Our Predictions for 2024

NDE 4.0 was coined in 2017 and defined as “cyber-physical nondestructive evaluation (including testing); arising out of a confluence of Industry 4.0 digital technologies, physical nondestructive testing methods, and business models; to enhance inspection performance, integrity engineering, and decision-making for safety, sustainability, and quality assurance, as well as provide relevant data required to improve design, production, and maintenance.” In terms of NDE 4.0, the nondestructive testing and evaluation (NDT/E) sector is getting ready to (a) address new challenges associated with things like additive manufacturing and factory automation; (b) exploit these digital technologies to speed up the inspection process, enhance NDE reliability, and reduce inspector stress; (c) gain insights about asset design, production process, service life performance, life cycle costs, and so on; and (d) create new business models around data, which may not have been possible up until now.