See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/342644852

Impact of recent developments in non- destructive inspection and information

technology on the quality assurance of structural steel in Mexico. Guidelines for
future action and pen...

Conference Paper · April 2000

CITATIONS READS
0 31

1 author:

Ramon Salvador Fernandez Orozco

Fercon Research S.C.
14 PUBLICATIONS   0 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Foundry 4.0 View project

Deployment of Construction 4.0 View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Ramon Salvador Fernandez Orozco on 03 July 2020.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Author
Impact of recent Ramon Fernandez is Technical
developments in non- Development Manager for Corey
destructive inspection S.A. de C.V. He is a Civil
Engineer from the Autonomous
and information University of Guadalajara. Since
technology on the 1988 he has been involved in the
pioneering quality assurance
quality assurance of project in Mexico based on
structural steel in ISO9000 standards.
Mexico.
He designed and directed the
project that in 1996 allowed to
Guidelines for future Corey S.A. de C.V. became the
action and pending first fabricator in Latinamerica
agenda certified in the AISC Quality
Certification Program in the
complex buildings category
including the sophisticated paint
endorsement.
Summary
Recent advances in information
systems and telecommunications
are radically modifying economic
models and social structures in
our time.
We want to highlight some recent
technological developments that
are having impact in the
fabrication, inspection and
erection of structural steel.
In this paper we will describe the
process that we followed to
develop an Intranet in the
Company and the form in which it
is helping us to streamline
communication and simplifying
information diffusion.

He have developed quality Also we will review the inspection

assurance systems and plan designed for one of the most
inspection plans for some of the important projects currently in
most important structural steel execution in the country. The
projects in the last 7 years in Torre Mayor building in Mexico
Mexico and in projects for City, evaluating the impact of
Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, Internet in the distribution of
Puerto Rico and the United information for this project.
States, including the inspection
processes based on FEMA Finally we will review some basic
requirements used for the information about inspection
fabrication of columns for the new personnel training and
International terminal of the San certification that makes possible
Francisco Airport. the correct application of such
inspection plans.
Ramon S. Fernandez Since 1991 he has been involved
in the research and teaching of
alternative NDT procedures,
welding processes, metallurgy,
fabrication automation, and
software development. He is now
leading research projects to
develop tubular bridge welding
and associated inspection
processes, NDT inspector and
welder training certification
materials and integration of
information technology to the
detail engineering process.

Ramon Fernandez is an ASNT

Level III Certified NDT Inspector,
AWS CWI Welding inspector and
ISO9000 Quality System certified
Auditor.
 Impact of new developments in non-destructive inspection and
information technology on the quality assurance of structural steel
in Mexico.
Guidelines for future action and pending agenda

Ramon Salvador Fernandez Orozco 1

INTRODUCTION

Recent developments in telecommunications and information systems technology, and their

interaction with traditional inspection systems is changing how the steel structures construction
market has traditionally perceived these processes.

In the past, welding inspection in Mexico was confined somehow to a small group of companies
devoted to this activity, normally directed by an expert able to interpret what was mentioned in the
code. This situation added to the difficulty to access the information included in structural steel
design, fabrication and erection codes (AISC LRFD, AWS-D1.1- as examples) that are edited in
English, provides additional difficulty to the diffusion and knowledge among people devoted to this
activity but not conversant on that language.

Also, it has persisted a reserve by some sector of the structural designers community toward certain
methods of NDT inspection: As an experience, we could mention that is frequent that fabricators and
inspection companies receive requests from structural engineers to eliminate ultrasonic inspection or
to substitute it by radiographic inspection due to the general perception of that the last method (RT)
provides permanent records (the radiographic film) as a difference with ultrasonic inspection, that at
the times when we used cathode rays displays, it remained only what the inspector was observing in
the display, was annotating in the report and preserving in his memory.

Currently, regarding to ultrasonic inspection, it is not only possible to obtain a graphic register of the
detected flaw, but it is possible to store thousands of them in data bases to process these images
statistically and to have literally at the fingertips the inspection results of a project.

1
Technical Development Manager. Corey S.A de C.V.
Email ferconq@yahoo.com (personal) ramonfdz@infosel.net.mx (company)
If we include to these advances, the flexibility and the power to consult this database through an
Intranet in any place within the company or through the Internet around the world and with the cost of
a local phone call, we have an powerful tool to streamline the report of inspection results, to improve
the control on records and to improve the service to customers.

Figure 1.
Sample of A-Scan image of a weld downloaded from an ultrasonic flaw detector

Figure 2.
Portable Ultrasonic Flaw Detector interfaced with Laptop Computer for NDT
inspection data acquisition

Today, it is possible to communicate in real time with inspectors in the field through voice and image to
provide them support and expert advise when problems arises, also it is possible to take the control of
the remote computer to modify and adjust the operative parameters of inspection equipment that is
kilometers of distance from the headquarters office.
 DEVELOPMENT PROCESS FOR THE INTRANET IN THE COMPANY

Only until recent years the availability of low cost portable computer equipment limited their use in
field inspection applications. In the middle of eighties we perceived the first steps in the development of
interfaces and communication protocols that permitted to transmit data from a test equipment to a
personal computer.

The use of the computers in inspection started as a simple replacement of the prevailing practices of
registering data thorough pencil and paper. At those times, computers just offered the possibility of
improving the precision of data obtained from the equipment and the simplification of the reproduction
of inspection reports, facilitating the storage, retrieval and maintenance of such registers.

It was only at the beginning of this decade when widely affordable network technology improved the
integration of those equipments. At that moment computers started working together. Workgroup
technologies facilitated data share and created new forms of effective collaboration as members of
increasingly larger workteams.

When we started in 1994 to use portable computers to generate inspection reports, and to provide within
minutes printed documentation that the inspectors delivered in hand to our clients just before they leave
the site (and faxed immediately to our headquarters), we realized that we have in our hands a tool to
improve the performance not only of our inspection department but the performance of the entire
organization.

The idea of an INTRANET is frequently confused with the concept of INTERNET. INTRANET in
simple words is the use of Internet technology (HTML, Java, TCP/IP, etc) within the Local Area
Network (LAN) environment of a company. It simplifies the process of information retrieval for the
network user because he can consult detail and erection drawings made with CAD, project
specifications made with word processing, a column load capacity table made in a spreadsheet and
training digital videos using just one software application and without worrying where the information
is physically located within the computer network. It also can help to reduce the amount of printouts
made for individual records or copy distribution.

The project of the Intranet that we developed was kicked-off in August of 1997 as a requirement of
integrating in one source all the information dispersed all over the organization.

The vision that we established for this project was of:

 "To contribute to improve the results and performance of the company transforming the
relevant information in an accessible work tool, easy to use, to update and consult with
possibility of access to all the personnel of the company and from any site in the country
through a local phone call."

To develop this project, it was established a task force integrated by the managers of technical
development, information systems and human resources and a representative of operations director.

The goals we originally established for this project were:

• To achieve the development of the Intranet with a minimum of additional investment, boosting the
use of existing communication infrastructure and taking in account the new infrastructure already
planned for the future.

• To reduce the costs of personnel training in the use of multiple software packages.

• To eliminate (or to reduce to the minimum) capture of duplicated information.

• To emphasize the use of hardware independent technology for the intranet development process
(HTML, TCP/IP, Java, etc.)

• To design the information in a format that resulted accessible, attractive and easy of using as an
approach to allow the user accept the Intranet as a daily work tool.

• To incorporate multiple media formats (audio, video and text) to improve the comprehension of
the Intranet content.

• To improve the availability of technical information to the user in any computer within the
company LAN, according to multiple levels data access priorities schemes established for every
single user (Data Security Administration) to protect confidential data.

• Contribute to improve internal communication on every department and between departments

(Messaging and coordination of activities systems).

• To establish information links and channels with the personnel that work outside the facilities of
the company. (Offices in other cities and field erection sites).

• To simplify the notification of modifications and adjustments to projects in execution.

• To streamline the distribution and to simplify the control of documents. (Those who are involved
in quality assurance systems similar to ISO 9000 will appreciate the improvements of distributing
changes to controlled documents by this method).

Based on those goals we established the project schedule and objectives. The objectives were:

1. In Two Months (October 1997): Complete the evaluation of software development tools and to
define the general strategy for the Intranet development.

2. Two months later, (December 1997): Complete the basic infrastructure to initiate content
development.

3. One month later, (January 1998): Start testing the basic prototype of the Intranet.

4. Two months later, (March 1998): Complete the general scheme of content designed by the
project work team.

The project was executed in seven months to complete the five stages that we detail in the Table 1,
concluding stage V in April, 1998.

Currently our Intranet is the first choice source for information. Actually we even have applications in
use every day that were not conceived in the original project:

• The director of operations can verify through it at any time the status of billing and invoicing,
absent personnel reports, materials inventories and quality deviations reports.

• We eliminated the use of pre-printed paper formats to request services from our human
resources department.

• Any manager can consult the transcriptions of the weekly projects meetings of every
department.

• There are in line training seminars about how to use the most common software packages, and
in case of any doubt the employee can request on-line assistance.

In 1998, in the annual review for the AISC Quality certification audit, the company presented the
updating of their records for the certification application through the intranet, the process was
completed in a third of the time that in the previous year.
Actually, our Intranet includes 258 Megabytes of technical information and 426 Megabytes of Daily
Operations information. Two years ago one third of this information clogged a 2 Gigabytes partition in
our network server.

Table 1 - Proposed Program for the development of the Intranet.

Stage I • Fundamental training of the development personnel.

Infrastructure Development
• Acquisition of Software Development Tools.

• Tests and installation of personal web servers.

• Evaluation of hosting and support platforms (Novell Vs Microsoft Vs

Unix).

• Training of the personnel in charge of content development.

• Training of personnel in charge of uploading and maintaining

content.

• Design of redundancy (mirror server) and backup schemes.

• Acquisition of the latest revision of client software (Browser).

Stage II • Development of contents according with the approved scheme.

Content Development
Stage III • Hosting the Intranet in the Windows NT-Network Server.
Tests and Debugging
• Training users in the utilization of the Browser.

Stage IV • Evaluation of remote access tools and protocols.

Remote Access Development
• Evaluation of real time conference software and remote use of shared
applications tools.

• Installation of messaging services.

Stage V • Revision of this plan to develop the next generation of Intranet (user
Maintenance and Upgrading customization interface).
 Figure 3
Welcome and Main Menu Screens in the Company’s Intranet.
 QUALITY ASSURANCE IN THE TORRE MAYOR PROJECT

Along many years, and with an increased emphasis since the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City
(Reinforced now worldwide as a consequence of the Northridge and Kobe Earthquakes), the primary
steel sector in Mexico has strengthened its effort in diffusing the advantages of steel as structural
material. But essentially, the fabrication of structural steel had been using the same procedures used in
the last three decades.

Due to NAFTA and other trade agreements that opened the frontiers of Mexico to the competition with
companies in Canada and in the Unites States, Mexican structural steel fabricators established contact
with fabricators and suppliers in other countries to evaluate available new technologies and also
provided additional resources to create or adapt design and fabrication procedures to the Mexican
structural steel market reality. The intention was to offer to the local market quality, cost, punctuality in
the delivery and safety conditions similar to of any manufacturer worldwide, and also to initiate export
projects.

These tendencies could summarize to:

1. The incorporation of automation processes (Numerical controlled equipment) in the fabrication of

steel structures that formerly were reserved only to other sectors of the industry. Through these
equipment it is possible to obtain the necessary flexibility to manage complex forms in the
structure, important reductions in the execution time and production costs thus as a uniform quality.

2. Use of concurrent engineering structural steel detailing software.

3. Development of quality assurance systems in the processes of design, fabrication and erection that
until a few years ago were reserved to other sectors, as the industry of energy generation. (Based on
AISC and ISO9001 Guidelines)

4. Cooperative work with the structural designers to develop connections more efficient to fabricate
and erect at the site.

5. Provide solutions to the increasing demand of safety and reliability from our customers through the
diffusion in the fabrication processes of NDT inspection procedures; reserved in the past to other
type of products.
 6. Elimination of the disadvantages that traditionally have been attributed to structural steel related to
the elevated cost of the maintenance to prevent corrosion and the susceptibility to suffer harmful
damages in the case of fires that have been surpassed in great measure with the advances achieved
in the use of new materials and processes of paint application and fire retardant materials.

THE TORRE MAYOR BUILDING.

The project Torre Mayor represents a milestone in the construction industry in our country. The
structure comprehends 16,500 metric tons in 57 levels. (See Rahimian-Martinez Romero, AISC 1998
NSCC Proceedings).

For this project, fabrication and erection processes

incorporates FEMA guidelines requirements including
ultrasonic inspection of 100% of the complete penetration
welds.

The inspection plan emphasizes the use of automation. As an

example, automatic welding equipment usage is promoted
through the increase of NDE requirements if manual welding
methods are chosen.

The graphics generated by the flaw detector equipment on

each one of these inspections is registered in a database, which
is available 24 hours a day to our customer thorough an FTP
server.

In this project, to have welds in materials with thickness of up

to 6 inches is common place. This represents for us the
necessity to design alternative ultrasonic inspection methods
for partial penetration welds not covered by AWS-D1.1 and
the valorization of radiographic sampling using a Cobalt 60
radiographic source in materials with thicknesses over three
inches.

Figure 4 This project is an example of common effort between

Wireframe view of the Torre Mayor Project companies based in Canada, The United Sates and Mexico.
Structure
 Figure 5.
A tailor made W section column for the Torre Mayor project in the
fitting area.

Figure 6.
Fitting of a bracing connection in a column for the Torre Mayor
project
 Figure 7.
Welding of a four-inch thick bracing connection plate including a
portion of the column.

INSPECTOR CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS.

The technological advances that we have shown in this paper would not make sense without a profound
commitment, knowledge and experience of those professionals who perform the inspection duties.

It is our perception that even when there are institutions and professionals in Mexico that have provided
a very valuable effort for the diffusion of nondestructive inspection methods in our country, is until very
recent dates that has existed an important emphasis in Mexico in this sector, Also we consider that still
persist in some sectors lack of knowledge about the certifications that supports the performance of these
personnel:

The most important qualification programs available in the structural steel market are:

• The voluntary AISC program for qualification of shop inspectors, which scope includes all
processes related to the fabrication of structural steel including the study of standards and codes, the
 revision of raw materials, material preparation processes, fitting, welding, nondestructive
inspection, assembly inspection, finishing, surface preparation, paint application, storage, hoisting
and shipping.

• The AWS program of welding inspectors based on the AWS QC-1 standard that classifies the
certification of welding inspectors in 3 categories: SCWI- Senior Certified Weld Inspector, CWI-
Certified Weld Inspector and CAWI-Certified Associated Weld Inspector. Additionally AWS has
established specific certifications programs on the nondestructive inspection of welds. This
certification program complements the shop inspection duties but its scope exceeds structural steel
fabrication and erection, extending to all the industries where welding processes are being used.
More information is available through their web site at http://www.aws.org.

• The ASNT certification program of nondestructive testing inspectors for levels I, II and III based on
SNT-TC-1A and ANSI ASNT CP-189, (including the new ACCP - ASNT Central Certification
Program). Similarly to the CWI program from AWS, the ASNT certification exceeds the structural
steel fabrication industry, and extend to a great number of other industries as aerospace, energy
generation, etc. More information is available through their web site at http://www.asnt.org.

In Mexico there are companies where the three certification programs are in operation simultaneously.
This is not common for the industry of structural steel in the Latinamerican area, but this approach have
represented for them a tremendous opportunity to improve quality and reliability, increment their profits
and attract new customers.

CONCLUSIONS

Within the inspection process of structural engineering projects in the Mexico, there are frequent
controversies due to differences of criteria between the quality departments of fabricators and the
external testing agencies contracted by owners and general contractors. This problem could be
minimized with the following actions:

• Increased technical knowledge of fabricators regarding workmanship and inspections requirements

established in the latest revisions of UBC, FEMA, AWS-D1.1, AISC-LRFD, etc.

• Increased diffusion with the structures designers of the most recent advances in inspection methods
and training and certification programs for personnel in charge of these processes.
• Improved training and increased emphasis in certification of inspection personnel.

The AISC and AWS standards applicable to the fabrication and erection of structural steel define
general acceptance criteria for inspection. These criteria require increased diffusion. Also, we can find
there the official procedures to request clarifications to those organizations, in case of controversies.

One of the factors that limit the diffusion of the technical knowledge related to inspection and quality
assurance for structural steel is the lack of printed materials in Spanish related in these themes.

Also, we consider that the AISC should evaluate the possibility to provide a certification program for
external laboratories and testing agencies as a form to uniform the quality of their services and to reduce
controversies in the industry.

Some final words regarding to information technology. This technology is helping to solve old
problems and at the same time is creating new challenges.

New technologies can offer unparalleled opportunities to enhance the performance of organizations. All
of us can participate in virtual meetings that help us to exploit resources located in any place connected
to the Internet. Administrators can streamline management in ways never before thought possible,
freeing both money and time that can be redirected to the primary mission of companies. Generate
profits.

This paper tries to explain a small part of the new processes that structural steel fabricators are starting
to use to create, move, access, and manage information through the organization. Using such processes
enable real-time collaboration and planning among parties anywhere in the project. And most
importantly, they facilitate the evolution of training and communication into a more interactive,
participatory process that brings new levels of achievement.

As a conclusion, all the hype and headlines about the information revolution and the Internet, one
important point is often overlooked. Not everyone is reaping the benefits of this new wired world.

For the USA, in a recent report, Falling Through the Net:: Defining the Digital Divide, the U.S.
Department of Commerce put some fine points on this problem:

• Over 60% of people with college degrees now use the Internet, compared to less than 7% of
those with an elementary school education or less;
 • Households with incomes of $75,000 or more are nine times more like to have a computer at
home and 20 times more likely to have access to the Internet than those at the lowest income
levels;

• Whites are more likely to have access to the Internet from home than African-Americans or
Hispanics have from any location, even including work;

• Regardless of income levels, people in urban areas are more than twice as likely to have
Internet access than those earning the same income in rural areas.

Internet access in the USA and Canada is in the way of becoming a commodity in urban areas. In
Mexico Internet access, even if it is booming in the last three years, persist as a technological barrier for
small business and ample sectors of the society, even if this is not affected by race differences, income
levels and location also affect it (urban versus rural areas).

Without a doubt, information technology is becoming one of the most important engines of world's
economy and impacts structural steel industry. It is fostering huge leaps forward in productivity. It also
is changing the way people train, learn and communicate.

Making computer technology accessible isn't going to solve every challenge we face as industry. But
we can help to ensure that everyone working with us has access to the tools and information they need
to work, learn, communicate and achieve their goals.

For those of us fortunate enough to have benefited from this technological revolution, helping close in
others what has been named as the “digital divide” is a challenge and a responsibility we all must
accept.

ACKNOWLEGMENTS

The author wish to recognize all the support received from his staff at the Technical Development
Management; Human Resources and Information systems departments of Corey, S.A. de C.V. and to
the Company Directors Ing. Rene A. Calderon B. and Ing. Javier Villa.

Also he would like to dedicate this paper to Ing. Benjamin Solis Villa and to Ing. Jorge Okhuysen
Cardenas who have taught him to seek for the understanding of the fundamental principles to obtain
 alternative solutions to problems, and to valorize the profound potential of knowledge and experience
available in every person regardless his or her position in an organization chart.

REFERENCES

Chapultepec Tower, Mexico City.

Ahmad Rahimian and Enrique Martinez Romero. 1998 AISC NSCC Proceedings.

Falling through The Net: Defining The Digital Divide.

US Department of Commerce.

The Digital Divide.

Microsoft Essays on Technology.

View publication stats