consultative selling platform and is putting the concepts to good use in our selling, marketing, and technology teams. By understanding our customers better, we can design more innovative solutions. By using quantifiable numbers in the decision-making process, customers can make a sound business justification for the investment needed for their future growth.
F - Leading an Engaged Workforce
Bob Unke, MRA- The Management Assn.
Employees who are committed, both intellectually and emotionally to their jobs, their immediate management, and their organizations DO make a difference in the success of the organization they are part of. We, as leaders, MUST pay attention to the factors, many of which are under our direct influence and contact, that can promote the sense of involvement, engagement, and commitment; and to everything we can do to increase the sense of belonging that our employees experience when they are at work or representing us in the community. Organizations that do so succeed because of these efforts. Those who not may succeed but it will in spite of their efforts
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G - Outsourcing Fleet Management to Save Time and Money
Eric Reeves, Enterprise Fleet Management
In this session, we will explore the various concerns with controlling a fleet of company vehicles, and how you can improve your efficiency, operability, and lower your overall cost. This session will cover funding options, maintenance programs, risk management including driver safety programs, fuel management, vehicle acquisition and disposal methods, aftermarket equipment, lease versus buy decisions, and reporting and risk management advice. Learn how an effective fleet cycling program can reduce driver downtime and lower hard and soft costs of the fleet’s operation.
H - The Role of the Outside Agency Level III
Steve Senne, Senne Technical Services
The industry is out of available technicians at all levels. A pivot point for each and every company doing NDT is the availability of a Level III. There are not enough. To cover this deficiency, the use of an Outside Agency has been forced to fill the gap. The increasing number of companies requiring such services, the increasing limitations to use such agencies, combined with the dwindling number of qualified agencies, is the topic of this presentation.
NDT MGMT SESSION II
J - Certification Issues at ASNT
Walter Matulewitz, ASNT CMC Chair
There are several programs available through ASNT for certification of NDT personnel. These programs vary from employer based to central certification. An overview of each of these programs will be presented, and the situations where they can be applied.
K - ASNT Issues and Initiatives
Victor Hernandez, ASNT President
Contact speaker for abstract
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L - Workforce Development Activities in Texas
Chuck Hellier, Hellier Technical Training and Consulting
An update on the NDT Technician Training Program conducted by the APIP Texas Training Consortium will be provided.
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M - NDTMA NDT Technician Workforce Development Project – An Update
George Moran, NDTMA
Based on the success of the NDT Workforce Development (ATTC) initiative in Texas, it was decided to investigate the feasibility of NDTMA leading a nationwide effort patterned after the Texas effort and tailored for the requirements of the individual states, since most of the funding is at the state level.
NDTMA formed a Workforce Development Committee in February, 2007 and set out to develop a pilot program in 2 or 3 key geographical areas. The presentation will detail the activities undertaken since then. An update will be presented of the current status in each geographical area along with future plans to be considered and undertaken. It is envisioned that this effort will lead to programs in many areas of the country in the years to come.
REGULATORY SESSION
N - NRC Perspectives and Updates
Leonard Wert, USNRC
Results of recent NRC inspection and enforcement activities related to radiography will be addressed. A major focus of the discussion will be the security and control of nuclear materials. Issues identified during NRC Increased Controls inspections will be presented. Some specific issues associated with offshore radiography activities will also be addressed. The session will include a discussion of the latest NRC regulatory activities of interest to radiography licensees, including orders related to security of nuclear materials.
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P - Washington State’s Petition to the NRC for Requiring all States to Implement GPS Units in Vehicles Carrying Highly Radioactive Sources.
Stephen Matthews, WA State Dept. of Health, Office of Radiation Protection
By June of 2006, all industrial radiography licensees in Washington State had implemented Increased Controls in accordance with the Order issued December 2, 2005. Our initial round of inspections was completed in November 2006. The Order brought about changes in how Industrial Radiography licensees conducted business, especially with IC Items 2 and 4. In both of these items, the key issue focuses on how well companies have applied the model of adversary task time vs. time delays that are built into their physical protection system. Despite these efforts, two incidents occurred involving radiography trucks being stolen, which led up to Washington’s petition to the NRC to require all states to implement GPS tracking systems in vehicles carrying highly radioactive sources.
Q - Harmonization of Radiography Regulations: A Pipe Dream?
Walter Cofer, Radiation Control, Inc.
The current regulatory system has resulted in a lack of compatibility between federal and state industrial radiography regulations. Non-uniform regulations are a problem for the NDE industry, creating compliance issues and increasing administrative and operational costs without improving safety. A discussion of the current system and a review of specific compatibility issues is provided. On-going efforts to harmonize radiography regulations are reviewed, along with a perspective on how successful the efforts have been, and how the process might be advanced.
R - Lessons Learned from Violating Regulatory Requirements
Mel Mullikin, Universal Testing LLC
Contact speaker for abstract
TECHNICAL SESSION
S - Digital NDT
Joseph Zekoski, GEIT
Advancements in digital technologies have paved the way for replacing many analog techniques. These digital NDT solutions provide many advantages including improved probability of detection, reduced inspection and setup time, consumable reduction, faster data sharing and mining, and secure data storage. This talk will discuss digital applications involving radiography, visual, ultrasonic and eddy current techniques. In addition, it will highlight the dramatic workflow and retention benefits allowed by digital data.
T - Wireless Technology in NDT Testing
Mark F. Carlos, Physical Acoustics Corp.
Wireless devices are becoming more and more commonplace in our personal lives and industry. Most of us have cellular telephones with wireless Bluetooth headsets for worldwide voice to voice communications, wireless Ethernet (Wi-Fi) in our notebook computers and wireless PDA’s for internet and email communications. In industry, wireless devices are connecting sensors and process inputs/outputs (I/O’s) to the control room. Wireless devices have really had a major impact (mostly for the better) on our lifestyles and quality of life. With all this activity in wireless going on around us, what about the use of wireless in the NDT Industry? Are there applications where wireless connectivity can work for us, saving the time and cost of wiring up our systems, putting information at our fingertips, or opening up application areas that were not practical before? The answer to this is definitely “yes”. There are many places where wireless can work for us and help us reduce costs, simplify our efforts and automate our NDT process.
The purpose of this presentation is to identify and discuss the range of applications where wireless systems, sensors and devices are currently being used, and areas where they can be used, now, today.
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U - NDT Correlations to Strength of Materials
Robert H. Nath, Quasar International
Traditional nondestructive testing (NDT) such as PT, penetrant testing, UT, ultrasound, RT, x-ray, etc., may often prove useful in process development and in the identification of the location of anomalies. However, there is generally little correlation between the traditional NDT results and a parts’ structural performance, simply because traditional NDT finds indications that are often not well correlated with structural performance. There is a need for part manufacturers to perform NDT to detect unacceptable, structurally degraded safety-critical or high cost-of-repair failure parts before they leave the factory. Process Compensated Resonant Inspection (PCRT), provides a high correlation to structural performance in many applications and allows the manufacturer to test 100% of the parts leaving the factory to identify unacceptable parts. This presentation provides an overview of PCRT and shows example data that demonstrate the direct correlation between structural performance and PCRT scoring for some applications
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V - Importance of NDE in Coal Fired and HRSG Boilers
Arvo Eilau, Siemens Power Corp.
The utility coal fired boiler industry produces about half the electricity generated within the United States. Coal fired boilers experience large degrees of high temperature erosion, corrosion, stress and a variety of other forces that can cause damage to the boiler. As a normal part of maintenance and inspections each year, the owners of these facilities request nondestructive testing to be performed on major boiler components.
The purpose of the inspections is to prevent forced outages and the cost associated with shutting down the utility plant.
Testing on boiler water walls, superheaters, reheaters, economizers and heavy wall headers are done annually on many units to prepare for repair or replacement of these components. NDT is used to justify and plan for the required maintenance within the boiler.
