Position: Sales Leader – Sub-Saharan Africa: GE – Oil & Gas
Company: GE

CEO- Non-Destructive Academy of South Africa (NASA)
“I try to learn from everyone I know: clients, students, friends and foes! Learning from my own mistakes is valuable, but it hurts less when learning from ‘operator experience’….” FIND OUT WHAT ELSE BEN HAS TO SAY..

Position

Training Manager-African NDT Centre/ Vice Chair – SPBNDT

Person who has the biggest influence on your life?

• Tyler Perry (American actor, producer, director, screenwriter, playwright, author and songwriter), considering how he suffered a difficult childhood, then gave up everything to realise his dream, which now empowers millions of people around the world.
• US President Barack Obama inspires me, as he has shown that it is possible to achieve eloquently – despite your humble beginnings.
• “Yes I can”: John Maxwell (American author, speaker and pastor) for my daily encouragement, embedded in his ability to base his motivation on Biblical principles.

Person who has the biggest influence on your NDT career?

• I was privileged to have had more than one person influencing my NDT career, namely, Hugh Neeson and Dr Manfred Johannes. The biggest influence however, came from the selfless acts of someone I respectfully refer to as the “Mr Miyagi” of NDT in SA, Graham Wilson.

How did you begin your career in NDT?

• It was all by chance! I responded to a job advertisement in the newspaper, not knowing what NDT was. My previous employer was tasked to unravel the ink from the sound. Finally Genrec employed me via the Mossgas project.

What are your current qualifications?

• T2 in Mechanical Engineering
• SAQCC Level III UT, PT and MT
• PCN Level II PA
• SAQCC Level II UT

Which Method do you enjoy most and why?

• Ultrasonics undoubtedly! Prior to my initial interview, I researched subject matter. In doing so, I instantly enjoyed the mystery that UT presented. During training and upon site exposure, the intrigue deepened. The “why” factor is synonymous, always wanting to understand why the sound would behave a certain way. Then having seen its accuracy upon exposing a flaw detected by UT, the deal was sealed. Later I particularly enjoyed Phased Array (PA), as it presented a different dimension to UT (by extension).

What Industries or Sectors have you been involved in?

• I’ve been exposed to the Petrochemical, Power Generation, Motor, Mining, Railway, Nuclear Sectors and various others.

SAINT’s H. Rohloff Trophy for Best Research Project 2016 was awarded to Frikkie de Beer, science guru at the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation SOC Limited (Necsa). This humble award winner says that the Award came as a surprise, and that it was extremely rewarding to know that hard work is recognised. “A person cannot work hard expecting rewards, because that may lead to disappointments,” says Frikkie. “However, doing something because you love it is a reward in itself”.

Hennie has 21 years’ experience in NDT in South Africa and is a qualified aircraft mechanic. He focuses on training and lecturing NDT at SANDE in Johannesburg and at the African NDT Centre in Pretoria. Over many years he expanded his training experience in South Africa (marine, aviation, mining, petrochemical, pipelines, railways) and internationally in Thailand, Angola, Kenya, Namibia, Madagascar. He presented a paper at the World Conference of NDT in 2012, a copy of which were published in Materials Evaluation – the American Society for NDT’s monthly magazine, as well as the SAINT magazine.

Glenda Molope, Member

Glenda holds ASNT NDT Level III qualifications, a Graduate Diploma in Engineering (Metallurgy and Materials Engineering) and a M.Sc. in Engineering and Business Management.

She is currently employed in the power generation industry with 10 years of experience.

Business Development Manager – ANDTC.

• Person who has the biggest influence on your life?
  
  Dr Wilfred Kent, a missionary from the USA who devoted his life to missionary work in South Africa. I have spent a lot of time with him doing Bible study and learning Biblical counselling from him. He does a lot of good work in South Africa and on a personal level, I have learned a lot from him about being a father and a husband, as well as living as a Christian.

• Person who has the biggest influence on your NDT career?
  
  I have the utmost respect for those who have dedicated their careers to the advancement of NDT, as well as those who have flown the NDT banner high. I was fortunate enough to work for an NDT stalwart at British Airways at the end of his NDT career. His name is Harold Halls, and he was instrumental in the development of the Barkhausen noise NDT technique on undercarriage parts from Concorde through the Airbus and Boeing aircraft series. He was one of those who worked behind the scenes and never took credit for the hours of input and development of the method.He was a mentor who gave me a passion for quality and drive in my choice of NDT as a career.There are other people career – back home in South Africa – who have also had a big influence on my career:From the start of my career André Aspeling taught me that doing the job right, neatly and safely was paramount to conducting NDT.

  From development and research as well as dedication to our industry, I hold Manfred Johannes in extremely high esteem.

  Ben Beetge is someone I look up to and respect. He stands out for me as someone to aspire to as an NDT Level III.

Herman was in the South African Air Force for 26 years during which time he acquired Radiography Testing (RT) Level II, Ultrasonic Testing (UT) Level II, Electromagnetic Testing (ET) Level II, Magnetic Particle (MT) Level II, Penetrant Testing (PT) Level II. In 2012 he added the ASNT NDT Level III Certification in Penetrant Testing (PT) and Magnetic Particle (MT).

He worked for H. Rohloff as Product Manager from February 2014 to February 2015 and has since been lecturing at SANDE in March 2015.

Jannie started his career doing night shift RT at Matimba Power Station

Marius started his NDT and Inspection career just after he matriculated in 2009 from Evander High School in Mpumalanga. This opportunity granted him the vast knowledge of the petrochemical industry with the likes of pre- and in-service inspection – working closely with metallurgists and engineers to establish the integrity of equipment on the Sasol, Secunda site.

In 2010, while continuing his inspection development, Marius decided to specialise more in non-destructive testing as the field of ever-evolving technology, research and continued development. His passion and excitement for NDT grew and was noted by the late Mark Mason with whom he worked closely in 2011 as well as with NDT service providers and industry NDT Level 3s.

Marius currently manages all the work of NDT at Sasol Synfuels, training, qualification and certification of NDT personnel and works alongside service providers to develop techniques for critical analysis of equipment and to be readily involved with NDT technicians to promote and support non-destructive testing.

In 2013 Marius wrote the South African Qualification and Certification Committee (SAQCC) Level 3 examinations for Magnetic Particle (MT), Penetrant Testing (PT), Ultrasonic Testing (UT) and Radiography Testing (RT) at the SAIW. He is currently part of SAINT and the South African Qualification and Certification Committee (SAQCC) NDT Committee.

• Person who has the biggest influence on your NDT career?
  Mike Shakinovsky a corporate Level III NDT consultant at Sikorsky and Charles Hellier, the founder of Hellier Technical and Training.

• How did you begin your career in NDT?
  My career began with my transfer to The Corner House Laboratories after Crown Mines closed in 1971.

• What are your current qualifications?
  ASNT NDT Level III: MT, PT, UT, RT, ET, VT.

• Which Method do you enjoy most and why?
  Ultrasonic Testing – finding the unseen!

• What Industries or Sectors have you been involved in?
  Rail, Aviation, Power Generation, Pipe-lines, General Fabrication, Oil & Gas, Well Drilling , Equipment Sales and Training.

• What are your biggest challenges in NDT?
  Reliability and the integrity of people.

• Most humorous NDT incident that you can remember?
  Getting stuck in the mud in a Landrover on a pipeline and having to be pulled out by a bulldozer.

• Hope for the future?
  That emerging technologies become more affordable in order to be adopted by the industry.

• A ‘must visit’ NDT website that you recommend and why you recommend it?
  There are many websites, all with useful information. It depends on what specific application you are looking at.