On Tuesday 30 October 2012, Institute Presidents Steve Lavender (BINDT) and Ian Hogarth (Australian Institute of Non-Destructive Testing), on behalf of their respective Councils, signed and ratified the following two documents.

ItRobotics, a Stafford, Texas, USA-based company, is entering the coiled oilfield tubing inspection business.

The National Skills Academy for Nuclear has gained approval via the Growth and Innovation Fund (GIF) for a National Nuclear Gateway project, funded by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and matched against nuclear employer investment. The project aims to deliver transformational growth in the UK nuclear industry by equipping businesses and their supply chain with the fundamental skills at the right level and at the right time to deliver the planned nuclear programme in the UK from 2015 onwards.

Taipower, the Taiwan power company, has taken delivery of a new inspection system for steam turbine bores from Zetec in Canada and Phoenix Inspection Systems in the UK.

The Engineering Council has welcomed the Richard Review of Apprenticeships, a timely and important consideration of what apprenticeships should look like. Issued in November, the report by Doug Richard recommends that the focus of apprenticeships should be on the outcomes, with one qualification for each occupation category, and highlights the importance of linking high-quality apprenticeships to professional registration.

The Technology Strategy Board, Welsh Government and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are to jointly invest up to £5.4 million in research and development and knowledge exchange projects to help stimulate innovation and develop UK supply chains between the power electronics and energy sectors.

The four-day event was held at the state-of-the-art Milton Keynes Dons Football Stadium, Milton Keynes, UK, and provided the ideal environment to host the largest Sonatest international sales meeting to date. Distributor partners attended from over 25 countries, together with representatives from industry and other institutions.

Two of the UK’s leading NDT equipment manufacturing companies have teamed up to produce what they claim is a superb corrosion mapping system that is stirring up enthusiasm across the globe. Technology Design and Silverwing UK manufacture equipment for the advanced ultrasonic market and have brought their respective skills together, the result of which is a marriage between the Rapid Motion Scanner (RMS) from Silverwing and the range of computerised ultrasonic acquisition systems from Technology Design.

Element Materials Technology has announced the signing of an outsourcing agreement with Firth Rixson, a global leading aerospace industry supplier of highly-engineered forged and speciality metal products.

Aberdeen-based Inspectahire has helped to protect a unique piece of Scottish heritage at one of the country’s most iconic battlefields.