The Challenge
NDT Technologies Inc., a leader in automated non-destructive testing and measuring systems, is committed to delivering top-quality performance. Throughout the world, they offer heavy metal manufacturers innovative and reliable solutions for real-time inspection. As NDT Technologies Inc. constantly strives to improve their solutions, they were looking for ways to reduce the overall size of their testing system, lower the running costs for their customer, and further increase their system’s reliability. In order to reach these goals, it was clear for NDT Technologies Inc. that they had to begin using the latest available form of real-time data processing platform. While the company was aware of the many benefits to be gained by transitioning to a new form of technology, the challenge lay in the fact that, at that time, the team did not fully master the intricacies of this new technology and needed to eliminate the risk of delaying the development process.
It was in the context of this challenge that NDT Technologies Inc. first began to explore the idea of working with external electronic design experts in order to fully optimize the development process. The project was long-term and complex; therefore, the choice of service provider was an important one. Not only did this project require extensive knowledge of the new technology, but it was essential that this knowledge would successfully be transferred to the in-house team at NDT Technologies Inc. “We made the decision to work with Hardent as we felt confident that their strategic approach to the development process, combined with their technical expertise and training credentials, would help us to successfully reach our end goal and equip our in-house team with the electronic design knowledge to complete not just this project but other projects in the future.” says Stefan Grigoras, Operations Manager at NDT Technologies Inc.
The Solution
Working closely with NDT Technologies Inc., Hardent developed a roadmap that focused on ensuring that the team would have the information and skills required to drive their project forward, while also having access to support when they encountered challenges. After a careful study of the system architecture requirements, Hardent defined a custom training and support package targeted at sharing the electronic design best practices NDT Technologies Inc. would need in order to achieve their system performance objectives. Training sessions were delivered at several intervals throughout the development process, with each session carefully targeted towards the most relevant information for that particular stage of the project. In addition to training, Hardent was able to assist NDT Technologies Inc. with elements of the initial project setup, such as defining design environment variables, as well as acting as a source of design support when required. On demand electronic design support was delivered throughout the duration of the project in order to provide the team with the information necessary to move the development process forward and accelerate project completion. Hardent’s electronic design engineers were constantly available by phone, and for questions that required more detailed answers, an on-site question and answer session was organized to ensure a sustainable transfer of knowledge to the NDT Technologies Inc. team.
Business Benefits for NDT Technologies Inc.
With Hardent’s support during the transition to a new real-time data processing platform, NDT Technologies Inc. was able to successfully:
- Shorten project completion time from three years to two years;
- Enhance the reliability of their system, minimizing the risk of costly production interruptions for their customers;
- Decrease the system weight by 50%, as well as considerably reduce the size and space required to house the system;
- Lower the amount of power needed to run the system, providing customers with important savings in terms of production costs;
- Increase their team’s knowledge in order to be able to sustain this new system and develop future systems using this technology.
“There is no doubt that Hardent’s assistance was invaluable in helping us achieve our system performance objectives and reducing the overall time to complete the project. Their wealth of experience and expertise ensured that our project never stalled and that our team has greatly expanded their technical expertise, allowing us to continue to provide our customers with the most innovative solutions on the market.” concludes Stefan Grigoras, Operations Manager at NDT Technologies Inc.
About NDT Technologies Inc.
NDT Technologies Inc. is a leading provider of automated non-destructive testing (NDT) and measuring systems used by heavy metal industry manufacturers throughout the world. Located in Montreal, Canada, the company is specialized in designing, producing, installing, and servicing automated systems that enable manufacturers to conduct online and offline full body inspections of welded and seamless pipes, bars, billets, heavy steel plates, railroad tracks, train wheels, wheel sets and axles. Using ultrasonic, eddy current, electromagnetic, digital optical vision and laser technologies, the systems incorporate a high degree of technological innovation and customization to meet strict heavy industry requirements and each manufacturer’s specific production needs.
Interested in finding out more about Hardent’s range of electronic design support services? Get in touch with our team.