I decided to look at some historic AINDT journals for inspiration for this president’s message, and looked to the 1999 and 2009 editions of the same month to reflect on issues and changes over the past two decades.

The first and most obvious is how far the journal has come. We have a first-class publication led by Editor, Ms Fiona Obaidini and now with the support of our new Membership and Marketing Officer, Mr Anton Milne. It is an ongoing effort to ensure the publication continues to engage and stay relevant with digital media and other industry changes.

In January 2014 the Official Journal: Australian Institute for Non-Destructive Testing went from being called “Non-Destructive Testing Australia” to “Industrial Eye” and has a print circulation of ~2300 with digital circulation in the tens of thousands.

I am often complemented by overseas equivalent bodies on our easy to read journal, with the right mix of institute activities and relevant content that appeals to a broad range of readers. Whilst the current page count is up, showing an increase in content, what is a noticeable is the drop in commercial members over the past 20 years. The reduction is due to less end users/asset owners and government bodies, including several BHP sites, several technical colleges, airlines and multiple regulators.

What has changed for such a reduction in end user member companies of the institute? This is the ongoing challenge of the institute, to stay relevant to meet industry needs and it appears to be a reflection of the culture of the current commercial world. As the federal office is continuing with new services, new certification, digital media and ever-increasing capability, we aim to see an increase again in corporate members.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank the current companies and individual members that continue to support us. Without your support we wouldn’t be the institute we are, and I assure you the AINDT is always trying to do more for industry and our members.

A previous decision to do more for industry was to create a condition monitoring certification scheme, as this field is truly a part of the AINDT family. Part of this commitment is ensuring we represent this sector, and as such this edition of the Industrial Eye has a condition monitoring theme. Later this year we will be holding a drive to contact the condition monitoring stakeholders to see what more we can do to support the sector.

If you are a condition monitoring stakeholder please don’t wait for this drive to tell us your thoughts and contact either the CEO or myself today. I was pleased to see condition monitoring companies as members in the 1999 list, well before it was officially embraced by the AINDT, and I would like to see more from this sector as we continue to grow and harmonise the industry.

Neil Young
President - AINDT