How CICNDT Qualifies Inspectors for Complex Blade Scans

Allen Hall (0:00)

There aren't enough qualified NDT technicians to go around, and knowing who's inspecting your blades matters more than ever. This week, we welcome back Jeremy Heinks, CEO of Cicndt, to explain what operators should ask before hiring an inspection provider, and how a new IEC standard will raise the bar.

SPEAKER_2 (0:21)

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Allen Hall (0:34)

Jeremy, welcome back to the program.

Jeremy Heinks (0:36)

Yeah, thanks for having me. It's always good to be here.

Allen Hall (0:38)

A lot's happening in your world and in our world too as lightning protection people, because we are all dealing with damage to composite structures and wind turbine blades. There's just been over the last couple of months, some really complex problems in the field. And what I am seeing, maybe you're seeing the same thing, is that some of the technicians that are out there trying to scan blades that are complex, and blades are getting very complex now, particularly with carbon in them and all the bond line issues, that they're just not qualified to do some of these complicated pieces of inspection.

Are you seeing something very similar from where you sit?

Jeremy Heinks (1:22)

Yeah, it's not just in service. It's at the supplier level, and it's at the OEM level where they're trying to do something, but it's hard to come by the right people and make sure you're following a standard of sorts. But yeah, we're seeing that there's a genuine lack of the properly qualified and certified people doing the work.

Allen Hall (1:49)

Is that a training issue or just because there's so much demand for that expertise?

Jeremy Heinks (1:56)

Yeah, a little bit of everything. So one, wind industry, even though it's been around for a while, it's still relatively new to a proper inspection system.

So having the right training in place, not getting taken advantage of by training centers or having stuff that's actually focused on what we use for day-to-day inspection of blades is one thing. The other side of it is there's a global shortage of NET technicians. It's just like any of the other trades that are really in demand. If anybody wants to get into something and have a nice, not an easy life at work, but a decent chance at success and making a decent amount of money, then NET is definitely the way to go because there is huge shortages. Aviation and space programs are booming right now, and they're all looking for technicians.

Allen Hall (2:50)

Yeah, I've seen a lot of requests out there, particularly for defense companies that are building complex composite structures and the job postings. I need an NET person, and they're paying really good money for it right now to find those people.

Jeremy Heinks (3:05)

Oh, absolutely. We just got a request from one of the big names in the US here for 86 technicians, and I'm like, there are no such thing as 86 technicians out there. You'll get onesie twosies here and there, but there's just not that many available at the moment.

Allen Hall (3:21)

Well, back in the blade world, as we're kind of wrapping up the blade season this time of year, and this generally means NDT gets a little bit heavy as everybody realizes, like, oh, well, I have some damage there I didn't see before. A lot of drone inspections are happening, which then draw you in on NDT.

What are people to do here? As an operator, I hear a lot of complaints of, it's really hard to find somebody who knows what they're doing, and I always point them to CICNDT to call you and to get started there. But what should they be doing and what should they be looking for when they have some complex composite problems?

Jeremy Heinks (4:00)

Like you say, a lot more people are bringing us in or bringing inspectors in. Inspection companies in, which is great, and we need to see that. But now, you've made a decision that you need NDT.

Now, you got to make sure you're getting what you pay for and what you expect to receive as a quality service, right? So typically, you go in and there's some questions you want to ask. Like, do you have level 3s in the method of inspection that are going to be overseeing everything, right? From education to certification and qualification.

Then, if they have level 3s, then how do they take care of their technicians in the field? Are they qualified, certified, and do they log their hours? They have to have this whole structure around keeping up these standards. This is why NDT technicians are so expensive and why NDT inspection is so expensive compared to a regular field tech or whatever. Those guys are expensive too. The repair guys, they pull a lot of money because they're highly skilled. But same thing on the NDT side. You're working with a very small group of people that have this skill set and keep up with this training and certification. So you want to make sure they have the proper level 3s. You want to make sure that their technicians are properly trained and certified. You also want to know that their equipment and their applications, their techniques for the inspection. So let's say you have a route inspection or a bon-line inspection.