NDT Purchasing Software for Equipment, Calibration and Consumables
Purchase orders for consumables, film, couplant and equipment. Request a demo. Affordable. Accessible. Fully customizable. Quote on request.
Buying for an NDT company is not like buying office supplies
Purchasing in an inspection company looks simple from the outside. In practice it is full of small, expensive traps. A flaw detector goes out for calibration, and three months later nobody can find the PO or the certificate that came back with it. A replacement PAUT probe is ordered, but the order says only "probe", so when the client's auditor asks which instrument it was bought for, someone has to dig through emails. A calibration lab's accreditation lapses and nobody notices until a client's QA department rejects a calibration certificate from that lab.
Consumables are their own headache. Couplant, magnetic particle inks, penetrant, developer, cleaner, PPE and site stationery get bought in a hurry when a crew is about to mobilise, usually from whichever supplier answers the phone first. Stock levels live in someone's head. The night shift discovers the last can of developer is empty.
The Purchase app in Atlantis NDT ERP is the standard Atlantis ERP purchasing app, extended for how NDT companies buy. It knows the difference between an equipment manufacturer, a dealer and a calibration lab. It records whether a lab is accredited, with the accreditation number and expiry. And it lets you tie a purchase order line to the specific equipment serial it is for. Those are small additions, but they are the ones that make purchasing records hold up in an audit.
What the Purchase app does
Out of the box you get the usual purchasing flow: requests for quotation, purchase orders, receipts into stock and vendor bills matched to orders. On top of that, Atlantis NDT ERP adds the fields that matter to an inspection company.
- Vendor types. Suppliers are classified as OEM, dealer or calibration lab, so you can filter who makes your instruments, who sells them and who calibrates them.
- Accredited-lab flag. Calibration labs can be marked as accredited, with the accreditation number and its expiry date recorded against the vendor.
- NDT purchase type. Each purchase carries an NDT purchase type so equipment, services and consumables can be told apart in reports. The categories are set up during implementation to match how you buy.
- Order lines linked to an equipment serial. A line can point to a specific instrument or probe by serial number, so a calibration, repair or accessory purchase is attached to the item it was for.
Because the app shares a database with Asset Management, Inventory and Invoicing, a purchase is not an isolated document. It connects to the equipment record, the stock level and the accounts.
Knowing who you buy from: OEMs, dealers and calibration labs
Most NDT companies deal with the same handful of supplier types over and over, and each one matters for a different reason.
OEMs. Instrument manufacturers are where firmware, spare parts and factory repairs come from. When a flaw detector needs a board replaced or a PAUT unit needs a factory service, the OEM relationship is the one that counts. Tagging these vendors lets you see at a glance which manufacturers your fleet depends on.
Dealers. Many companies buy instruments, probes, cables and accessories through regional dealers rather than directly. Dealers often handle rentals, loan units and quick replacements. Keeping them separate from OEMs makes it clear who to call for what.
Calibration labs. This is where record-keeping carries the most weight. Clients, auditors and third-party inspectors ask who calibrated an instrument and whether that lab was accredited at the time. Being able to answer from the vendor record, with the accreditation number and expiry, is much better than hunting for a scanned certificate in a shared folder.
Suppliers of consumables, PPE and general services sit alongside these as normal vendors. The point is not to overcomplicate the supplier list. It is to make the few distinctions that come up in audits and client questions easy to see and easy to report on.
Calibration purchasing that holds up in an audit
Calibration is where purchasing and quality meet. In Atlantis NDT ERP, the purchase and the calibration record live in the same system.
When an instrument is due for calibration, you raise a purchase order to the lab, with the order line linked to that instrument's serial number. The vendor record shows whether the lab is flagged as accredited and when its accreditation expires. If the accreditation is out of date, you can see that before you send the instrument, not after the certificate comes back.
When the instrument returns, the calibration itself is recorded in Asset Management: provider, certificate number, standard used, range, stated uncertainty, whether the lab was accredited, the result (pass, fail or conditional) and the next due date. The calibration certificate register holds the lab's accreditation number, the certificate PDF and a valid, expiring or expired status, with expiry alerts. The Certificates app can send configurable daily email alerts for calibration certificates, so the next round of purchase orders is prompted in good time.
Put together, you can answer the questions auditors actually ask: which lab calibrated this unit, were they accredited, what did it cost the job, where is the certificate, and when is it due again. And Team Assignments warns when equipment assigned to a job is out of calibration, so a unit that missed its calibration run does not quietly go to site.
Buying against a specific instrument
Linking purchase order lines to an equipment serial sounds like a detail. Over the life of an instrument it builds a complete spending history.
Think about everything a single ultrasonic flaw detector or PAUT unit consumes over its life: the initial purchase, annual calibrations, a replacement battery pack, a damaged cable, a new wedge, a firmware update by the OEM, a repair after it was dropped on a scaffold. When each of those purchases points to the same serial number, you can open the instrument and see what it has actually cost to keep in service.
That helps with real decisions:
- Repair or replace. An older unit that keeps coming back for repairs is easier to retire when the spend is visible in one place.
- Rental versus ownership. Asset Management can record rental rates, so you can compare owning and running an instrument with renting it for occasional scope.
- Maintenance cause and effect. The maintenance log in Asset Management records preventive and corrective work, repairs, cleaning, firmware updates and probe replacements with condition before and after. The purchase that paid for each one sits alongside it.
- Client questions. When a client asks about the history of an instrument used on their job, you have one record to show, not a folder of emails.
Invoicing lines can also carry an equipment serial, so the same instrument can be traced from what you spent on it to what you billed for its use.
Consumables without the last-minute scramble
Consumables rarely get attention until they run out. The Purchase app works with Asset Management and Inventory to keep them under control.
In Asset Management, consumables such as chemicals, PPE, stationery and couplant have a reorder level and a low-stock flag, and every movement is written to a ledger. When a crew draws penetrant, developer and cleaner for a job, the stock goes down. When it falls to the reorder level, the item is flagged as low. That is the prompt for purchasing to raise an order before the next mobilisation, not during it.
A few practical habits make this work well for NDT companies:
- Preferred suppliers per item. Record who you normally buy each consumable from, so a request for quotation goes to the right vendor quickly.
- Purchase type for consumables. Keeping consumables as their own NDT purchase type lets you see how much you spend on them compared with equipment and services.
- Receipts into stock. Receiving a delivery updates stock, so the low-stock flag clears when the order actually arrives.
- Job costing. Invoicing shows consumables as their own subtotal, so what you buy and what you bill can be compared job by job.
The Inventory app page explains how stock of equipment and consumables is held and moved.
How purchasing runs day to day
A typical week in an NDT company's purchasing looks like this once the ERP is in place.
- Alerts arrive. Daily email alerts flag calibration certificates approaching expiry, and the consumables list shows which items are below their reorder level.
- Requests go out. The purchasing or operations lead raises requests for quotation to the right vendors: the accredited lab for calibrations, the dealer for probes and cables, the usual supplier for couplant and PPE.
- Orders are confirmed. Quotes are compared and converted to purchase orders. Calibration and repair lines are linked to the instrument serial numbers they cover.
- Goods and services come back. Consumables are received into stock. Instruments return from calibration, and the calibration record and certificate are entered in Asset Management.
- Bills are matched. Vendor bills are checked against the purchase orders before payment.
- Costs are visible. The financial dashboard shows cost of sales, operating expenses and bills alongside revenue.
Nothing here relies on someone remembering. The system prompts, the records connect, and when an auditor or client asks, the answer is already filed.
Who uses the Purchase app
| Role | How they use Purchase |
|---|---|
| Owner / finance manager | Approves larger orders, reviews spend on equipment, calibration and consumables, and watches costs on the financial dashboard. |
| Operations manager | Makes sure equipment and consumables are ready before mobilisation and raises urgent orders. |
| Equipment / stores coordinator | Manages calibration and repair orders, links them to serial numbers and receives goods into stock. |
| QA/QC manager or Level III | Checks that calibration labs are accredited and that certificates are recorded before equipment is released. |
| Accounts | Matches vendor bills to purchase orders and handles payments. |
Approval steps and who can confirm orders above a certain size are set up during implementation according to how your company works.
How Purchase connects to the rest of the ERP
Purchasing is only useful when it feeds the rest of the business. In Atlantis NDT ERP it connects to:
- Asset Management for calibration records, the calibration certificate register, maintenance logs and consumable reorder levels.
- Inventory for stock of equipment by serial number and of consumables.
- Certificates for daily email alerts on calibration certificates and company certifications.
- Team Assignments for warnings when assigned equipment is out of calibration.
- Invoicing for equipment and consumables subtotals on client invoices, and the financial dashboard.
On the reporting side, method reports in the NDT Reports app reference the instruments used, and in marine mode the report PDF can merge the calibration certificate. For asset owners who want results on a 3D model of their plant, Atlantis also offers Digital Twin Reporting Software, a companion product that works alongside the ERP. If you train technicians, the ERP's eLearning portal gives learners access to Practical NDT, our 3D practice platform with UT, PAUT, RT, MT, PT, VT, ET and TOFD scenarios.
The full list of modules is on the ERP apps overview, and the Atlantis NDT ERP page explains the system as a whole.
Setup and implementation
Atlantis NDT deploys and configures the ERP for your company. For Purchase, setup usually includes:
- Vendor import and classification. Bringing in your supplier list and tagging each vendor as OEM, dealer, calibration lab or general supplier.
- Lab accreditation details. Entering accreditation numbers and expiry dates for the labs you use.
- Purchase types. Agreeing the NDT purchase types you want to report on.
- Products. Setting up consumables, spares and service products, with reorder levels for consumables.
- Equipment link. Making sure your instrument register in Asset Management is loaded, so purchase lines can point to real serial numbers.
- Approvals and taxes. Setting approval rules and the taxes that apply in your country.
Anything specific to your business, such as extra approval stages or particular purchase reports, becomes part of the customization scope agreed with you. The ERP is affordable, accessible and fully customizable, with pricing on request. Book a Purchase app demo to see calibration purchasing run end to end.
Frequently asked questions
Can we record whether a calibration lab is accredited?
Yes. Calibration lab vendors have an accredited-lab flag, with the accreditation number and expiry date recorded on the vendor.
Can a purchase order be tied to a specific instrument?
Yes. Order lines can be linked to a specific equipment serial, so calibrations, repairs and accessories are attached to the item they were bought for.
Will the system remind us when calibrations are due?
Yes. Calibration records carry a next due date, the certificate register shows expiring and expired status, and configurable daily email alerts cover calibration certificates.
Does it handle consumables like couplant and penetrant?
Yes. Consumables have reorder levels and a low-stock flag in Asset Management, and purchases received update stock.
Can we match supplier bills to orders?
Yes. Vendor bills are matched against purchase orders using the standard Atlantis ERP purchasing and accounting flow.
Is the Purchase app priced separately?
It is part of Atlantis NDT ERP, configured for your company. Pricing is quote on request.
Put your purchasing records to work
Every calibration, repair and can of couplant you buy says something about how your company runs. With purchases tied to vendors, labs and serial numbers, that information becomes useful instead of buried. Request a quote for Atlantis NDT ERP and tell us how you buy today.
Works with
- Invoicing: Invoices from timesheets and completed jobs, with payments and reminders.
- Inventory: Stock of consumables, sources and equipment across sites.
- Expenses: Field expenses and per diems, approved and rebilled to jobs.
Send an enquiry about Purchase · All ERP apps · Atlantis NDT ERP
Built for any business that runs on operations
Most companies do not fail at their craft. They lose time, margin and goodwill in the gaps between the tools they use to run the place — a quoting spreadsheet that does not talk to the job sheet, a job sheet that does not reach accounts, and a compliance folder nobody can search when a client asks. Atlantis closes those gaps by putting the whole operation on one platform, so information is entered once and everything downstream stays in step.
What you can run on it
- Sales and CRM — leads, quotes, follow-ups and the pipeline that tells you what next month looks like.
- Projects and job costing — plan the work, track the hours and materials against it, and see the margin while the job is still live rather than at final account.
- Field and service teams — dispatch, schedules, mobile capture that works with no signal, and sign-off from site.
- Inventory and purchasing — stock, suppliers, reorder points and goods receipt, joined to the jobs that consume them.
- People — records, qualifications and licences with renewal reminders, timesheets, leave and payroll.
- Quality and documents — procedures and forms under revision control, with the audit trail an inspection or accreditation body actually asks for.
- Accounts — invoicing, expenses, multi-currency and the reporting your accountant stops chasing you for.
Affordable, accessible, fully customizable — and we mean each word
Affordable because the whole suite is included rather than sold to you a module at a time, and because implementation is done by people who have run operations rather than by a chain of subcontractors. Accessible because it runs in a browser and on a phone, works for a small team on day one, and does not need a specialist on staff to keep it alive. Fully customizable because your process is the thing that makes you competitive — the software should bend to it, not the other way round.
Industries we configure for
Service businesses and contractors, manufacturing and fabrication, trading and distribution, laboratories and testing houses, engineering consultancies, construction and facilities, and asset owners across energy, marine, aerospace and infrastructure. Inspection and testing is where we started, and it remains the sector we go deepest in — but the platform underneath is general-purpose, and most of what it does has nothing to do with inspection at all.
What happens when you get in touch
A short conversation, not a sales sequence. We ask how the business runs today and where it hurts, show you the platform doing that work, and send a written quote shaped to your region, your team size and the scope you actually need. No obligation, nothing to install first, and no pressure to decide on the call. Reach out and tell us what you are trying to fix.
Related: business management platform · inspection management software · choosing the right category of software · modules · by industry · asset integrity platform. Book a free consultation.
Speak to an ASNT NDT Level III
Atlantis NDT provides ASNT Level III consulting, NDT training to ASNT SNT-TC-1A, inspection management software and independent report validation. Request a free consultation and we will return a tailored quote — affordable, accessible and fully customizable to your programme.