​Artificial intelligence is being implemented within nearly every aspect of our lives and is slowly changing the face of manufacturing. We only need to look at Industry 4.0 to see its vital part within a manufacturer’s roadmap. Technological advancement is a prime candidate to optimise manufacturing processes, automate complex tasks and identify unknown patterns in workflows.
 
The manufacturing industry is leveraging this game-changing technology with a 60% adoption rate in 2020 (using in at least one business function). This means manufacturers are starting to realise the huge potential of utilising AI to increase their commercial advantage.
 
What is Holding Manufacturers Back?
 
AI is revolutionising almost all sectors, giving empowerment to companies across the globe to gain immense value from their data. Utilising AI can help manufacturers increase operational efficiency, reduce downtime, and deliver high-quality products. If this sophisticated technology is the epitome of Industry 4.0, why is the install rate relatively small?
 
Outdated Technological Infrastructure
 
Manufacturers often use a wide variety of machines, tools and systems that use different and competing technologies. Some of these may be outdated and not compatible with their other technological infrastructure. This combined with a lack of digitalisation is preventing manufacturers from capitalising on the potential.
 
Confidence, Uncertainty and Trust
 
A significant barrier to AI adoption is the trust and confidence in the capabilities of abstract algorithms. Personnel within manufacturing who don’t hold a data science background struggle to validate how predictive modelling and data science work together.
 
JetSoft’s Use of AI in Manufacturing
 
JetSoft employs AI techniques to automatically analyse inspection and manufacturing data, to detect anomalies in product output and associate them with the upstream processes that created them. Manufacturers gain deep insights to understand the correlations in inspection failures and deploy targeted process improvements, to reduce the likelihood of that anomaly occurring again.
 
Our OverSeer solution automatically manages inspection data and techniques from different sources. OverSeer reads and places the data automatically into a central database to perform thorough assessments. Data from new inspections can be tracked as it passes through each module that has an output. Working on legacy formats means our cutting-edge AI technology is able to analyse historic data from manufacturers to instantly spot anomalies and defects.
 
 
JetSoft deploys AI technology into a customer's site, which analyses images and inspection data to automatically detect anomalies and patterns within the data. The AI functionality pinpoints which processes have created the specific anomaly without having to stop the entire production to detect and fix the problem. Manufacturing personnel are then able to analyse the anomaly against a defect specification to gain a deeper insight into if the anomaly has become a defect.
 
Benefits of AI in Manufacturing
 
The applications of using AI are widespread and revolutionising, offering actionable insights into reducing waste and scrap. So, what are the overall benefits of using AI in manufacturing?
 
Predictive Analytics for Increased Production Output
 
AI systems are able to learn from machine learning algorithms and make use of predictive analytics. The manufacturing industry holds a large volume of data, which predictive analytics is powered from. Manufacturers can easily pinpoint anomalies without disrupting the production process.
 
Improved Process Quality
 
AI technology creates an efficient production process, resulting in higher product quality. The software ensures that products going through the inspection stage don’t just meet quality standards but are of higher quality and closer to nominal. 
 
Reduction of Scrap and Waste
 
Early detection of anomalies using AI techniques allows manufacturers to make quick industry-related decisions that won’t further impact production and create more waste. Reducing waste and scrap has a direct correlation with profit generation and the bottom line. When high-quality products are always created, manufacturers are maximising their output without having to scrap any materials. Utilising assets more effectively creates a reduction in the variable cost of each component, meaning lower prices can be introduced to become more competitive. Minimising component costs ultimately creates a more profitable company.
 
Implementing our solutions has allowed established clients to benefit from huge commercial gains. One JetSoft customer who using our solutions has reduced their scrap rates by over 60%, resulting in savings in excess of $2m a year.
 
AI solutions allow manufacturers to utilise their assets more effectively and take advantage of commercial gains. If you want to know more about how JetSoft can help you, get in touch.

Production loops can surface within any manufacturing sector, from pharmaceuticals to aerospace. The costs and implications of production loops can be detrimental to a business, meaning it is vital to acquire a stringent testing process to identify errors and meet those output expectations.

 
Production Loops   
 
In manufacturing, production loops generally materialise because of an error or an unknown, resulting in a good or component having to be remade or reworked. As high investments are spent in design, production and delivering a product, all components must match the specification, even the smallest defect or error could have damaging effects. Errors can happen due to defective equipment or material issues. For example, a batch of materials may unknowingly be of lower quality and therefore too weak for its intended purpose, leading to sub-standard products.

 
Production Errors
 
Production loops cost manufacturers unnecessary expense, the time spent re-manufacturing or fixing a product or component leads to additional costs and delayed output.
 
Remaking a component essentially doubles the cost and time to dispatch and delays other goods that were planned to be on the production line at that time. Brand reputation, customer relationships and trust are paramount to profit and growth. Delays to customers receiving their goods can drastically impact brand reputation and, in some circumstances, could even lead to clients going elsewhere.
 
Alongside this, defective products arising creates excessive consumption of materials and energy, significantly affecting profitability. These losses not only impact performance and production costs but also directly increase the carbon footprint with the additional CO2 emissions that are released.
 
 
Identifying the Root Cause
 
JetSoft’s solutions create visibility over the production line, which enables manufacturers to operate more reliable production and mitigate production loops. By centralising inspection data alongside vital production data, our OverSeer framework can derive further intelligence on your operations manufacturing process.
 
To receive detailed inspection data, our solution DigiOps allows manufacturers to digitise the inspection process, collating all the data formats into the OverSeer platform, where it will be combined with the array of production data you have available. Our specialised machine learning algorithms will analyse all the data inputted, in order to spot anomalies to identify common problems occurring.
 
  1. Reduce Extra Production Costs 
As an example, our solution may find that products going through equipment are experiencing higher inspection failure rates than those on other lines, indicating a problem with the equipment. Our solutions can help you identify exactly where a defect is originating by integrating inspection alongside other manufacturing data, so that maintenance of equipment can quickly take place to prevent another component facing the same failure and therefore the associated costs in re-make.
 
  2. Minimise Delayed Output 
Digitising paper-based processes through our solutions helps you to gain end-to-end visibility of all inspection data, to make quick and informative decisions. If a material defect rate is higher from a certain supplier, alternative materials may be sourced to ensure fewer defects and thereby fewer delays.
 
  3. Reach Net-Zero 
JetSoft can help you meet those looming carbon emission targets. Gain complete control and traceability over your inspection and manufacturing data, to identify the root cause of any production-related complications before they become a production nightmare. OverSeer can help you drive sustainability, by increasing quality control, spotting defects earlier on and where from, minimising the chance of a production loop. Fewer production loops mean the associated energy required is taken out of the equation and so are the carbon emissions.
 
  4. Meet Customer Expectations 
OverSeer curates an in-depth data process through our user-friendly analytics dashboard, allowing you to input all formats of data, from complex 3D images to the simplest of forms. Our solution can cross-compare real-time and historic data, to monitor trends and help you gain in-depth insight to produce high-quality products. Minimising production loops is integral to reaching quality controls to exceed customer expectations and stay ahead of competition.

 
A Framework for Success
 
Implementing a digital framework is critical to driving efficiency in your production line and paramount to reducing production loops.
 
By deploying JetSoft’s solutions, you are able to identify defects to improve future production processes, increasing your output and decreasing waste. High-quality and reliable output will create major opportunities to gain a competitive advantage in the manufacturing landscape, get in touch to find out more.

The manufacturing sector is in the midst of a digital revolution, embracing the likes of IoT, robotics and AI, so why is it that so many paper-based processes remain? According to a recent study, roughly 62% of manufacturers still utilise some form of paper-based system, yet those same respondents were aware that is where the greatest productivity improvement could be derived. Enter digitisation.
 
 
Shifting to digitised processes
 
Whilst many manufacturers haven’t dropped their pen and paper just yet, more and more manufacturers are considering digitising their processes to transition to the digital age effectively.
 
The past couple of years have only amplified this, with proportions of the workforce working remotely, there was a greater need for employees to be able to access relevant information remotely and with paper records, this just isn’t possible. Digitising paper processes is the first step on the digital road, there is no point in having a manufacturing facility with IoT sensors connected to assets to conduct predictive maintenance if that same maintenance procedure is being documented on paper. You have to digitise before you digitalise.
 

The potential of digitising
 
The manufacturing sector is evolving and paper-based processes are holding manufacturers back from their true productivity potential. So, what exactly can be gained from digitising these processes?
 
1. Time 
If we take inspections as an example, a record of every inspection has to be collected, however filling in paper-based forms is an arduous task and often leads to a lot of unnecessary repeats and the information sometimes has to be manually inputted into a central system. Digitising this process means inspections can be logged digitally and automatically stored in a central location. Also, pre-generated forms can be developed with certain aspects automatically filled-in to reduce unnecessary repetitions. IDC research states the manufacturers could gain a 50% increase in productivity by going paperless.
 
 
2. Minimising Errors 
Everybody makes mistakes, we’re human at the end of the day. However, paper-based systems only increase the probability of mistakes appearing in records. It gives way to incorrect entries or inconsistent records, leading to a lack of data integrity. The ability to replicate forms means less data entry is required, and less chance of an incorrect data entry.  
 
3. Actioning Data 
As paper-based systems are more time intensive, the route to action is longer. For example, when workers are registering deviations or maintenance issues these are done so on paper, which then must be manually inputted and flagged with relevant members via email or in-person, which could be days later. Whereas a digital platform can instantly highlight any recorded deviations on a shared interactive dashboard, so issues are resolved faster.
 
4. Sourcing Data 
Due to the compliance nature of the manufacturing industry, records are constantly being kept throughout the production processes but once they are done, they are simply stored away and never seen again until an audit, where there’s often a scramble to source critical information. Digitising these documents will mean each record, in various formats can be stored in one location, where it will be accessible for other applicable colleagues. Utilising software means the required information is easier to source through filters and refined searches, reaching records in a few simple clicks. Valuable data is now made accessible.
 
5. Conduct Analysis 
Not only is filling in paper documentation time-consuming, it also loses any opportunity to derive value from the results and data is the new oil! Documents are being filled in purely from a compliance perspective, whereas digitising could allow the stored data to be analysed to give greater insight into operational performance. Data becomes more centralised when the processes are digitised, meaning production, inspection and financial data could be stored in one central location. And when utilising a digital platform that incorporates business intelligence the data can be analysed to detect trends and patterns that can drive more valuable decisions and continuous improvement. For example, the analysis may show that one particular component is failing inspections at a higher rate, which could indicate a design flaw or a problem on the production line.
 
6. Sustainability  
Many manufacturers have set sustainability agendas for their businesses to reduce their environmental impact and printing thousands of sheets of paper won’t help achieve a carbon neutral goal. In addition, the potential for analysis means failed inspections and wastage figures can be analysed and detect areas for concern, so that production waste can be limited in the future.
 
Digitisation is the next step for manufacturers, the move can deliver end-to-end data visibility for continuous improvement and elevated quality control.
 
 
Introducing DigiOps
 
As much as the benefits of digitising processes are clear to see, transitioning to an electronic format is no small feat. Our DigiOps solution is designed to replicate and replace paper and spreadsheet systems, with smooth integration in mind and tailored to your specific needs.
 
Built on our OverSeer framework, DigiOps has the capacity to create digital replicas of your paper forms and the ability to create and revise form templates to be distributed to shop floor team members. These forms from then can be completed digitally from several devices and be shareable with other colleagues. DigiOps comes with business intelligence built in, so data is easily viewable via interactive visualisations and simple filtering systems, and data analysis to develop key insight, delivering actionable information.
 
 
Futureproof your data management with DigiOps. Speak to our experts to find out more.  

​This month (August 2020) marks the second anniversary of our first AI, Automatic Defect Recognition (ADR) system being installed in a production environment.
​
To date we haven’t promoted our ADR system publicly, deciding to concentrate on working with select companies and individuals to fully develop it. However it has formed a natural addition to OverSeer’s framework. OverSeer collects inspection data and performs validation and calculations upon it, notifying stakeholders of results and storing data for further analysis. ADR is just another calculation.

​
This flagship installation at an aerospace metal production facility was installed in August 2018 and utilises many of JetSoft’s software features. We are gathering positive feedback from the site about the quality and productivity benefits it is delivering, including:
​

• Automatic defect and characteristic recognition
• Combining factory wide data with inspection information
• Driving process change
• Generating new insight and enabling predictive maintenance
• Reducing the requirements on downstream processes

In a series of upcoming posts, I will discuss these areas in more detail to explain how our processes deliver these benefits, starting with an insight into our ADR software.
 

A note on ADR
Firstly, this article uses the term ADR, which is an industrial term to mean the automatic detection of a problem within a component. ADR isn’t clearly defined yet within the industry, as explained in the previous post ADR - what’s expected? 

​The installation discussed in this article is an Automatic Indication Detection (AID) system, where inspections are still signed off by a qualified human operator.
 

How it works
JetSoft’s core mission is to provide systems that automatically aggregate and catalogue inspection data into a single database. We understand inspection data, and we gather it into a convenient format to take advantage of it. Our solutions combine quality control information with data from other manufacturing systems. These include details about the processing conditions that the part has gone through, details of the component structure and the customer specifications. Combining this information, and making it available for all, has the huge benefit of keeping quality at the forefront of everyone’s mind. I will talk about this in more detail in a future article.

This collated data is passed through an extensible list of models which are trained to look for particular faults or certain characteristics. Each model outputs a confidence level based on the likelihood that the inspection contains a positive match. Any disagreement between the system and inspector is highlighted to the responsible level 3 or automatically sent for a second opinion. This drastically minimises the potential for misdiagnosis. Additionally, the output of these models is stored in the system and is made available for analysis. 

​ 
Thresholding of output confidence enables the user to select the desired level of Probability of Detection (POD).

Model training is in depth and employs a hybrid approach using a combination of pre-processing, AI machine learning techniques using historic data and deterministic algorithms.

One of the key advantages of this system is its ability to subcategorise defects. For example, this system can differentiate between a lamination crack caused by rolling and a quench crack caused by heat treatment. Detecting this distinction is non-trivial for a human inspector, requiring further analysis

​Similar defects which are caused by different process may look very similar to inspectors, but it is important to differentiate them to target improvements towards the appropriate processes. For inspectors to make this distinction may require additional training and further analysis, whereas the systematic solution is automatic, quick and consistent.

​I mentioned earlier that the system can be configured to identify any characteristics, not just defects. This is important as there are many things we may want to observe and track that could indicate future problems which in time could lead to defects, or just a general reduction in quality. The time and cost investment of training inspectors to manually identify such trends or patterns would not be justified, however by recognising these warning signs early, there is time for mitigating action to be taken to reduce scrap rates in the long run.

 
Key benefits summary
An independent assessment – this system provides an independent assessment alongside the inspector. If there is any difference between the system and the inspector, the responsible level 3 can be alerted or it can be automatically sent for a second opinion. This improves quality and reduces the chance of mistakes or misdiagnosis, without increasing operating costs.

Sub categorisation of defects – this is the big commercial driver behind the software. It is the application of this feature that has seen scrap rates plummet. An inspector’s job is not necessarily to interpret the cause of a defect, but to highlight its existence. By training models to examine for defects with a known cause, we can target our time and efforts on improving process where we will see the most commercial benefit. This creates a feedback loop of high-quality, useful, data from inspection to all other departments.
 
Next time
Quality should be everyone’s responsibility, but this is only achievable if everyone has a clear vision of quality, and their impact upon it. JetSoft is providing the tools that deliver real time statistics which demonstrate and communicate quality to all.

​Next time we’ll look in more detail at how we’re achieving this and how JetSoft’s is helping everyone to take ownership of quality.
 

​​Automatic Defect Recognition (ADR) is a term that is gaining traction within the NDT world. However, neither ADR or the functions such a system should deliver are clearly defined.

​At JetSoft we prefer to split ADR into two stages, using the terminology Automatic Indication Detection (AID) and Automatic Part Sentencing (APS).
 
The problem with ADR
The scope of ADR isn’t clear. It seems, depending upon your source, ADR can range from a system which highlights abnormalities to an inspector, to one which can perform full sentencing (go/no go), eliminating the need for an inspector at all. In practice, most end users anticipate a solution resembling the latter, but this may not be true of the products promoted by equipment vendors.
 
AID and APS
At JetSoft we don’t use the term ADR, due to the lack of clarity on what this means, instead we use the terms:

• Automatic Indication Detection (AID)
• Automatic Part Sentencing (APS)

Defect detection is a two step process. The first step is the discovery of an indication or discontinuity, the second step is evaluating that indication against a specification to determine whether it is a defect. ADR may (or may not – depending upon who you talk to) be considered to be the automation of this two-step process. However, in JetSoft’s experience each stage can be automated separately, indeed it would be difficult not to.

JetSoft refers to the automation of the first step as Automatic Indication Detection (AID) with the results highlighted to an inspector or used as an independent assessment and compared with the manual outcome.
​
The second step, qualifying the indications against defect specifications, JetSoft calls Automatic Part Sentencing (APS). Because once a system is confidently automatically qualifying defects it must logically be able to decide if the part passes or failed.

​Is ADR overhyped?
News about ADR (go/no go) using deep learning and machine vision is rife and in my view racing towards the peak of inflated expectations on the Hype Cycle. 

The Hype Cycle, developed by the technology firm Gartner, details the phases a new technology goes through to reach maturity and widespread adoption. 

The scale of the peak and trough of this graph is exacerbated by the lack of clear definition of ADR. It is not difficult to imagine a situation where customers and suppliers differ on the expected functionality, resulting in a negative view of ADR and its possibilities.

However, ADR will happen. There is a large commercial appetite to reduce the cost of inspection and new advances in computation technologies prove that it is possible technically. But it may take a while to get there and require more investment (time and money) by users than anticipated. The market should be prepared not to expect a single turnkey algorithm that performs ADR on any component for any defect, but, should rather, anticipate solutions that require dedicated configuration, development and training based on what the users is looking for and the component/material type.

We hear a lot about the benefits involved with ADR, but perhaps less so of the realism of implementing and delivering them.
 
What to expect
JetSoft is amongst several companies utilising these new technologies, with working systems, using deep learning and machine learning techniques in place in production environments.
​ 
It is JetSoft’s experience that performing accurate automatic detection of defects takes dedicated time, development, and extensive testing. Furthermore, for an AID system to be effective, additional information beyond inspection data is required. Including component details and upstream process data, both of which are critical.

​It is important to note that in every case the preceding step to achieving an APS must be a fully working, and empirically proven AID system.
 
Contact us
As always, we would love to hear your thoughts on this, and if you have any questions, or would like to know more about what we do and the systems we have developed please get in contact.

​It is with great pride that we are officially launching our NDT Office software package, a solution dedicated to helping NDT departments manage their vast amounts of documentation and paperwork.

Background
For several years now, Jetsoft’s solutions have been helping companies to capture, manage and utilise their testing data, and to aggregate it across many formats and techniques, improving accessibility, efficiency, and communication.

From here, we spotted an opportunity to add value by transforming the way NDT departments manage their documents. Documentation is the lifeblood of NDT departments and underpins the operation and day to day activity of all personnel. Inspection results are inextricably linked to the documentation which drives the processes, including customer specifications, work instructions, equipment calibration and inspector certification and qualifications.

The problem
Most NDT departments are poorly setup to manage their documents, using unsuitable products such as the Microsoft Office suite, PDFs and in many cases, still using paper records.

My statement that Microsoft Office is unsuitable my surprise some of you, but Word, Excel etc, are not designed for our dynamic needs. They are great for single, standalone documents but are missing a lot of functionality that testing departments require. NDT documents are living, breathing records with dependencies, cascading impacts, and multiple relationships.  Some simple examples of missing functionality include:

• Expiration alerts. Many documents have an expiration date, and Microsoft Office has no way to specify an expiry date and to send alerts as that date approaches.
• Traceability and versioning. Process and specification documents are often updated and revised. Accurate version control is imperative in understanding which documents were in use when. Microsoft tools are inadequate for this.
• Data lookups. Completion of an inspection report requires the inspector to provide details on the equipment used and which specifications were followed. The designer of the template is left with the choice of a free text box which is versatile but lacks any validation, or an inbuilt dropdown box that rapidly goes out of date.

NDT departments implement workarounds for these inadequacies, which adds considerable time to the management process, for example maintaining separate excel sheets or constantly updating report templates. These workarounds not only add significant time overhead, but are not scalable in a business looking to grow the NDT department, operate more machines, test more components and take on more customers (and so specifications). In this scenario, management by a single Excel spreadsheet will very quickly become problematic.

​The Solution
JetSoft is a software company dedicated to developing solutions for NDT. We are ideally placed to both understand the needs of NDT departments and prescribe the best approach to solve them. We put our heads together, engaged with both existing and new clients, and have designed and developed NDT Office. This application fits neatly into our existing framework and expands our capabilities from managing resultant inspection data to integrating the surrounding documentation.

OverSeer and NDT Office are centralised solutions, which store data and documents in one accessible place, and can be created by all colleagues who are granted access by the administrator. JetSoft solutions use cloud technologies, so can be accessed from any networked device without the need to install software. Note, it’s important to point out that while the solution is built using cloud technologies, individual instances can be installed on premises, meaning all data and access is via the internal network only and no data or connection is exposed externally.

NDT Office is an incredibly versatile solution containing a vast number of useful features including:

• A complete and flexible toolkit to create forms and documents, with in built traceability
• Configurable expiry dates and alerts via email as expiration approaches
• Configurable validation to minimise input errors and eliminate missing data
• Create wrappers for multiple files, e.g. an inspection report of a component may be a collection of tests, combined with other related documentation to form a single entity
• Automatically restrict access to create inspection reports based on existence of other documents. For example, it is possible to prevent an operator from creating an inspection report if they don’t have valid credentials.

• Create and manage lookups so that options within forms are always up to date. As this is centrally administered, lookup options are managed and instantly applied to forms. When a new item of equipment comes online, with NDT Office, it can easily be added to the list of active equipment from which the operator can select when completing a report.

NDT office is built on top of the OverSeer framework and so benefits from its existing functionality including comprehensive search tools and business intelligence features.

These features are helping companies to reduce the time demands on key personnel, to reduce risk, become more efficient and put them in a position to scale and grow.

Use Cases
NDT office has already been installed and is in use at several locations. Our clients range from large manufacturers using NDT Office to manage data entry and non-conformance reporting, to test houses exposing the NDT Office interface to field engineers to recall previous inspection results and enter new reports, all of which are immediately accessible to head office.

​I’ll be writing some case studies in the coming months.

We’re offering free Cloud instances of OverSeer and EyeView to help people to work from home.

JetSoft has instigated a work from home policy following the latest UK government recommendations. This advice is designed to stem the spread of the Covid-19 virus to keep infection levels within the capacity of the heath service (to squash the sombrero [curve] as The UK Prime minister put it).
 
It is our collective duty to do what we can during these unprecedented and frankly bizarre times. Whilst it is easy for us to implement home working (we’re a software company, all we need is a laptop and access to caffeinated drinks) this is not true of most people, including in the NDT world. The added pressure of school closures is compounding the problem, and some individuals will be forced to stay home. This got us thinking, is there any way we can help?
 
A major feature of JetSoft’s solutions is a centralized repository for all NDT information, providing access from any device and location. Our software is built using Cloud and web technologies and data is accessed and viewed from a web browser, therefore our tools can be used from any computer. While many NDT tasks require you to be close to the point of inspection, others such as analysis and report writing can be undertaken remotely.
 
We’re offering to setup free instances of our software hosted in the Cloud. Data can be uploaded from the factory and then will be available via a secure portal, for viewing and analysis from any location, plus you’d get access to all the other great tools we have.
 
Designed to be technique and format agnostic, OverSeer accepts and understands lots of different data including:
   Caldata
   .csv
   Matec
   Midas
   Mistras
   DICONDE
   .pdf
   ScanMaster
   Testia
   Tiff
   USL
   .xlsx
 
For a full list, please get in contact.
 
Note: Cloud technologies are not for everyone so we can also setup an on-premises instance, hosted on your company network, which means data doesn’t leave your environment and will be available from home if you’re able to VPN into your network.

What is a PACS?

Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) provide central storage and access to images from multiple sources across multiple techniques. The Picture in the PACS acronym is a bit of a misnomer as PACS don’t just deal in pictures. They also contain all the data around that picture, including when/by who/how that picture was taken. It contains that critical, contextual information that is written on the back of an old photograph.

 
Where are they used?

PACS are used extensively and ubiquitously in the medical world, enabling a plethora of medical practitioners to offer a smooth patient centric service. PACS act as a hub in the network of collection equipment and viewing terminals, allowing the collectors of data and the evaluators to work at arms length. Medical images can be transferred electronically and so instantaneously to wherever the patient requires them. Medical PACS revolve around the DICOM standard, and are very mature, having been first developed in the 1970s.
 
What are the benefits?

This is great for the medical industry, but why do we need them for industrial NDT? Well, we do but for different reasons, reasons that are becoming more critical and useful.

Unlike the medical industry manufacturing is production, not component centric. In the DICONDE format – the NDT equivalent of DICOM standard – component is analogous for patient, except the component is not normally a repeat customer and the suite of tests in manufacturing are generally prescribed and linear, and diagnosis is normally subject to quantifiable standards.

However, industry can benefit from PACS technology in other ways. As projects become more global (such the countries participating in the F35 project), and companies become more likely to have an off site level 3, stakeholders or critical NDT decision makers are not in the same location as the inspection. In this case a PACS helps to make the flow of data and communication more efficient, reducing the time needed to make a decision thus making manufacturing more efficient.

NDT image data quantity is expanding and becoming more complex, both in terms of volume and size, and quite often management of that data will incorrectly fall on to the NDT department. They have the impossible task of managing continuous data generation across many different proprietary formats from multiple locations and techniques. A good PACS will order this data automatically, make this data manageable, and provide quick and easy search and view functions, reducing the time demands on key NDT personnel allowing them to work more effectively.
 
Where can I get one?

JetSoft’s OverSeer is a PACS solution that specialises in NDT information. OverSeer can automatically read and understand many different formats from multiple suppliers and techniques, reducing resources absorbed with data management. OverSeer is DICONDE compliant and so can both input and output DICONDE information and can act as a DICONDE converter for your existing data.

OverSeer’s database with web interface makes it easy to search and find inspections by their contextual information, for example all the scans done on a particular piece of equipment, by a certain operator or with a particular defect.

OverSeer goes further than a standard PACS and offers Business Intelligence functionality, allowing performance of Statistical Process Control (SPC), trend analysis, and full health check of the NDT department.

By using OverSeer and having NDT information in a central database allows us to perform some new types of analysis, including data fusion, automatic defect recognition, or dataset analysis. An example of this was a defect heatmap that was recently performed for a JetSoft customer, which provided new insight and enlightening results

For more information or to arrange a demonstration please get in contact with JetSoft.

http://www.jetsoft.co.uk/contact.html

I’m immensely proud to say I work in NDT. It is an industry which extraordinarily manages to maintain a community feel whilst operating worldwide, across multiple industries and technologies. It is flexible and embraces innovation, yet maintains strict standards and it is a safe space where ideas are met with respect and support. It is a joy to work in.  

These fantastic qualities and innovative nature are in large due to the makeup of the companies that provide NDT resources. Anyone that has attended the myriad of exhibitions or read any of the industry press will know that there are endless companies, offering bespoke services and pioneering solutions. It is extremely competitive, and these companies can only survive by being innovative and creative; providing solutions to make inspection, easier, faster or more effective.

This link between competition and innovation was highlighted by Edward de Bono (creator of the widely praised lateral thinker technique).
 “As competition intensifies, the need for creative thinking increases. It is no longer enough to do the same thing better . . . no longer enough to be efficient and solve problems.”
 

The current state of NDT should be revered and every effort should be made to maintain it. However, a threat looms large. I wrote previously about how NDT is about to become even more important, which looked at the value of the data produced by NDT and how it is set to revolutionise manufacturing. The disruption caused by this revolution is set to disturb the balance and potentially upset the innovative culture we currently enjoy.

The larger equipment manufacturers, most notably GE have been using their vast resources to invest incredibly heavily in developing solutions to facilitate data integration. This investment is on such a large scale that most of their competitors cannot compete. This vertical integration of data and equipment has the potential for them to monopolise the market or at the very least dictate terms to the smaller more innovative specialist companies.


JetSoft is an independent company that links NDT resources with manufacturing processing systems. We partner with equipment manufacturers to help them in various ways, including:

• providing solutions for integrating data which adds value to products
• additional revenue streams through reseller opportunities
  
• allowing partners to focus on innovation and specialising in NDT
• increasing awareness by advertising that our partners are preferred suppliers

JetSoft’s core skill sets lie in NDT data and software development, we’re passionate about the potential of NDT whilst maintaining the innovative and specialist nature which is so important in the industry.

JetSoft works collaboratively to ensure that our solution fits your individual and specific circumstances. So, if you’re the producer or owner of NDT data please get in contact to see how we can help you integrate your NDT information.  We look forward to working with you in the future.

We all appreciate and understand the role of the NDT department, which is to maintain the quality and integrity of materials and components to ensure safety and continued operation. NDT departments and personnel around the global do this with aplomb. However, their importance is sometimes overlooked and their success only evident with thought. Perhaps NDT is the only department where the overall success can be measured in lack of catastrophe?
 
This hard working, inconspicuous, department is about to take centre stage. Quietly they have been going about their work testing components and collecting data, and it is this data that is about to burst on to the scene. This data holds the key to the reduction of waste and improved productivity; it is the kernel that manufacturing data should be built around.
To improve quality, we must drive change, otherwise how can we expect the quality of a product to improve? The quote often attributed to Einstein comes to mind: “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” The data produced by the NDT department is the key to this. To decide what to improve we must understand when and why a problem arose.
 
In the best manufacturing environments, we see people trying to do this but lacking the tools. JetSoft often hears informal discourse between production and the NDT department. A simple example would be:
NDT: “Defect X is appears to have recently become more common.”
Production: “in your experience why do you think this might be happening?”
NDT: “It seems to be more apparent on product W in batches Y and Z.”
Production: “We changed the supplier of a raw material recently that went into those batches.”
NDT: “That seems a likely cause, lets investigate that further.”
But even when this does happen it is insufficient, because it relies on the NDT personnel spotting a rise in the occurrence of a defect and which product and batches that trend affected. It also relies on the production manager knowing about a supplier change. Even if this is spotted and the assumptions are correct there is a delay in information exchange and possible correction. Manufacturers have all the data required to automate this process, but lack the tools
 
This is where JetSoft can help. Our OverSeer solution is structured around building a central database repository for NDT information. Once installed it is easy to navigate your data, monitor trends, gather insight, create reports, set-up notifications and alerts and expose the data to other production processes and systems.
JetSoft works collaboratively to ensure that our solution fits your individual and specific circumstances, so please get in touch to discuss how we may be able to help you.