Ståle von Krogh has been driving the digitization of NDT in the Norwegian market since 2005. For many years, he sold GE-Baker Hughes' software solutions, among others: "However, the market for this type of software, which mainly handles only the evaluation and short-term storage of digital images, seems to be saturated, and demand is going towards zero. Norwegian companies are ready for the next step in digital inspection, for a second wave of digitization, so to speak." And this is being driven by process-optimizing software solutions such as DIMATE PACS.

Oil and gas plant operators rely on flexible software

The focus is on flexible, location-independent image evaluations and end-to-end digital inspection processes. These range from order management and the forwarding of worklists to the test equipment to the professional evaluation of the inspection data and the communication of the results to the leading inspection systems. Such a holistic process can be mapped with the DIMATE PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System). "One of Norway's major oil and gas plant operators has chosen this truly new path. Although the level of digitalization in Norway is high, software solutions based on the DICONDE IT standard and the vendor-independent networking possibilities that are possible with it are still quite unknown. However, I think that this project will change that," Ståle von Krogh is convinced. The DIMATE PACS enables a complete digital end-2-end workflow and the integration of, for example, SAP systems to receive order data, which the DIMATE PACS then distributes to all compliant inspection systems. Image data from the various test devices, as well as evaluations, are archived in an audit-proof manner and can be viewed anywhere in the network. In addition, inspection results, such as wall thickness measurements on pipelines, are transmitted back to the administering system (ERP, RBI or IDMS).

But even companies for which such an end-2-end process is currently still out of their league can benefit from DIMATE. Because with DIMATE PACS, the processes surrounding image evaluation can be optimized considerably. For example, because the digital images can be sent at the push of a button and thus evaluated regardless of the location. Inspection reports and images can be archived in bundles and distributed together to all authorized stakeholders. Companies that use DIMATE thus become much more flexible in one fell swoop and can give their employees more freedom in their day-to-day work - while at the same time ensuring greater security and reliability in the results.

Short distances and personal service

"Location-independent working came into focus especially during the pandemic period, when everyone was expected to work from home if possible. In this case, the DIMATE PACS was an excellent solution," Ståle von Krogh looks back and adds: "The only downside was that one customer had very individual requirements for the display of special test images, which the DIMATE system did not yet support as standard. Here we benefited from the very good cooperation with the team from Germany, which did not hesitate to fix the problem so that the customer could achieve excellent results. For us as a partner company, such good cooperation is of course important so that we can serve our customers as personally as possible."

For Peter Rosiepen, Managing Director of DIMATE GmbH in Bochum, cooperation with customers in other markets is an enrichment: "We learn a lot from our international customers and thus continue to develop our software solutions with some head start. This means we are well prepared for the requirements of tomorrow."