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Global Bridge Inspection Market Ripe for NDT Inspection Service Providers

According to a recent report from research firm Fact.MR, the global bridge inspection market is predicted to grow 400 percent over the next decade to a total capitalization of $6.3 billon.

The report said this massive growth is the result of an aging infrastructure, damaging environmental factors, and an increase in the amount of total traffic. All of these factors are contributing to the increased decay of concrete and steel over time, creating potential safety problems for the general public but does produce a financial opportunity for steel, concrete and specialized NDT inspection service providers to take advantage of the money that will be pouring into this market over the next 10 years.

Routine bridge inspections, which prevent more costly and potentially hazardous repairs and reconstruction later on, are expected to comprise 83 percent of the total market. Specialized NDT inspection testing and services will make up the rest.

According to a memo from the U.S. Dept. of Transportion’s Federal Highway Administration titled Risk-Based Interval Determination for Routine Bridge Inspections, bridge inspections include the following damage modes:

  • For steel elements: section loss, fatigue, and fracture.
  • For concrete elements: flexural cracking, shear cracking, and reinforcing steel corrosion.
  • For superstructure elements: seismic, overload, and vehicle/vessel impact
  • For substructure elements: seismic, scour, and settlement.

New technologies will play a role in creating new opportunities and new, faster, and more accurate bridge inspections, especially for NDT inspection service providers. The use of drones, specially-built inspection robots, virtual reality, advanced NDT techniques, and cloud-based software platforms will make bridge inspections safer and quicker, allowing companies to provide better bridge inspections at a higher profit margin.

According to the Fact.MR report, developing countries are especially in need of both routine and specialized bridge inspection services. In Japan for example, 48 percent of the bridges are more than half a century old. The report stated: “Developing economies such as China, India, South Africa, and Brazil have witnessed a spike in spending on the inspection and maintenance of existing infrastructure. The necessity to prevent bridge accidents is foreseen to support the growth of transportation over bridge inspection services. China has doubled the volume of infrastructure projects to stave off economic slowdown amid the trade war. India on the other hand has invested about $1.1 trillion on infrastructure for building new roads and rail links.”

Learn more about how cloud-based software be a digital platform for connecting various bridge inspection technologies and streamline NDT business processes.

How SaaS is Driving Digitalization in Inspection and NDT Services

With the wide variety of technology tools available today, inspection and NDT service companies have plenty of opportunities to improve and grow. From streamlining current operations to capitalize on new business, expanding service offerings and exploring new verticals, digitalization strategies like (SaaS) software-as-a-service, are on  radar. The benefits of digitalization are so promising, in fact, the IDC estimates that 40 percent of tech spending is earmarked for digital transformation, with enterprises spending more than $2 trillion in 2019. 

Digital transformation, especially for NDT and industrial inspection companies, can improve operational efficiency, bring faster and help to meet changing customer expectations.

It is important to remember that digital transformation is a process, not something that is finite or measurable with a number. Indeed, when referring to digital transformation via technology, no matter the industry, there is an important distinction that needs to be made. Namely, the difference between digitization and digitalization.

Put in layman’s terms, you digitize paper and forms; you digitalize a company and its ways of providing value to customers. Here’s how Gartner more precisely explains:

  • Digitization:  the process of changing from analog to digital form, also known as digital enablement. Digitization takes an analog process and changes it to a digital form without any different-in-kind changes to the process itself.
  • Digitalization:  the use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities; it is the process of moving to a digital business.

Digitization is the easy part. Taking an NDT inspection form and converting it into an interactive PDF file is perhaps worthwhile but remains a small part of a much larger whole. 

Digitalization that truly transforms a business is the ultimate goal and therefore presents the greatest challenge. This sentiment is echoed in the fast-moving NDE 4.0 operating practice, which embraces enabling new technologies and uncovering new ways of providing value to customers.

NDT service businesses are by nature laser-focused on delivering world-class tests and inspection reports. To do it more profitably and improve competitive advantage, they are considering digital strategies and technology tools like artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT) cyber physical systems, machine learning, remote monitoring, and advanced mobile tools.

However, without a digital platform in place to tie it all together, these technologies remain siloed data sources that require manual manipulation to integrate and analyze. This is where cloud-based software in a SaaS (software-as-a-service) model can provide tangible benefits and even serve as your NDT organization’s digital platform.

Due to the technical nature of NDT and industrial inspections and the range of potential data to be analyzed, many service providers are overwhelmed by disparate systems, a lack of integration, and multiple systems of record. A digital software platform designed for NDT businesses can alleviate these issues and provide better data and better data analytics.

As NDT and inspection business leaders are faced with the challenge of delivering flawless NDT / NDE inspections and then reporting to customers in formats they can understand and act on. In order to make processes easier and remove paper forms, many NDT businesses are turning to digitizing their paper forms. 

Although this is a quick fix that will lead to modest efficiencies, as explained above, simply digitizing data should not be the end game.

Being able to use the data and present it to customers is what really matters, and this is where SaaS software can help NDT businesses truly embrace digitalization, rather than just digitization. From providing competitive advantage to making NDT services safer, the benefits are unmatched for using SaaS as a digital platform.

Learn more about Floodlight Software, a SaaS digital platform for NDT and industrial inspection service businesses.

Digital Transformation for NDT Businesses at NDTMA Conference

Imagine if you could design your own software solution that could digitally transform the operational management of your inspection business.

A solution that takes all of your paper forms, your customer documents, your technician details, your equipment and consumable information including costs and rates and bundles them into an easy to use, task driven system. A solution that would allow you to connect with your customers to share project status and information. A solution that let’s you quote and create jobs, automatically dispatch the jobs with all required forms and reports directly to your technician’s laptop or mobile device. A solution where your technicians no longer need to capture their work on paper and waste time transferring the information to an Excel or Word form.

Would having a simple, easy to use and cost effect tool like this help take your business to the next level?

You don’t have to imagine such a solution any longer. It is available from Floodlight SoftwareCome by Booth 4 next week at the Nondestructive Testing Management Association Conference expo and see how our software was designed by NDT Operations Managers and Level III technicians to help you automate your inspection business.

We are looking forward to this great event put on by the NDTMA.

Floodlight Software Presenting at American Welding Society (AWS) Inspection Conference

The Floodlight Software team will be on hand both presenting and exhibiting at the American Welding Society (AWS) Inspection Conference Jan. 21-23 in Houston, TX. Held at the Hyatt Regency, this conference is a joint effort from the AWS, the American Society of Nondestructive Testing (ASNT), the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE), and the American Institute of Nondestructive Testing (AINDT).

These organizations are joining forces to explore the latest trends in corrosion engineering, NDT, steel construction and welding inspections.

In addition to topics on inspection methods, techniques and equipment, the idea of “Digital Transformation of NDT businesses” will certainly be top of mind for inspection companies looking to stay a step ahead of the competition.

If you are attending the AWS Inspection Conference and are interested in learning more about how technology can improve your business, please join us for a presentation titled “The Operational Value of Digitizing the NDT Inspection Process.” This interactive presentation will be given by Floodlight Software’s own Bruce Breeden at 11:30 am on Wednesday, Jan. 22, in Arboretum 1-4.

In this session, Bruce will outline how to approach digital transformation by mapping the end-to-end processes and critical steps necessary to streamline an NDT business and deliver better service to your customers.

Visit our product tour page to learn more about our cloud-based inspection management platform, which can digitally transform your inspection business from quote to cash.

How NDT Management Software (SaaS) Is Making Pipeline Inspections Safer

There are roughly 3 million miles of pipelines distributing oil, natural gas, and other hazardous liquids across the United States. This dispersed network weaves across North America and grows in complexity depending on the geographical abundance or dearth of natural resources. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), this tangled web of steel and plastic is under-regulated and generally not safe. 

In the last decade, the gas and oil pipeline industry has fallen prey to an alarming loss of lives, injuries, and financial damages. Consider the following data compiled from 2009 through the end of 2018 by FracTracker, an industry reporting group. As a direct result of pipeline fires and explosions during this period, there were:

  • More than 5,500 incidents
  • Almost 600 injuries
  • 126 fatalities
  • $4 billion in damages
  • More than 30,000 people that needed to be evacuated

According to FracTracker, 1.7 pipeline incidents are reported each day in the U.S., requiring 9 people to be evacuated, and causing almost $1.3 million in property damage.

And to make matters worse, this data is not even close to being comprehensive. As reported by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), just 5 percent of gas gathering pipelines are subject to safety regulations. With the number of pipelines in the hundreds of thousands in oil fields across the country, gathering pipelines are largely unregulated. 

Clearly this situation is a major safety concern for the environment and the general public, but also for those on the frontlines servicing, inspecting and performing non-destructive tests on these potentially volatile assets. These modern-day heroes are out performing the work that can prevent accidents and save lives. 

Despite the critical nature of the work and high customer expectations, many NDT businesses still rely on manual processes for service delivery, both in the back-office and in the field. Paper forms are prevalent and create problems in getting accurate and timely information to customers.

With the recent innovations in data capture, including drones, sensors and barcode or RFID scanners, NDT businesses can now take advantage of a long list of technologies to help them serve customers better and keep pipelines safe. 

In light of the new technology that is popping up, software, long one of the easiest ways for businesses to streamline processes, has become almost an afterthought. Perhaps that is due to the siloed nature of business software, requiring integrations in order to interface with other software used in the business or by the NDT teams themselves. 

There are many types of highly specialized NDT software on the market today, each with unique value adds. Most are highly specialized and focus on the tests themselves, allowing an efficient way to both perform NDT and record the results.

Cloud based software subscriptions, or software as a service (SaaS), is also beginning to penetrate the NDT market, and for good reason. The ability to capture data from the field in real-time and push it into one system of record is invaluable.

In our work with NDT inspection companies, we have witnessed several ways in which NDT software can help you better serve your end customers. This will in turn prevent even more pipeline accidents, saving lives and irreparable environmental damage. 

Some of these improvements include:

  • Making field inspectors / testers safer
  • Making field inspectors / testers more productive
  • Enhanced collaboration
  • More accurate data capture
  • Better business decisions
  • Better communications with customers
  • Better customer service
  • More timely reporting
  • Always available data
  • Increased data security
  • Easy data access and recovery
  • Low administration and overhead
  • Low price point
  • Fast time to value
  • Reduced costs
  • Improved DSO
  • Improved time to cash

If you want to make your NDT inspections business better, safer, and more profitable, moving from manual, paper-based processes to one process of automation via software is crucial. To learn more about cloud-based NDT software for your business, visit our solutions page

Digital Transformation at the ASNT Annual Conference

We are only a few short weeks away from the ASNT Annual Conference in Las Vegas. It’s a great forum for exchanging knowledge and learning about the latest advances in the NDT industry.

In addition to topics on test methodologies, techniques, and equipment, the idea of “digital transformation” will certainly be top of mind for companies looking to stay a step ahead of the competition.

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Automating Industrial Inspections and NDT with Cloud-Based Software

As the NDT inspection market becomes an increasingly critical element of the global economy, the way industrial inspections companies deploy software needs to evolve. With a wide range of software available to the inspections and NDT markets, it is common for an organization to use disparate systems that don’t integrate, compromising productivity, customer service and competitive advantage. All too often, an industrial inspections service provider is unable to grow their business because they do not have the appropriate systems in place to manage their customers across the entire lifecycle.

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Three Critical KPIs for NDT Inspections Companies

For NDT inspections companies, performing safe, accurate industrial inspections is a complex endeavor. Business operations can be difficult to keep in synch when you factor in quoting, scheduling, change order management, customer reporting and billing.

Depending on a company’s size and the inspections it performs, many NDT inspections firms have several enterprise applications deployed. These are generally applications that process, store and visualize data, and they are often specialized and lack integration capabilities. This often results in a lack of visibility into what’s occurring at the job site — how long a job took to complete, what equipment was used, who performed the work, and more.

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Four Ways Software as a Service (Saas) Can Grow Your NDT Business

Non-destructive testing companies operate in extremely specialized business landscapes, often making it difficult to differentiate their service offerings from those of their competitors.

Their end customers — be they in industries like aerospace, manufacturing, oil and gas, or renewable energy — all need similar tests and inspections performed for compliance and to keep their assets and equipment environmentally safe and operating at optimal capacity.

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