ABSTRACT
The very notion of a high-technology inspection method is beyond the scope of the originators and adherents of total quality management (TQM) and of the control-chart advocates who brought statistical process control (SPC) into being. This statement is evidenced by the absence of a category for nondestructive testing (NDT) and all its synonyms in the index of Dr. W. E. Deming’s magnum opus (1982) and the Western Electric Co. handbook (1956). W. A. Shewhart’s book (1931) was written before formal NDT. Point 3 of Deming’s Fourteen Points of management (Table 4.1) advocates the elimination of dependence upon mass inspection without acknowledging that ongoing inspection is useful at times. To his credit, Deming (1982) does mention three basic circumstances where inspection should be performed. These are (1) parts critical for safety, (2) new or changed parts (including new production venues) where testing should go on for 6 months to obtain data, and (3) parts where cost analysis based on variants of the Deming inspection criterion (DIC; see Chapter 7 in this book) show that money can be saved. This third item occupies Chapter 13 in Deming’s 1982 text (pages 267-311). However, as late as 1984, Deming stated that he did not know of the capability of instruments based upon physics and electronics to detect latent flaws (Deming, 1984). He also stated that he did not know that hightech instruments could measure intrinsic variables for constitutive equations that would predict future behavior (failure) of materials. In the case of the Western Electric handbook, the authors stick to the subject of SPC assiduously, whereas it is well known that other people within AT&T, the Bell Telephone Laboratories, and Western Electric knew of and practiced NDT. See, for instance, the classic book by W. P. Mason of Bell Telephone Laboratories,
Physical Acoustics
and the Properties of Solids
(1958). On the very first page he acknowledged NDT with the statement: “If
…
imperfections are present, they cause reflections or refractions of the sound pulses. These reflected or refracted waves produce responses, arriving after the time of
the sending pulse, which can be picked up by the same or an adjacent transducer. Hence these pulses provide a means for examining or inspecting the imperfections of a solid body. Ultrasonic inspectoscopes and thickness gauges are among the best devices for determining the integrity and dimensions of metal castings or other solid bodies.”
