A look ahead

A LOOK A H E A D As N o n - D e s t r u c t i v e T e s t i n g e n t e r s its second y e a r of publication, the t i m e is right to look back over what we have achieved in the f i r s t y e a r and to announce our plans for the future. N o n - D e s t r u c t i v e T e s t i n g ' s climbing circulation, and the i n c r e a s i n g a d v e r t i s i n g r e s p o n s e , have both c o n f i r m e d our faith that our a p p r o a c h to the subject is the right one. 'High grade technology' is the p h r a s e that b e s t s u m s up the contents of the j o u r n a l . Down to e a r t h without b e c o m i n g facile; t h e o r e t i c a l when n e c e s s a r y , but n e v e r losing sight of practical needs. So t h e r e will not be any m a j o r changes in policy in the coming i s s u e s . N o n - D e s t r u c t i v e T e s t i n g will continue to b r i n g news and i n s t r u c t i o n to the ndt engineer, the technician, and the m a n a g e r . But we now have the e d i t o r i a l background on which to b a s e a m o r e c r i t i c a l approach to the subject. T h e r e will be r e g u l a r a r t i c l e s and f e a t u r e s on the m a n a g e m e n t a s p e c t s of ndt----economics, organization---on training, education, and on the significance of d e f e c t s . Each i s s u e will contain an e d i t o r i a l on one of the c u r r e n t points of debate in ndt, and each i s s u e will contain, under the heading ' C o m m e n t ' , a s h o r t c o n t r o v e r s i a l a r t i c l e w r i t t e n by one of the leading n a m e s in the subject. We will also m a i n t a i n our policy of providing b a s i c i n s t r u c t i o n in the p r i n c i p l e s of ndt. L a s t y e a r we s t a r t e d a s e r i e s on ' B a s i c u l t r a s o n i c s ' which will be continuing this y e a r . L a t e r on we will be s t a r t i n g a s e r i e s of a r t i c l e s on r a d i o g r a p h y , w r i t t e n m a i n l y at o p e r a t o r level w h e r e t h e r e is a l a r g e gap in the l i t e r a t u r e c u r r e n t l y available. T h i s i s s u e contains a full a r t i c l e on the need in the UK for a c e n t r a l c e r t i f i c a t i o n s c h e m e for u l t r a s o n i c s o p e r a t o r s . T h e r e will be a r t i c l e s in f u t u r e i s s u e s on the d i f f e r e n t w a y s in which one m a y approach the question of t r a i n i n g and education. The May i s s u e will f e a t u r e the f i r s t of a n u m b e r of a r t i c l e s on the significance of d e f e c t s . The a r t i c l e on p29 of this i s s u e is a i m e d s p e c i f i c a l l y at m a n a g e m e n t . But although we a r e b r a n c h i n g out in this way, we do not intend to lose sight of the b a s i c need of our r e a d e r s for up to date, r e l e v a n t and above all p r a c t i c a l i n f o r m a t i o n on all that is new and i m p o r t a n t in the ndt industry.

n o n - d e s t r u c t i v e testing F e b r u a r y 1969

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