EMBRACING ETHICS AND INTEGRITY FOR
THE NEW YEAR (AND EVERY YEAR)
Welcome to Materials Evaluation’s quarterly column on ethics in nondestructive
testing (NDT). This month, we want to start the year off on a positive note and take
a moment to highlight how various companies in our industry have successfully
embraced ethical practices while still satisfying quality assurance requirements. For
this article, I had the pleasure of interviewing several key quality assurance (QA)
managers and highlight their reputations for being well-respected in their specific
industries of oil and gas, aerospace, and Department of Defense industries. The QA
and NDT personnel interviewed were:
Ñ Francis X. Clark: Aerospace NDT
Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) Repair Station, Chief Inspector,
Velocity Maintenance Solutions
Ñ David Cloak: Development,
Department of Defense, NDT
Department Manager and Alloy
Surfaces, Vice President, Quality
Assurance and Research
Ñ Allen Sanders: Prior NDT Quality
Manager and Responsible Level III in
the oil and gas industry ASNT NDT,
SNT-TC-1A Level III, and NAS 410
Level 3 in MT, PT, VT, UT, and RT
We asked our highly esteemed guests
a few key questions and their answers
follow.
Francis Clark
Q: Bailey: Please tell us a little about
Velocity Maintenance. How do
ethics play a role in establishing
QA and NDT procedures at your
company?
A: Clark: Velocity Maintenance
Solutions is a FAA-certified repair
station providing maintenance,
repair, and overhaul on many
corporate aircraft. As such,
we understand our moral
responsibility to and ethical
commitment to the people that
fly on the aircraft we inspect and
work on. Having highly trained
and qualified NDT technicians and
the latest equipment is an integral
part of our quality control when
we supply NDT services to our
customers.
Q: Bailey: Can you give us an example
of a time where a customer asked
your company to do something
unethical and tell us how you
handled that situation?
A: Clark: There are times when
a customer does not like the
outcome of an NDT inspection
on their aircraft, due mostly to
cost and downtime to repair. We
will not be persuaded to deviate
from our findings and are always
willing to have another qualified
NDT technician perform the same
inspection to confirm our findings.
David Cloak
Q: Bailey: Please tell us a little about
Alloy Surfaces. How critical is QA
and adherence to procedural
practices to your company?
A: Cloak: Alloy Surfaces designs and
manufactures products that aid in
the defeat of heat-seeking missiles
from acquiring aircraft. Adherence
to procedural practices is critical.
Therefore, QA is the tool by which
Alloy ensures our products meet
performance requirements.
Q: Bailey: Does QA have a significant
impact on business and company
growth?
A: Cloak: QA within our company
drives business and company
growth by ensuring overall
customer expectations are met.
QA drives business and company
growth by assuring that product
performance is consistent, and
NDTETHICS
|
SCOPE
Velocity Maintenance Solutions is a FAA-certified repair station providing maintenance, repair,
and overhaul on many corporate aircraft.
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controls are in place to monitor,
contain, and address quality
issues in order to achieve on-time
delivery.
Q: Bailey: Your company recently
passed critical audits for state
and government agencies, and
you passed those NDT and QA
audits with compliments from
the auditors. Was your journey
stressful, and how did you maintain
ethical policies (your moral code
of honor) while still satisfying
production and quality at the same
time?
A: Cloak: The stress was only
momentary while we sought
out an outside vendor that
could supply the radiographic
equipment that would allow us
to meet customer requirements.
Once we understood the scope of
requirements and sought outside
guidance, our stresses were
relieved. As a DoD contractor,
we have ethical guidelines that
we must follow to fulfill our
contractual obligation. Whenever
there are constraints that may
interfere with our ability to
act within the guidelines, we
collaborate with our customers to
find an amenable solution.
Q: Bailey: Your company transitioned
from meeting Recommended
Practice No. SNT-TC-1A to meeting
the very strict NAS 410 standard
for NDT. Was the journey to convert
challenging?
A: Cloak: Yes. We needed to acquire
new equipment to meet customer
radiographic requirements. In
addition, we needed assistance
to educate in-house operators
to be able to navigate the new
equipment, software, and NAS 410
skills and responsibilities, all while
sustaining our production schedule
to meet customer delivery
requirements.
Allen Sanders
Allen Sanders
has held the
Certified Quality
Auditor creden-
tial from the
American Society
for Quality. In
his prior role, he implemented ISO
and AS 9100 certifications for multiple
companies while also serving as the
company’s Responsible Level III.
Q: Bailey: Please tell us a little about
your former role as an NDT quality
manager. What is the impact of
a company not implementing
an NDT quality procedure or not
adhering to a quality system such
as ISO 9000 or AS 9100?
A: Sanders: The purpose of a quality
system is to assure that we delight
our customers and fully meet their
requirements. When we follow a
“quality system,” it provides a road
map to that satisfaction. Without a
quality system, we are much like a
ship without a rudder.
In Conclusion
Readers can see why QA goes hand
in hand with NDT and how having an
ethical quality department can have a
tremendous impact on reputation, busi-
ness, and company growth. We want
to thank the quality managers featured
here for offering their expertise and
transparency in maintaining a good
company name by ensuring ethics are
always considered first regardless of the
rigorous production struggles.
We now ask you, the reader, to eval-
uate the following questions. What is your
secret to maintaining ethics and integrity
while satisfying QA requirements? What
are your thoughts on the questions and
answers presented in these interviews?
We hope this column is helpful to
you and we’d love to hear from the
NDT community. Please go online and
comment on this article on ASNT’s blog
(scan the QR code for quick access).
EDITOR
Antionette (Toni) Bailey: TB3 NDT
Consulting LLC ASNT NDT Level III, IRRSP,
NAS 410 Level 3 (MT, PT, RT, UT, ET, Nital
Etch) toni@tb3ndt.com
Alloy Surfaces designs and manufactures products that aid in the defeat of heat-seeking missiles
from acquiring aircraft.
SCOPE
|
NDTETHICS
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