NEW KENSINGTON, PA--West Penn Testing Group , a provider of nondestructive testing (NDT) and material testing services, has certified the latest class of inspectors to graduate from its in-house training program.

“We have been aggressively staffing up our roster of trained NDT personnel to support our resource business plan and in conjunction with end-user demand,” says James C. DeChellis, West Penn’s president and COO.

Commenting on the trend among material suppliers and metalworking OEM to outsource more material testing to independent labs, DeChellis says that many customers “recognize the scope of the commitment needed to stay abreast of changing inspection requirements and technologies. The expenditures in time, effort and capital can be daunting,” he notes. “Fortunately, West Penn has spent years preparing to meet projected demand. As a result, we now have the required capabilities in place and ready to go. For this reason, a growing number of customers are leaving it to us to keep pace with escalating requirements. We have insured that capacity in equipment and personnel are in place for timely responses to work increases.”

DeChellis adds that based on growing and projected demand, West Penn will be increasing the number of inspectors by 50% in 2012, compared to last year.

“Customers were behind our decision years ago to plan and invest for long-term growth,” says DeChellis. “A number of our customers, some of whom are leading indicators of economic trends, shared with us the anticipated capacity requirements of their biggest customers. Recognizing that it takes months and years to ramp up highly complex capabilities, WPT planned the necessary actions to support end-customer-projected demand. We are now positioned with available capacity, cost-effective methods and reliable turnaround times versus leaving everything to chance.”