The Engineering Inspector – Work Piece Matching Algorithm for Setting up Minimum Cost Engineering Inspection Team

Abstract

The Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) for materials and manufactured equipment purchased and destined for use in different industries as well as their assembly, fabrication, integration and commissioning as functioning entities such as Refineries, Power Plants, Nuclear facilities, Ships, Oil Rigs etc. is a highly complex, specialized and critical undertaking which unless performed to prescribed and controlled levels and extent can result in calamitous HSE consequences with danger to life, the environment as well as financial loss. This research describes the practices and planning required to effectively manage the QA/QC process in terms of finding the right engineering inspection team algorithmically; this is a new approach to securely deliver the cost-effective aspect of QA/QC. Cost being a fundamental and mandatory component of QA/QC business. This can be achieved by securing the key elements of the process which have to include; the selection of the inspection personnel, the identification of the required specifications and design parameters, the control of reporting, maintenance of data, contractual conditions and requirements as related to QA/QC, control of budget. Currently, often the control of these processes is compartmentalized and based on familiarity of personnel and fragmented systems. This dissertation proposes that the processes can be controlled systematically through the proposed algorithms. The algorithmic process will allow management to effectively form work groups that will control and deliver the work processes within budget satisfying the QA/QC requirements. Experiments were conducted to compare the results of using the manual procedures and the proposed WBS-EI Matching algorithm to find the inspectors for a set of work pieces (WBS) with minimum cost or budget. The algorithm produced results far superior to manual procedures. There are many variations of the matching algorithm proposed in this research providing a broader possibility to maximize the profit in many different situations.

Keywords- QA/QC; engineering inspection; matching algorithm; minimum cost