Good Day All

Please understand that this is not aimed at anyone specifically and should not be interpreted that way.

When you are employed by a company the idea is for you to contribute every working hour to improving the company, building on its reputation and helping the company grow. Your employer expects you to perform at this level all the time. The result is that the company slowly grows, more people are employed and salaries go up.

Let’s call this performance level A.

Most of us, though settle into a mediocre groove and do only what is expected. We do not contribute to marketing the company and we do not really add value. We expect someone else do make the company grow, the manager, the supervisor or the marketing guy. We then complain when the salary increases are too small. The company doesn’t grow and we start looking for other employment.

Let’s call this performance level B.

Performance level C, is the individual that does the absolute minimum to stay out of trouble. That’s the person who forgets equipment on site; doesn’t complete reports on time and couldn’t care less about company policies and procedures. Someone else must do the important work, since the responsibility is just too big. This person drags everyone down with negativity and is the first to complain about salaries. That person also makes the biggest noise when something is wrong within the company. That is the person who will organize a strike just to stab the company in the back.

The company deteriorates. Jobs are lost and salaries stay the same for a long time, or may even drop.

Take a look your position in the company. You know what your performance level is, and do you think that your employer is happy with that?

Are you willing to do something to improve your position?

Published with the kind permission of Hennie de Wet

Good day gentlemen.

Penetrant testing is a relatively simple method and the practical application is basic, but it is the one method that is easily ruined.

Recently the client was not happy with the following statement on the report:

“Limited sensitivity due to the surface being corroded before the inspection.”

The client argued that the test surface was wire brushed before the PT inspection. True, but any cracks open to the surface would have been filled with corrosion. No amount of wire brushing will remove corrosion from a crack.

This is only accomplished with proper chemical etching. A time consuming, dangerous and expensive exercise.

The only way to get reliable results is to perform the Penetrant Inspection soon after the weld is completed and before corrosion sets in.

A lack of control in the manufacturer’s workshop will inevitably lead to you being requested to test a corroded part with PT.

RECOMMENDATION.

Ask the client if you can do MPI on the welds instead of PT. MPI has no problem finding cracks filled with corrosion or paint, and it is faster. Explain to the client why you would like to deviate from the procedure.

You may have to go through the whole exercise of getting a procedure drawn-up and the rest. But the end result is a test that will find all possible defects and you can sign off the report with confidence.

Published with the kind permission of Hennie de Wet

Good day gentlemen.

What happens when a client disagrees with your report?

You spend a great deal of time on site performing the inspection, taking pictures and then compiling a detailed report. And at the end of it all the client does not agree.

The client has a right to disagree, because he pays for your service. In the same way you may disagree with the person that services your car.

Here is a list of possible issues the client may disagree on:

1. The time you spent on site.
2. Amount of consumables used.
3. Access to the inspection area. Testing all the required areas, lighting …
4. End result – repairs.

Most of our clients are manufacturers for an end user. When we find problems with the welding, the manufacturer looks bad. Nobody wants to look bad in the eyes of their client.

RECOMMENDATION.

So what do you do when the client does not agree with your report?

Do not disagree with the client. The client is king and even the king makes mistakes.

Ask the client exactly what it is he is unhappy about. Ask him to put it on paper, an e-mail would be fine. Then forward it to me – or ask the client to send it to me directly. Ask the client to give me a call or suggest I give him a call. We will then take it from there.

As a technician, YOU make sure that everything you do on site is done in such a way that, when the client complains, we have things in place. DO NOT BLAME THE ASSISTANT.

This means taking pictures, making notes and speaking to the supervisor on site.

Do not just ignore the complaints and hope they go away. Deal with it.

Published with the kind permission of Hennie de Wet

Good day everybody.

I recently stumbled across something called a “Random Act of Kindness”. This is where you do someone a favour or lend a helping hand, without them asking for it and you not expecting anything in return. There are some pleasant examples on the internet.

A good example here is cyclists. While riding, the guy in front suddenly points to the road; by doing this he tells the people behind him that there is a possible danger in the road, like a pot-hole. You know what a pot-hole can do to a cyclist…

Random act of kindness or common curtesy, call it what you like. It boils down to the same thing.

We take the time to assist our fellow man in his daily survival.

Now and again we experience an injury on duty (IOD). Sometimes is may be something silly like tripping over a curtain rail, other times it may be as serious as a lethal dose of radiation exposure. Most IOD’s are preventable.

On site we are constantly being told that each one of us is responsible for our own safety. When you do notice a possible safety issue, the site safety supervisors will appreciate you notifying them of the danger. Something can then be done before someone gets hurt.

Most of us on site are so busy testing and doing what we do that, even though we see the danger, we could not be bothered to do something about it. We may tell the guy behind to watch out, and that is it. The next day we often hear of a person that got injured where we saw the dangerous situation.    It could have been prevented.

I know that it is a pain in the backside but, please take the time to report safety issues. You don’t have to do it yourself. Send the assistant if you are too busy, or couldn’t care less.

Think of it this way. You get what you give. If you make the effort to report unsafe situations, you prevent someone from getting hurt. When someone else reports an unsafe situation, it may prevent you from getting hurt.

Sharing is caring people. Be safe.

Published with the kind permission of Hennie de Wet

Good day everybody.

Recently I had to witness a MPI and UT on a large gear. The NDT company had been around for a while and had a good reputation with the inspectors.

So, on the job one person was busy with the MPI on one side of the gear and the UT was done on the opposite side.

While discussing sensitivity settings with the technician of the UT on the fillet weld, I could hear the yoke making its distinctive noise in the background.

The UT guy seemed confident and was scanning along nicely, so I walked over to the MPI guy. We discussed acceptance criteria and he pointed out a few areas that he was not happy with. We discussed possible causes and remedies of these indications. I had a look at his overlap and yoke placement, I was impressed.

Back to the UT. As I walked around the gear I could see the UT guy scanning while typing something into his cell phone. I stood behind him for a few seconds to see if, perhaps this guy could multitask like a woman. Nope. He had massive “gaps” in his coverage. He wasn’t getting the overlap I would have liked to see.

When he noticed me watching him, he quickly put the phone down and continued scanning. He did not go back to the area he just scanned, nope he just continued. He then made some adjustment to the instrument. That warm and fuzzy feeling I was hoping for, was now gone.

I asked him about the probe’s beam spread angle and the width of the scanning beam. He was able to give me the exact numbers. He knew his UT.

I knew that explaining the seriousness of situation would be a waste of time. So I made him      re-calibrate and start the entire scan over again. He was mumbling while completing the scan under my direct supervision. I don’t think this counts as multitasking.

The definition of integrity: Doing the right thing even though nobody is watching.

Published with the kind permission of Hennie de Wet

Good day everybody.

Today’s topic is about those that just do not contribute as they should.

In any team you have the inevitable leader; there may be more than one of these. Then there is the rest of us, who perform to make the leaders and the company look good. Then we have those who do as little as they can, hoping that no one notices. Free loaders; they drift aimlessly through life, bouncing from employer to employer, catching a free ride whenever and for as long as they can.

These free loaders are the ones that rely on everyone else to make them look good – oh no, they are not the leaders. They are quick to claim credit for a project they were involved in, but loafed through the entire thing. In turn they make the rest of us look bad.

These free loaders depend on the rest of us to wake them in time for work. They need us to give them a lift to site or arrange transport for them. They are the ones that always seem to “forget” or misplace PPE. Or worse still “lose equipment on site”.

That guy that seems to disappear for hours during the work day; and most of us wonder – where has he been? What has he actually done today? That’s him.

The same person, that the client sees strolling around on site with hands in pockets, oblivious to the surroundings. That same person that will sponge on you for lunch “Buy me food, I will give you the money back”. And the inevitable “Can I catch a lift home with you?”

They are the ones that disappoint everyone and come up with feeble excuses as to why the job could not be done; blaming everyone and everything but themselves. They are the ones that cannot finish the report on time, or the report has so many mistakes on it, that the client sends it back. They are the weak link in the chain.

We all know people like that. We do not need people like that. Life is hard enough trying to make a living for ourselves, why should we need to make a freeloader’s life work as well.

The time to be a team player is now.

Published with the kind permission of Hennie de Wet