NDT Solutions are leading-edge experts in ultrasonic science and technology, specialising in the application of ultrasound technology for the non-destructive testing of components used particularly by the automotive, wind energy and aerospace industries.

With an increasing portfolio of research, development and deployment projects, NDT recognised the need to strengthen its approach to project management and hence decided to become users of The University of Nottingham’s MIPPS project management method.

NDT had been engaged by a multinational company to develop a world-first prototype inspection tool to demanding timescales.  It was decided to use MIPPS to manage this critically important project to ensure that the prototype was delivered on time but also to prove the value of the MIPPS within NDT.

Training in MIPPS began with a half-day session to introduce the method, to appoint the project sponsor, project manager and team, and to plan the early stages of the project.

Over the life of the project, Ingenuity staff made regular visits to support the manager and his team to ensure that they were using MIPPS in the most effective way.

Although NDT already had considerable project management expertise, the early stages of a MIPPS project were felt to be particularly beneficial.  “We see the definition and early planning phases of a MIPPS project to be very important in clarifying the scope and objectives of the project.  This is an improvement over our previous approaches”, said Tom Marshall, project manager for this project.

Corin Brotherhood, Design Engineer, who was part of the project team, especially liked the straightforward approach of MIPPS.  “Much of MIPPS is common sense.  We should have been doing many of these things but we weren’t”, said Corin.

Complex scientific research projects such as this are notoriously difficult to deliver on time – how do you know how long something will take if it has never been done before?  Through the flexible approaches of MIPPS, NDT were able to deliver a working prototype and within the customer’s timeframe.  This has now led on to further development work for the customer.

NDT’s experience with MIPPS has been a successful one.  Neil Hankinson, Research Engineer was also part of the project team.  “MIPPS introduced us to a more structured approach to project management and identified areas for improvement”, commented Neil.

As Tom concluded, “We have already applied MIPPS techniques to other projects and it will continue to be the way we manage projects at NDT.”

For further information contact NDT Solutions Limited