THE APPLIED INSPECTION
NEWSLETTER

Issue No. 101 - January 2003

FROM THE EDITOR

The directors wish to thank all staff for making 2002 an even better year than last for the company. Every member of staff has put in an enormous effort throughout the year to help strengthen Applied Inspection's position as the best service inspection company in the UK.

Again, we have invested heavily throughout the year, particularly in training. The result is a very highly qualified workforce that has contributed to an improvement in the already very high quality of service we give to our customers.

Customer Satisfaction Survey 2002
The overall Customer Satisfaction measurement is 89 per cent, the same as for the last two years. It is again an extremely high figure and reflects the importance that all staff place on satisfying the requirements of customers. The figures are rounded to the nearest whole number. As they have been so high for the last three years, steady at 89 per cent, it is difficult to assess if progress is being made. So we decided to look at the figures before rounding. They read as follows:

2000 - 88.5 per cent
2001 - 88.6 per cent
2002 - 89.46 per cent

This illustrates that the Company is making excellent progress towards the stated quality objective and quality target of increasing the level of customer satisfaction by one per cent by the end of 2005.

Since last year's survey there have been improvements in the areas of:

However, there has been a slight deterioration in:

The slight deterioration in the above areas may well be related to the rapid expansion of the company. But it is a tribute to both the management and the staff that the company's performance has been first class, even during a period of high growth. Despite the excellent performance, we will focus our efforts on improving the areas of final report, value and final account in the coming year.

Joke of the Month
A dog is for life, not just for Christmas.
So be careful at the office party.

PERSONNEL

Congratulations
To Carl Ringrose who passed PCN Level II Magnetic Testing and Penetrant Testing examinations, and Phil Johnstone who passed PCN Level II Magnetic Testing.

To James Weston who passed PCN Level II Magnetic Testing and PCN Level I Ultrasonic Axle Testing (Rail).

To Nick Bond who passed PCN Level II Ultrasonic Testing Category 3.2 (Pipe welds).

Congratulations to Baby Liam
To Martin Hall and his wife Michelle on the birth of their baby boy Liam Martin. He was born on Friday 29 November 2002 at 6.53 PM and weighed in at 7 lbs exactly. Mother and baby are fine. Liam has a sister, Amy, who is 2½ years old.

Welcome
To Richard Johnson who started as Sales Manager at Ossett during November. Richard is very experienced in NDT holding PCN Level II in Radiography (Welds), Ultrasonics (Welds), Magnetic and Penetrant Testing.

To Jeremy Hodgkins and Ben Wright who started at Burton during December.

To Carol Hawkins who started at Chesterfield during December.

The National Lottery
Dawn Andrews at Holmewood and Keith Dashper at Ossett run the Applied Inspection lottery syndicate. There are currently 33 members who each pay £1.00 per week (stopped at source) which is put on the Saturday lottery. Anyone who is not a member, and who would like to join, should contact Dawn or Keith.

Our winnings to date are as follows:
1995 - £160.00 (40 weeks)
1996 - £297.00 (52 weeks)
1997 - £220.00 (52 weeks)
1998 - £251.00 (52 weeks)
1999 - £290.00 (52 weeks)
2000 - £270.00 (53 weeks)
2001 - £382.00 (52 weeks)
January to June - £150.00 (26 weeks)
July 2002 - £10.00 (4 weeks)
August 2002 - £30.00 (5 weeks)
September 2002 - £20.00 (4 weeks)
October 2002 - £40.00 (4 weeks)
2 November 2002 - £10.00
9 November 2002 - £10.00
16 November 2002 - £10.00
23 November 2002 - £20.00
30 November 2002 - £10.00
7 December 2002 - £10.00
14 December 2002 - £10.00
Any errors in the above list will be corrected as soon as possible.

I'M TIRED

Yes I'm tired. For several years I've been blaming it on middle age, lack of iron, poor blood, lack of vitamins, air pollution, saccharin, dieting, under arm odour, yellow wax build up and a dozen other maladies that make you wonder if life really is worth living.

But now I find out that it isn't that I'm tired because I'm overworked.

The population of this country is 60 million. 30 million are unemployed or retired. That leaves 30 million to do the work.

There are 19 million in school. That leaves 11 million to do the work.

Of this total there are 5 million employed by the government. That leaves 6 million to do the work.

One million are in the armed forces, which leaves 5 million to do the work.

Take from that total the 4 million employed by County and Borough Councils and that leaves 1 million to do the work.

Now there are 620,000 in hospitals and 379,998 in prison.

That leaves just two people to do the work; you and me. And you're sitting here reading this. No wonder I'm tired.

Submitted by Olive Thomas

QUALITY & TRAINING

Standards and Specifications
There have been no changes this month notified by the BSI PLUS update system to the company's list of controlled documents.

NDT Training
The answers to the questions on Penetrant Testing in last month's NEWSLETTER are as follows:

1) B     2) D      3) C     4) A     

Here are some more questions, this time on Eddy Current testing:

1. A test specimen used as a basis for calibrating test equipment or as a comparison when evaluating test results is referred to as a:

     A. Null-balancer.
     B. Phase shifter.
     C. Reference standard.
     D. High pass filter.

2. In an eddy current testing situation, which of the following can provide sources of noise?

     A. Instrumentation electronic circuits.
     B. Nonspecific variations within the test object.
     C. Electrical interference.
     D. All of the above.

3. The ratio of the response or amplitude from signals of interest to the response or amplitude of indications that contain no useful information for the test being conducted is referred to as:

     A. Poisson's ratio.
     B. Signal-to-noise ratio.
     C. The conductivity-to-permeability ratio.
     D. The reactance-to-resistance ratio.

4. IACS is a recognized abbreviation for:      A. Induced Alternating Current System.
     B. Inductively-Activated Comparison System.
     C. Internal Applied Current System.
     D. International Annealed Copper Standard.

Quality at Applied Inspection
Applied Inspection has a number of statements relating to its position on that subject. They are Vision, Mission, Quality, Training, Health & Safety, Environmental, Equal Opportunities and Alcohol & Drugs.

These statements are contained in the Company Rules booklet, available at each site on the Notice Board, and the Health & Safety booklet, issued to all employees. In addition, from time to time we also publish the statements in the NEWSLETTER. Here is our Mission Statement. We welcome comments and/or suggestions from staff in relation to any company policy statement. Please contact any director or e-mail us through the company web site.

Mission Statement
Our mission is to make Applied Inspection the best service inspection company in the world. We will provide our customers with a high quality NDT service at an economic price through an ongoing system of quality improvements in all areas of the company's activities. We will promote co-operation internally between divisions and individuals and externally between our staff and our customers and suppliers. The company's intention is to continually strive for higher levels of:

Quality improvements will be achieved through education and training leading to greater empowerment of the workforce.

The strength of the whole workforce is the most effective way of meeting or exceeding the requirements of all of our customers, enabling us to become the best of the best.

HEALTH & SAFETY

Signs
There are five main types of safety sign:

Prohibition sign - Red circle with red diagonal (e.g. No Smoking, No Entry)
Warning sign - Yellow triangle (e.g. Wet Floor, Radiation)
Mandatory sign - Blue disc (e.g. Wear Eye Protection)
Emergency sign - Green rectangle (e.g. Fire Assembly Point, First Aid)
Fire fighting sign - Red rectangle (e.g. Fire Extinguisher, Fire Alarm)

Prohibition signs and Mandatory signs must be obeyed.

Therefore any person entering the workplace must comply with the instructions shown on a Prohibition sign and a mandatory sign.

CONTACTS

Holmewood, Derbyshire: Tel: 01246 851864 (3 Lines) Fax: 01246 852243
Burton, Staffordshire: Tel: 01283 515163 (3 Lines) Fax: 01283 539729
Ossett, W Yorks: Tel/Fax: 01924 270006 (2 lines)
Glasgow, Scotland: Tel/Fax: 0141 3355191
Internet Website: www.appliedinspection.co.uk

Published by: Applied Inspection Ltd., Holmewood, Chesterfield, UK. Editor: D K Thomas 18/12/2002

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