Affordable NDT ERP in Port Arthur — Fully Customizable, All Business Apps Included

NDT software in Port Arthur: built for turnaround surges and LNG work

NDT software in Port Arthur has to cope with scale: several hundred technicians on a single refinery turnaround, report volumes that spike overnight, and crews rotating between refineries, a steam cracker and LNG sites along the Sabine. The Atlantis ERP solution gives an inspection company one system for certificates, equipment, dispatch, reports, timesheets and invoicing, set up to how you run a surge. Demo and quote on request.

Port Arthur has one of the densest concentrations of refining capacity in North America. Motiva's Port Arthur refinery is among the largest on the continent, and Valero and TotalEnergies both run refineries in the city. BASF TotalEnergies Petrochemicals operates a large steam cracker, and the waterfront toward Sabine Pass is being reshaped by LNG: Sempra's Port Arthur LNG is under construction, the Golden Pass LNG export terminal sits at Sabine Pass, and Cheniere's Sabine Pass LNG operates just across the channel in Louisiana. LNG projects answer to FERC and PHMSA, the waterfront to the Coast Guard, and the refineries to OSHA process safety rules and TCEQ permits.

For NDT contractors that means two very different kinds of work. Maintenance and turnaround work at the refineries and cracker needs large crews for a few weeks, mostly UT thickness, PAUT and TOFD on welds and corrosion, RT on replacement piping, and MT and PT on rotating equipment. LNG construction needs steady weld inspection on stainless and nickel-alloy piping, with PMI and ferrite checks alongside radiography. Many technicians are travellers staying in hotels from Nederland to Groves, paid per diem, working day and night shifts. Hurricane season, remembered locally for Harvey's flooding in 2017 and Laura's damage in 2020, can push fall turnaround work around at short notice.

Crew dispatch and scheduling software for Port Arthur turnarounds

Crew dispatch software for a Port Arthur turnaround has to answer who is available, qualified and not already booked, for hundreds of names at once. Atlantis Team Assignments tracks every job through planned, dispatched, in field, submitted and closed, and blocks double-booking of technicians and equipment serial numbers.

When an owner's turnaround coordinator asks for twelve more UT thickness technicians on nights starting Tuesday, the dispatcher filters by method, level and next available date instead of phoning around. The availability calendar records assigned, leave, training, sick and unavailable, and overlaps are blocked, so a technician already committed to a PAUT scope at the cracker cannot also be placed on a refinery crew. Each assignment carries site GPS coordinates and mobilisation and demobilisation dates, which matters when a single company has crews at Motiva, Valero and an LNG site the same week.

Calendar, kanban and list views show status, current assignment, utilisation and next available date for each technician. When the kit for a crew includes a flaw detector that is out of calibration, the system warns before dispatch. For a storm-driven reschedule, the scheduler can see every open assignment and move crews without losing track of who is where. See Team Assignments.

Technician certification tracking software for travelling crews

Technician certification tracking software is where Port Arthur surge staffing usually breaks. The Atlantis ERP holds each technician's certificates with scheme, level, method, certifying body, issue and expiry dates, OJT and training hours and attachments, and calculates active, expiring soon, expired or revoked automatically.

Surge hires come from everywhere, some qualified under another company's SNT-TC-1A written practice, some under CP-189, some with ISO 9712, PCN or CSWIP from overseas work. All of those schemes can be recorded against the same person, and your Level III can see at a glance what still needs to be done under your own written practice before the technician works for you. Certificate templates per scheme record validity in months, whether a vision test or exam is required, and minimum OJT and training hours. Examination sheets store general, specific and practical scores against the passing score, with exam files attached.

Vision tests, radiation safety training, radiation badge numbers and medical fitness expiry live on the employee NDT profile. Daily checks create warning tasks 90 days before a certificate or vision test expires, and configurable email alerts go to the recruiter, the QA lead and the site supervisor. If a technician logs hours while a certificate is not valid, the timesheet warns. The Surveys app can run a short competency questionnaire for new hires before they reach the gate. See Certificates.

NDT reporting software for high-volume turnaround reporting

NDT reporting software in Port Arthur has to keep report review from becoming the bottleneck that holds up a unit restart. The Atlantis ERP runs every report through draft, in progress, review, approved and sent, with inspector, reviewer and approver signatures, so the QA office can see exactly which reports are waiting and on whom.

Technicians fill UT thickness reports with readings by direction, PAUT reports with focal laws, TOFD, RT with source, technique and IQI details, and MT and PT with technique, particle type, method and developer, on the offline field app while still on the unit. Photos, on-screen signatures and PDF preview happen on the device, and everything syncs when the technician is back in range. Each of the 17 report types has its own numbering sequence, and each report records work order, request, drawing, contract and procedure references, so the owner's inspection coordinator can tie it to the right equipment package.

Overall results are recorded as acceptable, not acceptable or acceptable with remarks, and the third-party or authorized inspector can sign in the same report. Company templates are versioned, and Excel templates fill automatically when an owner wants its own sheet. For clients who want findings on a 3D model rather than a stack of PDFs, Atlantis Digital Twins maps indications and thickness trends. See NDT Reports and Digital Twin Reporting Software.

Inspection management software for Port Arthur LNG construction

Inspection management software for LNG construction has to track weld inspection across many isometrics without losing a joint. In the Atlantis ERP, report weld and job lines record each weld with defect type and orientation, and projects carry client PO, contract, methods, codes, scope, acceptance criteria and assigned equipment and technicians.

LNG piping means austenitic stainless and nickel alloys, so the same weld may need RT or PAUT, PMI and ferrite readings. All three are separate report types in the ERP, each with its own number, linked to the same project and the same WPS and drawing references. Project tasks carry method, technician, component, result, indication and defect counts, and procedure and WPS references, which gives the QA lead a running count of repairs without a separate tracker. Safety induction and work permit fields on the project help keep site access paperwork in view.

Construction clients usually ask for a weekly summary, and KPI dashboards can show reports by status, certificates expiring and calibration due. If the EPC wants data in its own system, the open REST API integrates with any system that accepts API connections, scoped per implementation. See Project.

Calibration management software for surge equipment

Calibration management software matters more in Port Arthur than almost anywhere, because turnaround kits get split across crews and come back late. The Atlantis ERP tracks every instrument and probe by serial number, with calibration frequency, status and next due date, and warns when assigned equipment is out of calibration.

Calibration records keep provider, certificate number, standard, range, uncertainty, accredited-lab flag, result and next due date; the certificate register adds the lab's accreditation number and PDF. The issue/return workflow, with supervisor and manager approval and condition recorded both ways, shows which gauge is still sitting in a hotel room after demobilisation, and the KPI dashboard lists issued equipment overdue for return. Rentals are common during a surge, and the lifecycle status can mark an item as rented out so nobody plans a job around it. Consumables with reorder levels keep couplant and penetrant stock ahead of demand. See Asset Management.

Timesheets, per diems and invoicing for turnaround billing

Turnaround billing is where Port Arthur contractors win or lose margin. The Atlantis ERP ties timesheets, expenses and invoices together so the bill matches what crews actually did.

Timesheets record work type (inspection, travel, standby, setup), method, site, client, equipment serial, billable flag and rate multiplier for overtime and night shifts, with approval. Standby hours during a delayed unit handover are logged as standby, not lost. Field expenses and per diems for travellers are captured in Expenses and re-billed to the job. Invoices carry the NDT project, PO number, site, invoice type and industry sector, with subtotals for labour, equipment and consumables, and lines by cost centre, method, equipment serial, technician, rate type and days or hours, which is how refinery owners usually want turnaround invoices broken down. The financial dashboard shows revenue, cost of sales, gross margin and outstanding invoices across 12 months. Quotations with job type, site, dates and applicable codes convert to sales orders once accepted online. See Timesheets and Invoicing.

ERP for NDT companies in Port Arthur

An ERP for NDT companies in Port Arthur needs to scale up for a turnaround and back down after it without breaking. The Atlantis ERP handles that because technician, equipment and job records stay in one place whether you have twenty people in the field or several hundred.

Around the dispatch core, CRM tracks each owner and EPC by service line, industry sector and estimated technicians and days, with a lead score; Fleet records which trucks can carry radioactive sources and their transport licence expiry; Procedures holds your approved written procedures with locked revisions and full history; and Discuss and Calendar keep office and field talking. Existing accounting in QuickBooks or NetSuite, or owner systems such as SAP and Maximo, connect through the open REST API, scoped per implementation. NCR/CAPA workflows for your own quality system are configured during implementation.

NDT software for small NDT companies in Port Arthur

Not every Port Arthur inspection company runs hundreds of people. Smaller firms often subcontract to the larger turnaround contractors or serve fabrication and machine shops in Port Arthur, Nederland and Groves. For them the ERP is about proving qualification and producing clean reports quickly, because the prime contractor will ask for both before paying. A small NDT company usually starts with certificates, asset management with calibration, NDT reports and invoicing, and adds dispatch and timesheets when it starts supplying crews for surges. The same records then scale without re-entry. Staff are trained on the system during rollout, and if your technicians need ASNT SNT-TC-1A-based NDT training, the eLearning portal and the Practical NDT 3D simulator support that.

Implementing the Atlantis ERP in Port Arthur

Go-live should never land in the middle of a turnaround. For Port Arthur contractors the usual plan is to configure during a quieter stretch and run a pilot on a smaller job before the next season.

1. Map your surge process: recruiting, onboarding, cert checks, dispatch, reporting and billing.
2. Import technicians, certificates, vision tests and NDT profiles, and your instrument register.
3. Set up report templates for each owner and your procedure register.
4. Configure timesheet work types, rate multipliers, expense categories and invoice layout.
5. Pilot the offline field app with one crew, then roll out.
6. Ongoing support from Atlantis NDT, led by an ASNT NDT Level III.

We can walk through your last turnaround and show where each step would sit. Book a Port Arthur walkthrough.

Spreadsheets vs generic ERP vs Atlantis ERP for Port Arthur turnaround work

Affordable, customizable ERP for inspection companies in Port Arthur

Affordable, customizable ERP for inspection companies in Port Arthur means a system that fits your surge model and costs what a contractor can justify. The Atlantis ERP is affordable, accessible and fully customizable, with pricing by quote on request. Small NDT companies can start with certificates, reports and invoicing; larger turnaround contractors usually add dispatch, timesheets, fleet and CRM. Request a demo or ask for a quote.

Frequently asked questions

Can the ERP handle hundreds of technicians during a turnaround?

Yes. Technician, certificate and assignment records are held centrally, and dispatch blocks double-booking regardless of crew size.

How does it help with night shifts and standby?

Timesheets record inspection, travel, standby and setup separately with a billable flag and rate multiplier, and those hours feed the invoice.

Can we track PMI and ferrite on LNG welds?

Yes. PMI and ferrite are separate report types, linked to the same project, WPS and drawing references as the RT or PAUT report.

What if a hurricane moves the turnaround?

Assignments, availability and mobilisation dates can be moved in the calendar views, and the system still blocks overlaps when crews are re-planned.

Does it record certificates from other companies' written practices?

Yes. Each certificate records scheme and certifying body, so outside certifications are visible while your Level III completes qualification under your own written practice.

Is pricing published?

No. Pricing is by quote on request, based on your scope and number of modules.