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If you’ve tried to implement AI or ADR for your NDT Operations and failed, you’re not alone.
While the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automated Defect Recognition (ADR) solutions are transforming industries reliant on Non-Destructive Testing (NDT), many organizations are assuming that these tools will lead to immediate cost savings.
However, we have worked with a handful of organizations that realized that adopting AI and ADR solutions is a multi-step process and requires an initial investment upfront before they will begin to see the benefits these systems can provide.
Ooga has worked with these organizations to evaluate AI and ADR solutions because of our one-stop platform’s access to vetted, highly skilled NDT experts and multiple tools available in a single location.
Top 4 Solutions to Overcome Common AI and ADR Adoption Pitfalls in NDT
Based on what we’re seeing across the NDT industry and through our consulting engagements, we’ve mapped out the top 4 solutions to the most common pitfalls:
1. Conduct an Agnostic AI and ADR Tool Assessment
Pitfall #1 - Choosing the first AI or ADR system you find versus evaluating multiple systems for what’s best for your organization
The best AI tool for your organization is going to depend on your unique needs – the kind of data, and how it’s organized, and correlated. To determine the best system, you need to conduct an agnostic AI and/or ADR tool assessment.
Ooga Technologies has tested and reviewed multiple AI and ADR systems, providing clients with unbiased, expert advice on the best solutions to meet their specific operational and compliance needs.
This ensures our clients adopt technologies that not only integrate seamlessly but also deliver measurable improvements in efficiency and quality.
Ooga’s approach is focused on being software-agnostic, so we focus on robust testing and exploring multiple AI solutions to ensure our clients make an informed decision when selecting the best technology/technologies for their needs.
2. Align Your Data Configuration to your AI and ADR System needs
Pitfall #2: Not configuring your data in a consistent, replicable way.
Another thing to consider is that you need to take seriously how to standardize and clean up your digital data for analysis.
For machines to be able to work effectively, you need to feed them data in the same format that works for your chosen system. This is going to be a key part of your process for bringing a new AI and/or ADR system on board.
The historical data or real-time data you feed the tool(s) you choose have to be formatted in a way that’s consistent, which can take more time and resources to set up than originally anticipated.
For example, one of Ooga’s partners has estimated it’ll take up to 1 month just to reconfigure some of the data needed to start training a model because of the type of file format they have. They’ll be writing a new script to support this reconfiguration… and this is only one slice of what they need AI to analyze.
We often joke, “Garbage in, garbage out” when it comes to data and that is the case with AI and ADR system adoption.
3. Make your AI and ADR Model Training Expert-led
Pitfall #3: Not anticipating the level of investment that is needed in expert-led training to improve the accuracy and efficiency of your AI and/or ADR system.
While AI and ADR tools have powerful capabilities, you cannot assume they are accurate “out of the box.” Once you’ve selected your AI and/or ADR tools, you then need to train your model.
Ooga’s platform has enabled our clients to enlist the support of multiple NDT experts in the process of agreement analysis, ensuring proper human oversight in AI training and validation.
For this process – once the AI tool selected reviews our client’s data, we’ll then have an NDT expert confirm they agree with the AI’s analysis.
Over time - through this training process - the AI’s analysis will become more accurate.
By leveraging expert reviewers across industries, Ooga has been able to partner with clients to establish AI accuracy while identifying and mitigating biases.
We highly recommend that as you train your AI tools, you be careful to work with a handful of NDT experts throughout this process and monitor the improvement of accuracy of your AI and ADR models.
4. Leverage the Cloud for Integrated Remote NDT Solutions
Pitfall #4: Not organizing and storing data in a thoughtful way on the cloud to have a “single source of information.”
If you don’t leverage the cloud it will be close to impossible to properly train your AI and ADR accurately.
You can’t do this work by passing around jump drives between teams across different sites.
This is why Ooga developed a Remote Cloud Solution to centralize our client’s data to offer real-time access, tracking, and validation for NDT findings.
The Ooga platform bridges traditional and AI-driven methods, ensuring seamless integration and optimized workflows.
Conclusion
AI and ADR are going to be a key part of the future of NDT.
However, we’re just getting started and we want to make sure you go into this process with realistic expectations about what AI and ADR can and cannot do in the present day.
Here’s a metaphor that the Ooga team has found helpful: Many of the organizations we’ve worked with have expected that AI and ADR solutions will have abilities that are comparable to an NDT Level 2 or 3.
However, when you hire an NDT professional, you hire them as a Level 1 - they have certain capabilities, but it takes experience before they can progress to the next level.
Similarly, as you adopt AI and ADR, keep in mind that these systems will start at a lower level of capability and progress as more appropriate and accurate data is analyzed. There will be a period of investment before you can see cost savings.
Just like an NDT professional – getting AI and ADR systems set up will take training, a lot of experience through analysis of well-configured data, and patience as the system is set up to meet your organization’s needs.
We’re excited about AI and ADR’s ability to transform organizations’ productivity. It’s just important to plan for it to take time and investment to get you there.
