CONTENTS
News.............................................. 1-2
17th WCNDT......................................3
Africa Regional Group........................4
Asia-Pacific Regional Group...............5
European Regional Group.............. 6-8
Pan-American Regional Group..... 9-11
Calendar of Events............................12

The World Organisation for NDTVolume 7 Issue No 9
CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGET

The stage is set

he stage is set for the 17th WCNDT in Shanghai, China,
from 27-30 August 2008 and with that comes the platform
for ICNDT to move forward with the legalisation of ourorganisation.
Over fifty years ago, the International Committee for NonDestructive Testing, ICNDT, was given considerable independence
and a broad mandate “to promote, encourage, support and provide
a venue for international NDT societies to gather under one roof toadvance the field of non-destructive testing”.
On several occasions during its more than 50 years of experience, ICNDT has chosen toreassess its function and question how it can best serve the international NDT community.
From those analyses came policy and structural changes designed to maintain ICNDT’s
relevance, to improve its responsiveness, and to augment its effectiveness. In Montreal
2004, during the full assembly meeting, the members voted to address our businessstrategy and operational framework. The result would require three major activities
for the Executive and Policy and General Purpose Committees to be completed by the17th WCNDT: rewriting of the terms of reference, implementing formal operatingprocedures and preparing the legalisation for ICNDT. This past three-and-a-half years havebeen dedicated to accomplishing the latest objective set by our membership in 2004. The
leadership and perspectives provided by the members of the Executive and Policy andGeneral Purpose Committee has helped to keep our goal focused and achievable. It would
be remiss of me if I did not take this opportunity to thank all the members of the committee
for their dedication to the betterment of our organisation.
The final step required to implement the work done by the two standing committees
mentioned above is for the ratification of the latest terms of reference, which has been
disseminated to all ICNDT members through the ICNDT Secretariat and General Secretary.
I now call on all members to be present in Shanghai during the 17th WCNDT to experience
our next historic event with the acceptance and signing of the 2008 ICNDT Terms ofReference.
On behalf of the hosts of the 17th WCNDT, the Chinese Society for Non-Destructive
Testing and the International Committee for Non-Destructive Testing, I look forward toseeing you in August 2008.
Douglas J Marshall

ICNDT/WCNDT schedule

Monday, 25 Aug, from 8.00 am – 5.00 pm for the ICNDT Executive Committee meeting andthe ICNDT PGP Committee meetings
Tuesday, 26 Aug, from 9.00 am – 5.00 pm for conference registration
Tuesday, 26 Aug, from 8.00 am – 5.00 pm for the full ICNDT delegation meeting
Wednesday, 27 Aug, from 9.00 am – 11.30 am for opening ceremony of conference
Wednesday, 27 Aug, at 1.00 pm for opening ceremony of exhibition
Wednesday, 27 Aug, at 7.00 pm for welcome dinner (Shanghai International
Convention Centre)
28 Aug or 29 Aug, Evening social function
Friday, 29 Aug, from 9.00 am – 5.00 pm for full ICNDT delegation meeting
Saturday, 30 Aug, at 2.00 pm for closing of the exhibition

March 2008

ICNDT Awards
Nominations
Submissions due 23 May 2008 forthe following awards
The Roentgen Award
For major contribution to science andtechnology of NDTThe Pawlowski Award
For major contribution to promotion of
NDT internationally
The Sokolov Award
For major contribution to NDT Research
The Havercroft Award
For major contribution to NDT Education,
Training or Certification
The Young Achievers Award
For achievement of young people in NDTICNDT Member Societies and Members arerequested to submit their nominations to
the ICNDT Secretariat via e-mail (s.bond@cinde.ca) by 23 May 2008. A maximumof one nomination in each category per
Member Society is permitted.
The ICNDT Policy and General Purpose
Committee will select one winner per
category, which will be presented during
the 17th WCNDT to be held in Shanghai,
China, 27-31 August 2008.
All awards are in the form of a framed
certificate carrying the ICNDT logo andwill include the name of the Award, thename of the recipient and the date.
All nominations submitted should
include the following information:q Name of Awardq Full name of nominee/affiliationq Name of ICNDT Member making
nomination(including
contact
information)
q Reasons for nomination
q Will nominee be present at the next
WCNDT to receive the award?
Please contact the ICNDT Secretariat for
further details.

The Official Journal of the International Committee for Non-Destructive TestingICNDT Journal
Publisher: 				

The International Committee for Non-Destructive Testing (ICNDT)Secretariat: The Canadian Institute for NDE (CINDE), 135 Fennell Avenue,
Hamilton, Ontario L8N 3T2, Canada. Tel: +1 (905) 387-1655; Fax: +1 (905)574-6080; E-mail: s.bond@cinde.ca

Editor:		

Giuseppe Nardoni, Italian Society for Non-Destructive Testing andMonitoring Diagnostics (AIPnD), via A Foresti, 5, 25127 Brescia, Italy. Tel:
+39 030 373 9173; Fax: +39 030 373 9176; E-mail: aipnd@numerica.it

Production Editors: David Gilbert, The British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing (BINDT).
Tel: +44 1604 630124; Fax: +44 1604 231489 E-mail: david.gilbert@
bindt.org
				Sergio Ghia, AIPnD
E-mail: ghia@icndt.org

Production:		

Pauline Thomas, BINDT.

Your new ICNDTJournal is available
for downloading fromwww.icndt.org

Published three times per year.
Editorial contributions are welcomed.
Articles should be sent to the Publisher at the above address.

Views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the International Committee for
Non-Destructive Testing.
No liability is accepted whatsoever for errors or omissions.
ICNDT Member Societies are authorised to distribute this newsletter and/or its contents, however
permission should be obtained for reproduction of individual articles and extracts.

Future ICNDTCommittee Meetings
17th WCNDTShanghai, China
Executive Committee,
PGP Committee,
ICNDT General AssemblyAugust 2008
10th ECNDTMoscow, Russia
Executive Committee,
PGP Committee,
ICNDT General Assembly,
June 2010

The next ICNDT Journal will be published in June 2008
Material should be sent to the Publisher at the above address by 30 April 2008T

he ICNDT’s website at www.icndt.org
has been re-developed by the German
Society for NDT (DGZfP – Stefan
Cullmann) and substantially upgraded.
The Home Page contains links to a
Directory of NDT Societies, with e-mailand website hyperlinks; Organisational
chart, committees and officers (structure);
ICNDT Journal – download the latest issue
as well as all archived issues; Documents– Constitution, operating procedures andminutes; Event calendar – international
diary and regional conference schedule;
and Secretariat contact details.
Representatives from international
NDT Societies can upload details of events

New Home Page of the ICNDT website

2

ICNDT website upgradedorganised by them sothat these can quickly
appear in the Events
Calendar.
Officers can beissued with a username and password
permitting them tolog-in and download
relevant documents.
The
EFNDT
website is scheduled
to undergo a similar
upgrade.
www.icndt.org
ICNDT organisational chart

Calendar of events

ICNDT Journal Vol 7 No 9 March 2008

17TH WCNDTICNDT Journal Vol 7 No 9 March 20083

Regional Report

Contact:
M Shafy – shafy@maktoob.com
F Herelli – herelli.f@scncff.com.tn

AFRICA

5th African Conference on Non-Destructive Testing

Conference and Exhibition
12-14 March 2008
Diar Lemdina Hotel – Yasmine Hammamet – Tunisia

Conference Secretariat
African Federation of NDT (AFNDT)Le CETIME – GP7-Z.I Ksar Said – 2086 La Manouba, Tunisia
Tel: 00 216 71 545 988; Fax: 00 216 71 546 637;
E-mail: m.mhalla@cetime.com.tn, w.ouerghi@cetime.tn

4

ICNDT Journal Vol 7 No 9 March 2008

Regional Report

Contact:
L Dick – ljdick@ndt.co.nz
O-Y Kwon – okwon@inha.ac.kr

ASIA-PACIFIC

The Workshop on NDT with
Asia Pacific Countries

T

5-7 November 2007, Tokyo, Japanhe Japanese Society for Non-Destructive Inspection (JSNDI)
has been planning contributions to Asian countries forpromoting NDT technologies for many years. IAEA has
been promoting NDT industrial application among the East Asian
countries in the last century. The future planning committee in
JSNDI took up this matter, and planned to hold a workshop withthis as one of its most important topics.
JSNDI held the workshop on NDT for enhancement ofcooperation with Asia-Pacific countries for three days at the JSNDI
office in Tokyo. For the first time trial, JSNDI invited ten countries
in the Asia Pacific region under the budget of the future planningcommittee. JSNDI selected four countries (Bangladesh, China,
Korea and Taiwan), which have cooperation agreements with
JSNDI, and the other six developing countries (Indonesia, Malaysia,
Mongolia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam). All countries invited
took part in the workshop. The number of participants was thirteen(two participants from Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan, and one
participant from the other countries).
The workshop was held with an aim of creating mutual
understanding with countries in the Asia-Pacific region in orderto foster NDT personnel, and to make progress with NDTtechnologies. At the workshop, each delegate was requested to
introduce activities of present NDT technology prevalence, andfuture framework in each country, with a view to deepening
mutual understanding among the participating countries.
Furthermore, discussions on NDT strategies in the workshop
led to close cooperation with the participating countries.

Dr Ogura (left), Dr Ooka (centre), Dr Yokono (right)

Day 3 – Discussion on the workshop
The workshop participants visited the ‘Exhibition for NonDestructive Testing, Measuring, Evaluation, and Diagnosing
Technology 2007’ supported by JSNDI at Tokyo Big Sight. This is atrade show that is held every two years in Japan. The total numberof visitors was about ten thousand for four days.

Day 1, 2 – Presentations from participating countries
The chairman of the future planning committee, Dr Yukio Ogura,gave an opening greeting, and the host chairman, Dr Norikazu
Ooka, chaired the workshop.
Dr Yoshikazu Yokono gave a presentation on JSNDI activities(qualification and certification, academic, education andstandardisation). After the JSNDI presentation, each representative
had a twenty minute presentation to introduce activities of present
NDT technologies prevalence.
During the presentations, the participants mainly discussed theconnection between ISO 9712 and qualification and certification
systems in each country.

All participants in front of the exhibition entrance

All participants discussed the future workshop at the JSNDI
office after the exhibition. All participants agreed that it wasnecessary to build up a structure of partnership regarding aqualification and certification system, and to promote its related
education system among Asia-Pacific countries.
At the end of the workshop, it was approved that this workshop
carried on to the next stage. The workshop was finished with great
mutual understanding among the participating countries.

13th Asia-Pacific Conference on Non-Destructive Testing
8-13 November 2009 – Yokohama, Japan
		
		
		
		
		
		

Key dates
30 April 2009
1 July 200931 August 200931 August 20098-13 November 2009

Short abstract submission
Acceptance notification
Extended abstract submission
Advanced registration
Full paper submission

Session topics
APCNDT 2009 welcomes papers on all aspects of non-destructive testing and evaluation, including the following topics:
q Training, education, qualification
q Security
q Fundamental and applied researchq Equipment design and development		 and certification
q Bio-medical applications
q Inspection and testing application
q Materials characterisationq Others		
q Codes and standards
q Safety and reliability

Secretariat
The Japanese Society for Non-Destructive Inspection (JSNDI), MBR99 Building, 67 Kanda-sakumagashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0026,
Japan. Tel: +81 3 5821 5105; Fax: +81 3 3863 6524; E-mail: apcndt2009@jsndi.or.jp; website: http://www.apcndt2009.com

ICNDT Journal Vol 7 No 9 March 20085

Regional Report

Contact:
E Romero – informacion@aend.org
V Krstelj – vjera.krstelj@fsb.hr

EUROPE

Report on the 23rd Meeting ofBoard of Directors of EFNDTT

he 23rd meeting of the EFNDT Board of Directors was heldin conjunction with the 4th International NDT Conference ofthe Hellenic Society of NDT in Chania, Crete on Saturday
13th October 2007.
Seven members of the Board were present – Professor
Krstelj, Mr Aufricht, Dr Link, Mr Zeelenberg, Mr Hennaut andMr Woodridge. The meeting was chaired by the President of
EFNDT, Dr Mike Farley. John Thompson and David Gilbert were
present, representing the Secretariat.
The Hellenic Society, whose President, Professor Ioannis
Prassianakis, welcomed the members, provided a very attractive
room for the meeting with an excellent view over the Venetianharbour of Chania – which compensated the Board Members alittle for being hard at work from 09.00 until 17.00 on a beautiful
autumn Saturday.

and Accreditation.
The Board asked
the CEC to developa ‘Strategic Plan’ toaddress the issues
raised during theBerlin Certification
Conference and the
BOD/CEC dinner.
Good progress isnow being made on
the European NDTQuality Guidelines
documentand Gerhard Aufricht, Executive Member ofagroup
was ICNDT, delivered the greetings and best
nominated to review wishes of the ICNDT President Douglas
the document on Marshall and the Austrian NDT Society
behalf of the EFNDT (ÖGfZP)
Board before it ispublished.
Progress is being made on the survey of NDT education in
Universities and Colleges. To date, Professor Krstelj has received
29 questionnaire responses from seven countries.
The Board congratulated John Thompson on his work in supportof the National Aerospace NDT Boards Forum and agreed that
EFNDT would continue to provide the Secretariat and website.
The Board agreed to offer to organise the update of the ICNDTGuidelines on Personnel Certification to ISO 9712.
Useful discussions were held with the President of the HellenicSociety (Professor I N Prassianakis) and the President of the
Romanian Society (Dr R Grimberg).
J M Farley
President, EFNDTEFNDT Board of Directors in Chania, Crete. L to R: Wooldridge,
Thompson, Krstelj, Aufricht, Farley, Hennaut, Link, Zeelenberg

Themembers
heard
from
the
Treasurerthatmost fees for 2007
have been paid
and reviewed theaccounts for theyear and approved abudget for 2008.
To meet Belgian
rules for reporting ofRainer Link studies the ICNDT Journal during accounts, it will bea coffee break in Chania
necessary to move
the General Assembly from its traditional autumn date to February.
This will take place from February 2009.
A membership application has been received from RELACRE
in Portugal and was approved for Associate Membership. Fullmembership will be possible when the planned national NDTSociety is formed. Discussions have begun with the fledgling
Turkish NDT Society, which is being encouraged to apply formembership.
Stefan Cullmann of DGZfP presented his work to upgrade
the EFNDT website structure. A programme of work will now be
organised to improve the content. Member Societies of EFNDT are
encouraged:
q to input event details into the NDT Calendar, to help planningand avoidance of clashes;q to input details of NDT books to the NDT bibliography.
It was decided to develop a quarterly EFNDT European
Newsletter to complement the website and the ICNDT Journal.
John Thompson will seek views of the Membership on a
possible meeting of the Forum on Certification, Qualification

6

T

EFNDT General Assembly

he 2007 General Assembly of EFNDT was held on
9 November 2007 in Prague, chaired by the President,
Dr Mike Farley. Fourteen NDT Societies were represented(Austria, Slovakia, Belgium, Norway, Lithuania, Croatia, Russia,
Germany, UK, Czech Republic, France, Spain, Finland andHungary). The meeting approved the Report from the Board of
Directors (summary inset), the Accounts for 2006, the financial
report for 2007 (to the date of the meeting), the budget and feesfor 2008.
A summary of progress on the EFNDT Strategic Plan waspresented:
q Google Custom Search set up on EFNDT website allows
searching of all linked websites.
q EFNDT document of IAF interpretation of ISO 17024
prepared.
q EFNDT Guidelines and Code of Practice for NDT Personnel
working under the PED adopted as a CEN TR document.
q Good progress on EFNDT Guidelines on European systems and
NDT quality.
q Video promoting NDT by JSNDI – copies purchased for eachmember Society.
q Progress on survey on NDT Education courses in Universities
and Colleges.
q Certificate of Recognition for Volunteers created.
It was agreed that the next General Assembly would takeplace early in 2008 to facilitate a switch in timing, and the next
elections will be in January 2009. Members congratulated their
Czech hosts (President Pavel Mazal) on the NDT Days in Europe
Conference which had been held in the week leading up to the
EFNDT General Assembly.
J M Farley
President, EFNDTICNDT Journal Vol 7 No 9 March 2008

EUROPE

10th Anniversary of the Hungarian Society for NDT, MAROVISZ, and6th International Conference on NDE in Relation to Structural Integrity
for Nuclear and Pressurised ComponentsT

he Hungarian Society for NDT, MAROVISZ, celebrated its
10th anniversary in 2007. Dr Peter Trampus, the Presidentof the Society, welcomed more than 100 guests, during a
reception party in a beautiful traditional hotel in the surroundingof Budapest.
Presentations with respect to the history of NDT in Hungary,and of MAROVISZ specifically, formed the programme, which
includedfolkloristic traditional
Hungarian dancing.
The event ended
with an excellent
dinner supported by
selected Hungarianwines.
The HungarianSociety for NDT
was established in
1997 in Budapest
by 29 companies
andindividuals. Dr Peter Trampus, President of MAROVISZ
Duringits
10years, MAROVISZ has become an active member of theEuropean Federation for NDT (EFNDT), which was represented
during the anniversary by its Vice-President Gerhard Aufricht.
Today, MAROVISZ has 42 corporative and 40 individual
members.
MAROVISZ is engaged in standardisation, training, educationand qualification of NDT personnel, and in 2007 MAROVISZ
succeeded in organising the prestigious event ‘The 6th International
Conference on NDE in Relation to Structural Integrity for Nuclear
and Pressurised Components’ in Budapest, Hungary from
8-10 October 2007.
This prestigious event was the sixth in a series devoted tothe use of NDE to demonstrate the structural integrity of nuclear
and pressurised components. Previous conferences were
held in Amsterdam in October 1998, New Orleans in May 2000,
Seville in November 2001, London in December 2004, andin San Diego in May 2006. The Conference was co-ordinatedby the EC Directorate General Joint Research Centre and organised
technically by a European Organising Committee.

ICNDT Journal Vol 7 No 9 March 2008

The overall objectives of the Conference were to provide an
up-to-date assessment of the development and application of
NDE and to allow technical interchange between experts on aninternational basis. The following sessions were organised (inbrackets the number of presentations):
q Developments in Radiographic Inspection Methods (6)q Developments in Electromagnetic Inspection Methods (7)q Developments in Ultrasonic Inspections (4)q Developments in Ultrasonic Phased Array Inspection (16)q Developments of Visual and Other NDE methods (7)q Inspection Qualification (13)q Modelling (11)q Structural Integrity and NDE Reliability (11)q Materials Properties Measurements (5)q RPV and Primary Circuit Inspection (13)q Austenitic and Bimetallic Weld Inspection (11)q Steam Generator Tube Inspection (5)q Other Major Component Inspection (11).
The Conference was attended by 260 people from 28 countries
around the world. Also, an exhibition of NDE vendors was held.
Both the high quality technical programme and the social events
provided impressions of the Hungarian culture, adding to thesuccessof
thisConference.
Using
this
opportunity, Istvan
Becker was awarded
Honorary PresidentoftheSociety.
Since 1950 his life
is closely relatedwith
Hungarian
NDT. Istvan Becker
was born in 1929
in
Budapest.
Mr Becker has been Istvan Becker, Honorary President ofmarried to Agnes, MAROVISZ
who has a doctoral degree in chemistry, for 57 years. They have
two sons, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Istvan
Becker is a real expert and one of the much respected gentlemen
in NDT.

7

EUROPE

European NDT Days in PragueT

he Czech Society for NDT, CNDT, organised threeconferences and an exhibition in succession in Prague,
6-10 November 2007. All events were sponsored by theEuropean Federation for NDT, EFNDT.
President Pavel Mazal and his Vice-President Zdenek
Prevorovsky welcomed more than 300 participants.
The conference series started with the workshop ‘NDT in
Progress’, which traditionally took place in Prague for the fourth
time. It was organised together with the German Society for
NDT, DGZfP. This event was opened by Zdenek Prevorovsky andMatthias Purschke, Executive Director of DGZfP.

Dr Rainer Link (centre) received the Honorary Membership of CNDT.
Pavel Mazal, President, and Zdenek Prevorovsky, Vice-President,
presented the document‘NDT in Progress’ is a presentation of latest developments andexchange of information between young and more experienced
scientists in the field of NDT. It is limited to a number of 60-80
participants. The spirit between the attendees was really enjoyable.
It was an excellent possibility to enlarge the personal network andto make new friends.
The next workshop will take place in 2009, again in Prague.
The other following events were the International Conference‘NDT for Safety’ and the Annual Conference of the Czech Society
for NDT.
A well-attended exhibition was accompanying these activities.
The hospitality of CNDT was in addition a guarantee for the
excellent feeling of the participants.
The General Assembly of EFNDT had its meeting at the end ofthese very well organised European NDT days.

The 5th International
Conference on Certification andStandardisation in NDTT

he 5th International Conference on Certificationand Standardisation in NDT took place in Berlin,
27-28 September 2007. Dr Matthias Purschke, Executive
Director from the organising society, the German Society for NDT(DGZfP), welcomed 100 participants from nearly all over theworld. The conference papers dealt with all areas in the field ofquality management, accreditation, personnel certification, NDT
laboratories, as well as training and qualification.
An invited paper was given by Dr Andreas Hecht, BASF, on‘Some Critical Remarks from German Chemical Industry on
Certification and Accreditation in NDT’.
The discussions during the conference included fields ofconflict between Standardisation-Certification-Application.
The conclusion was the evident opinion that the best training,
qualification and certification system cannot release the employer
from his final responsibility.
With thisin mind it isdifficulttounderstandthe fact that
there are still
differences
between
EN 473 andISO
9712
standards
orother Dr Matthias Purschke, DGZfP and Dr Andreas Hecht,p e r s o n n e l BASF
certification systems which were believed to exist, because ofmaintaining trade barriers.
One contribution during the conference reminded theparticipants that the father of the all certification systems was
SNT-TC-1A.
Going back to its roots, it would be really strange if there is nochance to agree upon a globally unified personnel certification
standard.
The evening of the first day ended with a dinner onboard a ship
cruising through Berlin in a relaxed atmosphere giving anotheropportunity to renew old and create new friendships and toenlarge the personal network.
All participants came to the conclusion that this was a very
successful and well organised conference.

Non-destructive
investigations andmicroanalysis forthe diagnostics andconservation of culturaland environmental
heritage
ISAS International Seminars, PO Box 574, Jerusalem 91004, Israel.
Tel: ++972-2-6520574; Fax: ++972-2-6520558; Email: meetings@isas.co.il; Web: www.isas.co.il/art2008

8

ICNDT Journal Vol 7 No 9 March 2008

Regional Report

Contact:
J Conte – abende@abende.org.br
W Holliday – wholliday@asnt.org

PAN-AMERICA

Non-Destructive Testing Certification System in Mexico
Part 1. General view

(Part 1 of a 2-part series)T

his review was conducted in order to establish a certification
system to meet the needs of the Mexican community, researchand evaluation of the market needs, and the potential for this
sector of the economy to sustain such a system.
The first sources of reliable information were the statisticalreports published every three months by the Federal Work andSocial Prevention Office (STPS, by its Spanish name).
The non-destructive testing workforce comprises inspectors
who work in general industry, chemical and petrochemical plants,
and hydrocarbons distribution and transport pipes.

Market demand
Figure 1 shows the variation of the inspector population in nondestructive testing over the last 10 years. During the period from2002 to 2004, the inspector population experienced a negative
tendency of 11%. This tendency was reversed over the last three
years (2005-2007), in which the demand for the inspectors in this
sector increased to 16% in 2006, as shown in Figure 2.
Year
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007

Age distribution
The STPS report presents a distribution graph for the inspector’s
age shown in Figure 4.

Thousands
62.8
70.9
63.3
55.8
59.7
57.2
50.9
56.8
66.0
62.7
(estimated)

Figure 1. Tendency on the demand for inspectors in non-destructive
testing (figures from third quarter, 2007)

During the lastthree
years,
thedemand for a qualified
workforce to carryout
non-destructive
inspections(NDT)
using the methods ofvisual inspection (VT),Figure 2. Percentual variation on the annual
liquid penetrant testing
demand for NDT inspectors (figures up to(PT), magnetic particle
the 4th quarter, 2006)
testing (MT), ultrasonic
testing (UT) and radiographic testing (RT) has increased.
The techniques of phased array and guided waves (ultrasonic
testing) and digital radiography have gained much momentum
since mid-2005, with the greatest interest mainly from the oil
industrial sector.
During the period from 2006 to 2007 the demand for theimpulse excitation and thermal techniques has also increased.

Qualification requirements
A problem faced by this service sector is the lack of workforce
with the required education level. In Figure 3 the education levelof the inspectors is presented according to the statistics from STPS.
Qualification (%)

2006

2007

Elementary12

11

Mid-school

36

38

High school

20

23

Bachelor or more

32

28

Figure 3. Inspectors’ education level (figures up to the 3rd quarter
2007)

ICNDT Journal Vol 7 No 9 March 2008

It is important to point out that the population of professionals has
decreased 4% in a year.
To carry on with the comparison between Mexican and othereducation systems, it has to be mentioned that elementary school
lasts six years (plus one pre-school year), and mid-school, three
years. The technical education takes three years at the highschool level and two years additional in a technical university.
The bachelor education programmes are five years at the college
level.
The minimum profile of required education for inspectors,
recommended by the international application norms, is highschool (13 years education). This condition is accomplished byonly 51% of the people working as an inspector in non-destructive
testing.

Age range

%

16-24

13

25-34

36

35-44

25

45 and more

26

Figure 4. Inspector’s age (figures from the 3rd quarter, 2007)

The population dedicated to non-destructive testing services isbalanced, as approximately 49% of inspectors are in the age rangeof 34 years or younger, which favours the preparation of level 1
and 2 inspectors in NDT. The remaining 51% are 35 years or more,meeting the needs for trained and experienced inspectors to coverlevel 2 and 3 in NDT. It is noticeable that little more than 25% of
the population is 45 years old or older.

Gender distribution
Today, the involvement of the female population has been
increasing, particularly
during the last five
years, to fulfil morethan a third of the
population.
The
participation of womenin 2005 was 31% andby 2007 has increased
Figure 5. Distribution by gender ofto 37%, as shown in inspectors in NDTFigure 5.

IncomeIn order to have acomparative figure on
the average incomeoftheinspectors,
the amounts havebeen
annualised
and converted into
American dollars.
Figure 6. Average inspectors income by age
Theinspector’s
income has been divided in ranges according to age; this allows
perceiving the situation of the young non-experienced individuals
in the market. This data is shown in Figure 6.

9

PAN-AMERICA
The figures shown are the average income of the population;nevertheless, it should be mentioned that the annual income of
specialised inspectors or highly experienced ones, especiallythose working on oil platforms, can be significantly above$17,000 dollars. This annualised income is absolutely lower than
the annualised income in other countries, especially in the USA
and Canada, our commercial partners in the NAFTA.

Training opportunities on NDTFor this part of the report, a review of the legally constituted
entities which have the objective to associate individuals ororganisations dedicated to NDT inspection or training, assessment
or certification in NDT.
This information is open to the general public and can be foundin the Foreign affairs office web-page, within the SIPAC section.
The following is a list of the searches performed:
q Association/Non-destructive examinations
q Society/Non-destructive examinations
q Association/Non-destructive tests
q Society/Non-destructive tests
According to these sources, there are 11 entities under‘association’ or ‘society’ in non-destructive examinations or testing,some of them registered more than 40 years ago, but without
reliable evidence on training or personnel assessment activities.
The interviewed organisations express that training is one of theiractivities but are mainly dedicated to inspection services.
Among the non-government organisations, the Mexican
Institute on Non-Destructive Testing (IMENDE, AC) stands out by
their activities. IMENDE has been offering training courses for morethan 20 years in the different non-destructive methods. The training
programme is established annually. IMENDE was founded with theassistance of a regional programme in conjunction with the United
Nations Organisation for Latin America and the Caribbean RLA/82/
T05. All course content is based on the requirements of ISO 9712.
On the government side of the technology sector, the engineeringand industrial development centre (CIDESI) is worth mentioning. It
has a partnership with the Japanese Industrial Development Agency(JICA). Today, CIDESI offers a periodic training programme in nondestructive methods, at both a national level and in cooperation
with other Latin American countries. The course content is basedon the ISO 9712 and on the EN 410.
In Mexico, there is another source for training in nondestructive testing: the commercial representatives of the different
manufacturers. In this category, we must mention Olympus America
and GE Inspection Technologies. Both of these organisations haveestablished good working relationships with various educational
institutions, not only in Mexico but internationally.
In addition, there are several organisations that provide NDTservices as well as internal training courses for their inspectors.
One example is Naumex Co S.A., which sporadically offers
training courses in the traditional methods of NDT, basing theircontent tables in the recommended practice SNT-TC-1A.

Conclusions
q The NDT population in Mexico is around 70,000 technicians
registered by the STPS.
q Today, the demand for staff able to perform inspection activities
on NDT is increasing. It opens better income possibilities forwell-qualified and certified personnel under ISO 9712.
q Although there is an important pool of people working on NDT,
some of them have limitations to achieve the qualifications
and certifications internationally established and accepted, forexample:• About half the population does not comply with therequirement of high school education. This may represent
a bigger investment in time in order to train them andsome limitations in reading and understanding in foreign
languages, such as English.

10• The inspectors’ income level average may be a limitation
for them to ask for the certification individually, by theirown economical means.
q The inspectors’ average age is 28 years, and about 75% areyounger than 45, which may mean good performance during
the training.
q Little more than one third of the staff working on NDT isfemale.
q The companies that offer NDT services and that are looking
for certification prefer the certification under the ASNT scheme
because it is cheaper.

Minutes of the meeting at the
IV PANNDT Conference
24 October 2007, Buenos Aires

IV PANNDTThe IV PANNDT had 553 registered persons from 32 countries.
The exhibition was larger than expected with 44 booths. The
Local Committee expected more attendants but an Oil & Gas
exhibition, 100 years of petroleum in Argentina, was being held
simultaneously (two years ago when the conference was planned
this was not foreseen).

V PANNDTMr A R García Cueto, from the Mexican delegation, made apresentation of the V PANNDT, that will be located in Cancún.
He gave details about the local committee, the institutions
and companies that are interested in the project. Some of thecompanies are also interested in sponsorship of the conference.
The local committee will make a special effort to obtain theparticipation of young people. Also, the Cancún infrastructure todevelop conferences was presented.
They requested assistance from countries that have developed
the previous PANNDT conferences.

VI PANDT
Although representatives of some countries have talked about theintention to organise the VI PANNDT (Colombia, Ecuador and also
Bolivia), this item was held over to the next meeting.
During the discussions a need was identified to have more
representatives of the region at the Pan-American Committee; tothis end a representative should be identified from one of each of
the non-participating countries.
R Murphy recommended ‘electronic meetings’ in between two
conferences.
M I Gebrael proposed to produce an agenda for the following
four years.
M Trimm proposed to identify effective actions to share with all
the participating countries.
M Douglas proposed to use the ‘ICNDT format’ to communicate
with each other.
It was proposed to organise working groups in the different
zones to work together to identify the representative people of thecountries of each zone.
S Infanzón proposed to use the electronic directions of the
ICNDT website to obtain contacts of our region.
J Conte proposed to divide the activities of the PANNDT
Committee. He postulated to have a Secretary of the PANNDT
Committee and a Chair of the Conference. It was agreed that
Mexico will be the Chair of PANNDT and Brazil the Secretary.
It was also agreed to modify the PANNDT logo with something
representative of the organising country and also to modify theTerms of Reference to fulfil the detected requirements.
S Bond asked the region to update the information on theregion on the ICNDT website.

ICNDT Journal Vol 7 No 9 March 2008

PAN-AMERICA

News from the Brazilian Society for NDE (ABENDE)ABENDE fosters participation in the
NDT World Conference
ABENDE invites the Brazilian NDT community to participate
in the next world conference on NDT that will be held from27 to 31 August 2008 in Shanghai, China. To facilitate Brazilians’
participation in the event, ABENDE has prepared a travel packagewith different air ticket and hotel options. ABENDE’s Institutional
Communication Department has also some proposals to help
the formation of a Brazilian companies’ island in the technicalexhibition that is held simultaneously with the Conference. For
more information about ABENDE’s proposal, send an e-mail toeliane@abende.org.br. For more information about the event, go
to http://www.17wcndt.com

NDT guide launched
The NDT Guide 2007 is available to download. It is themost comprehensive publication on Non-Destructive Testing
applications, equipment, products, list of companies inalphabetical order and criteria to contract an inspection company(advantages, limitations and specifications of each method) in
Brazil. A new feature this year is the Guide of Terms that is a listof common expressions in NDT based on already consolidated
NBR Standards. The terminology was compiled with the supportof technical representatives and academic experts in the area
who, after analysing different opinions, standardised the words
most used by professionals. In this issue, the guide presents theterminology description for the following methods: Parasitic
Currents, Acoustic Emission, and Watertightness for Basic
Sanitation, Penetrating Liquid, Magnetic Particles, Visual Testing,Staff Qualification and Certification, Industrial Radiography,
Thermography and Ultrasound. With technical and operational
information, the NDT Guide is the most reliable way to ensure
the full business development to users of the Non-Destructive
Testing technology. More information may be obtained from theInstitutional Communication Department (011) 5586-3170 or ateliane@abende.org.br. To download the guide, go to: http://www.
abende.org.br/guia_end.php?

The 5th International Conference onStandardisation and Certification of
Non-Destructive TestingJoão Conte, Executive Director of ABENDE has recently participatedin the 5th International Conference on Standardisation andCertification of Non-Destructive Testing, organised by the German
NDT Association (DGZfP). These were the highlighted subjects:

Re-certification
Experts from several countries are currently discussing changes in
the re-certification of professionals. The suggestion is to have theprocess without exams, that is only by means of evidence of theprofessional’s continuous performance. The purpose is to have theexam as an alternative for those cases where there is no satisfactoryevidence of activity.

EN-473 × ISO 9712 Standards
Another subject under discussion is the issue of harmonisation
between standards EN-473 (standard widely used in Europe) andISO 9712 (international standard used in Brazil for the SNQC/
END).

ABENDE starts activities in Colombia
During a recent visit to Colombia, ABENDE’s Executive Director,João Conte, participated in several meetings in different institutions,

ICNDT Journal Vol 7 No 9 March 2008

marking the beginning of the Association’s activities in that country.
The Colombian NDT and Welding Association: a collaborationagreement is to be signed between the two entities and ABENDE
will give support to the implementation of a methodology
to recognise Colombian training organisations as well as
the accreditation process itself, making this scheme the Staff
Certification Organisation recognised by the Superintendence ofIndustry and Commerce (SIC), the national accreditation agency
in Colombia. ABENDE has also been requested to help in theorganisation, next year, of an Annual NDT and Welding Congress.
With 15 years of existence, Acosend has organised five congresses
and it has 200 qualified and certified professionals.
Universidade Livre: The most frequent subject discussed at
Universidade Livre (Unilibre) was the implementation of therecently signed agreement with ABENDE. With 43 years ofexperience of running an engineering graduation course, Unilibre
is a pioneer in Colombia providing metallurgy and non-destructive
testing courses.

Staff Certification Forum: suggestions for acommon certification model
During the International Staff Certification Forum held on
25 and 26 September in São Paulo (Brazil), it was discussed thatthe Brazilian certification system is similar to other countries suchas Chile, Uruguay, Spain, Germany and Canada. Some issues
like the low approval rate in exams and the lack of professional
experience are common to these countries. However, the issue oflow educational level of candidates was of more concern amongdeveloping countries.
Another prominent subject presented by the National
Association of Investment Banks (ANBID) was the possibility ofapplying qualification exams through an electronic system inprefixed sites and dates. With an automated system, the professional
gets the results immediately. In general, the representatives of thecertifying entities reached the conclusion that those institutions
should be responsible only for the certification and not for the
training. The Assistant Manager of the Certification Departmentof ABENDE, Erick Lage, represented the association at the eventthat was promoted by Inmetro with the support of ABENDE in theorganisation. The forum was an opportunity to discuss and share
the knowledge on the importance of staff certification, based on
the recognition of competences.

Study Committee of Acoustic Emission creates aworkgroup for the electric sector
The Study Committee of Acoustic Emission created a workgroupaiming at meeting the standardisation needs of the method to theelectric sector. During the first meeting, the group decided thatthe first standard project to be developed will be named ‘NonDestructive Testing – Acoustic Emission – detection and localisationof partial discharges and thermomechanical abnormalities in
power transformers and oil-isolated reactors’. Representatives of
Furnas, Cia Vale do Rio Doce, CTEEP, PETROBRAS, Alcoa and
CEPEL participated in the meeting. For more information, contact
the Standardization Department of ABENDE: normalizacao@
abende.org.br or call (11) 5586-3195.

Invitation for technical papers and exhibition at
CONAEND&IEV 2008
This event takes place from 9 to 12 June 2008 in São Paulo.
Delegates interested in participating and companies interested in
exhibiting should visit the event website at: http://www.abende.
org.br/FrmEventoMan.php?evt_codigo=295

11CALENDAR OF NDT EVENTS
Month

Date

Venue

7-9

Kiev
Ukraine10th Conference and Exhibition
Non-Destructive Testing 2008

ndt@ln.ua
www.ndt.com.ua

17-19

Istanbul
Turkey3rd International Symposium andExhibition on NDT

oda@metalurji.org.tr
www.metalurji.org.tr

20-22

Toulouse
FranceAnnual Conference and Exhibition of theFrench Society for NDT (COFREND)

cofrend@cofrend.com
www.cofrend.com/2008

25-30

Jerusalem
IsraelArt2008 – 9th International Conference
on NDT, Microanalysis and Preservationin the Conservation of Cultural andEnvironmental Heritage

meetings@isas.co.il
www.isas.co.il/art2008

9-12

São Paulo
BrazilXXVI National Congress of
Non-Destructive Testing and Inspection

eventos@abende.org.br
www.abende.org.br

15-18

Edinburgh
ScotlandThe Fifth International Conference on
Condition Monitoring and Machinery
Failure Prevention Technologies

daniel.grove@bindt.org
www.cm2008-mfpt2008.org

20-25

ChicagoUSA

35th Annual Review of Progress in
Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation(QNDE)

qnde3@cnde.iastate.edu

26-30

ShanghaiChina

17th World Conference on NDT

chsndt@public2.sta.net.cn
chsndt2008@163.com
www.17wcndt.com

9-11

Tomsk
Russia

9th International Exhibition on
Non-Destructive Testing and Devices‘Defectoscopy 2008’

www.ndtworld.com

16-18

CheshireUK

NDT 2008 Conference and Exhibition

karen.cambridge@bindt.org

November
2008

10-14

Charleston
USA

ASNT Fall Conference and Quality TestingShow

December
2008

9-12

Kyoto
Japan

September
2009

14-19

Essen
Germany

3rd Quality Testing International
Exhibition 2009

info@messe-essen.dewww.messe-essen.deNovember
2009

8-13

YokohamaJapan

13th Asia-Pacific Conference on
Non-Destructive Testing 2009

apcndt2009@jsndi.or.jp
www.apcndt2009.com

June
2010

7-11

Moscow
Russia10th European Conference on NDT

spektr@co.ru
www.rsnttd.ru

DurbanSouth Africa

18th World Conference on NDTamanda.vdwesthuizen@andtc.com

April
2008

May
2008

June
2008

July
2008

August2008

September
2008

2012

12

Event

19th International Acoustic Emission
Symposium

Contact

conferences@asnt.org
www.asnt.org
acd@jsndi.or.jp

ICNDT Journal Vol 7 No 9 March 2008