The sum of the parts: non-destructive testing holds the Navy together

Photo By Patrick Tremblay | David Reiner, a quality assurance representative with the Defense Contract Management Agency’s Navy Special Emphasis Operations, uses special lighting to expose surface imperfections in a fastener at Laboratory Testing, Inc., in Hatfield, Pa. The part has been coated with a liquid then cleaned. The liquid remains in tiny cracks and glows under the lighting.  

HATFIELD, PA, UNITED STATES

10.27.2011

Story by Patrick Tremblay 

Defense Contract Management Agency

HATFIELD, Pa. - The Defense Contract Management Agency’s Navy Special Emphasis Operations contract management office ensures the parts used in some of the military’s most complex vessels are manufactured, tested and assembled to exacting contract specifications.

David Reiner, an NSEO non-destructive testing quality assurance representative, appreciates his role in validating the strength of our armed forces equipment. He also values the variety in his work.

“It’s never the same job every day,” said Reiner, who still enjoys his work after 30 years with DCMA.

Reiner sees many parts and pieces of all types move through his primary work place, Laboratory Testing Inc., in Hatfield, Pa. Some are as small as simple nuts and bolts. Many will become part of machines that endure incredible stresses, including aircraft carriers and submarines. Reiner’s decades of experience and his dedication to accuracy and consistency are crucial to the warfighter.

For Reiner, it’s the structural requirements for the parts, often down to the micro-structure or chemical level, that are important. To ensure the customer’s stringent requirements are met, inspections are performed which test the limits of parts without destroying them.

Reiner witnesses and certifies the non-destructive testing the contractor performs, making sure that each part receives consistent attention and meets the requirements demanded by the Navy.

“My job,” he said, “is to make sure the material that leaves this facility is 100 percent to spec, 100 percent of the time.”

• Date Taken: 10.27.2011
• Date Posted: 10.27.2011 14:07
• Story ID: 79123
• Location: HATFIELD, PA, US