4 Reasons to Purchase NDT Equipment

There are many reasons a company might choose to purchase NDT equipment. While renting can, in many cases, be extremely cost-effective, there are times when outright ownership is the better option. Deciding when this applies can be determined by considering the following four elements.

1: Workload

How often will the piece of equipment be in use? Large-scale operations might find that no sooner than one inspection is over, another is required. This might be because of output, scale or simply the high number of assets that need inspection. When NDT equipment is purchased and owned, as opposed to rented, it’s constantly available for use and in the right place. Removing the logistics of moving an inspection asset into place will likely result in significant time and monetary savings.

A secondary consideration is that owned equipment can be used for proactive testing – AKA, testing more often than mandatory regulations require. Over time, this provides a highly valuable overview of where and how wear and tear occur, making it far easier to analyse the mean time before failure (MTFB), predict maintenance needs and – crucially – provide a far more accurate knowledge of the lifetime cost of an asset.

2: Familiarity

Staff have to be trained to use NDT equipment. When the kit that’s used changes regularly, so the time and cost of further training increases. Inspectors who are familiar with equipment can perform faster and hone their expertise. Purchasing an item of NDT equipment means that, once the initial training is successfully completed, operators should only need to undergo mandatory updates and refreshers. This increases productivity and reduces overheads.

Operator familiarity shouldn’t be underestimated – even in a landscape of robotics, AI and machine learning. From physical operational logistics to analysing data, inspectors who work regularly with the same inspection tools are more efficient, accurate and far less likely to overlook or misinterpret returned anomalies.

3: Customisation

Gone are the days when it was necessary to just make the best of an existing piece of equipment in a situation outside of the norm. Today, NDT solutions are built on adaptable platforms specifically to address a task. Creating custom robotics and physical equipment geometries to solve a complex NDT task is where the best innovative developers excel.

Such purpose-built kit designed for a specific requirement provides a company with an optimal application. A bespoke build might include a combination of various sensors, equipment with increased payload and the most viable locomotion – including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or crawlers that utilise different methods to navigate a variety of surfaces.

4: ROI

Strategic NDT equipment purchases can represent an extremely good ROI. When in regular use and/or built to solve a particular maintenance challenge, this can drive down inspection costs – sometimes considerably.

In addition, high-end NDT kit comes with robust warranties that are usually measured in years. This provides a good safety net should any maintenance issues or problems occur further down the line.

Bespoke equipment creators will also have a vested interest in your product. Creating solutions for complex inspection tasks is a niche industry – one that the company responsible will be keen to follow and support future upgrades courtesy of advancing technology.

Other elements that improve the ROI are any local, regional, or national tax benefits that might be available.

In many cases, the ultimate equipment portfolio is likely to be a hybrid leased and owned model. The nature of NDT is that multiple options are needed. Therefore, taking advantage of the purchasing benefits of strategic items in combination with renting or leasing others is likely to offer the best blueprint.

Nexxis is dedicated to assisting clients make the most advantageous choices. Our expert team can help companies understand whether renting, leasing or purchasing is the best way forward.

From advanced NDT off-the-shelf products to custom robotics, Nexxis believes that discovering the art-of-the-possible is the key to the best NDT equipment procurement.

Contact us to find out more, or request a quote online.