1

General
The Senior Welding Inspector would almost certainly be involved in planning
for inspection at one or more of the following stages of a project;

Pre-contract Identification of the job requirements, recruiting and

allocating suitably trained and qualified staff, gathering together
relevant normative documents, technical data and drawings, producing
work/inspection schedules and quality plans as well as general
administration.
In-contract Application of inspection methodologies to the
requirements of the contract specification, production and collection of
inspection and test reports/documentation.
Post-contract Compilation of inspection reports, certification and test
data.

There are a number of methods of planning for inspection activities, the

method selected being dependant on a number of factors, primarily the
requirements of the client and the specific project.
The various methods are;
In-situ inspection; an inspector(s) placed permanently at the work place. The
inspector would be expected to work independently, responsible for using
the allocated inspection time in a useful and expedient manner. Periodic
visits to the work place would be made by the Senior Inspector.

Gantt Charts
Gantt charts define stages of production and estimated work time for each
stage.
A Gantt chart is a popular type of bar chart/graph that illustrates a project
schedule ie list of a project's terminal elements. Terminal elements comprise
the work breakdown structure (WBS) of the project and are the lowest
activity or deliverable, with intended start and finish dates. Terminal
elements are not further subdivided,
Terminal elements are the items that are estimated in terms of resource
requirements, budget and duration linked by dependencies and schedules.
An example of a typical Gantt chart that could be used to plan inspection
activities for either manufacturing or construction is shown below.
The WBS/task elements are listed on the left hand side and the start and
completion of each activity is represented by a bar to the right of the activity.
The time period in this example is represented in months, both planned and
actual. Some Gantt charts may show time in weeks, which can also be
broken down into days.

Rev 1 January 2010

Planning.
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Example of a Gantt chart

ANY PROJECT PHASE 1 INSPECTION SCHEDULE.

Work
Breakdown
Structure

(WBS)

2010
JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

Recruit &
allocate
inspection staff
Review
fabrication
drawings
Review WPSs,
WPQRs&
WATCs
Prepare quality
plans

Witness & test

WPSs, WPQRs

Witness welder
qualification
tests
Visual
inspection of
first
production
welds

LEGEND
Planned duration

Planned milestone

Actual duration

Actual milestone

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Planning.
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MAY

JUNE

Critical Path Analysis (CPA)

Critical path analysis (CPA) is a powerful project management tool that
helps to schedule and manage complex projects. Developed in the 1950s to
control large defence projects, CPA has been used routinely since then. As
with Gantt charts, CPA helps plan all tasks that must be completed as part
of a project. They act as the basis both for preparation of a schedule, and of
resource planning. During management of a project, they allow monitoring
of achievement of project goals.
CPA can also show where remedial action needs to be taken in order to get
a project back on course.
The benefit of using CPA over Gantt charts is that CPA formally identifies
tasks which must be completed on time in order for the whole project to be
completed on time, and also identifies which tasks can be delayed for a
while if resources need to be reallocated to catch up on missed tasks.
A further benefit of CPA is that it helps to identify the minimum length of time
needed to complete a project. Where there is a need to run an accelerated
project, fast track, it helps to identify which project steps should be
accelerated in order to complete the project within the available time. This
helps to minimise cost while still achieving objectives.
The disadvantage of CPA is that the relation of tasks to time is not as
immediately obvious as with Gantt charts. This can make them more difficult
to understand for someone who is not familiar with the technique.
CPA is presented using circle and arrow diagrams. The circles show events
within the project, such as the start and finish of tasks. Circles are normally
numbered to allow identification of them. An arrow running between two
event circles shows the activity needed to complete that task. A description
of the task is written underneath the arrow. The length of the task is shown
above it. By convention, all arrows run left to right.
An example of a very simple diagram is shown below:
0
START

4
2

4 Wks
Recruit & allocate
inspection
staff

Simple Circle and Arrow

This shows the start event (circle 1), and the completion of the Recruit &
allocate inspection staff task (circle 2). The arrow between the two circles
shows the activity of carrying out Recruit & allocate inspection staff. The
time allocated for this activity is 4 weeks.
Rev 1 January 2010
Planning.
Copyright TWI Ltd 2010

In the example above, the numbers above the circles show the earliest
possible time that this stage of the project will be reached.
Where one activity cannot start until another has been completed and when
other activities need to be scheduled it is useful to tabulate the terminal
elements and allocate time against each activity. For example the inspection
activities for a project could be shown as:
TERMINAL ELEMENT /
ACTIVITY

SCHEDULED
COMPLETION

TIME
ALLOCATED

Recruit & allocate

inspection staff

To be completed first

4 weeks

Review fabrication
drawings, material &
consumable certificates

Start when A is
completed

2 weeks

Review WPSs, WPQRs

& WATCs

Start when A is
completed

2 weeks

Prepare quality plans &

identify inspection
requirements

Start when B is
completed

Witness & test WPSs &

WPQRs

Start when C is
completed

Witness welder qualification

tests

Start when C, D & E

are completed

Visual inspection and

testing of production
welds

Start when F is
completed

IDENTIFICATIO
N

TOTAL TIME ALLOCATED

3 weeks

2 weeks

2 weeks

9 weeks

24 weeks

The above tabulated terminal elements can now be shown as an algorithm,

see the following example

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Planning.
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6
4

C
0

2
Wks

A
START

B
2

4 Wks

2
Wks

D
3

2 Wks

11

13

F
5

3 Wks

G
6

2 Wks

Critical path analysis for inspection project.

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Planning.
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22
7
9 Wks

FINISH

In the example, the activities of B & C' cannot be started until 'A' has been
completed.
This diagram also brings out a number of other important points:

Within CPA, reference to activities is made by the numbers in the

circles at each end. For example, task A would be called 'activity 1 to
2'.
Task 'B' would be 'activity 2 to 3'.
Activities are not drawn to scale. In the diagram above, activities are 8,
4, 3 and 2 weeks long.
In the example the numbers above the circles indicate the earliest
possible time that this stage in the project will be reached.

CPA is an effective and powerful method of assessing:

What tasks must be carried out

Where parallel activity can be performed
The shortest time in which you can complete a project
Resources needed to execute a project
The sequence of activities, scheduling and timings involved
Task priorities
The most efficient way of shortening time on urgent projects.

An effective CPA can make the difference between success and failure on
complex projects. It can be very useful for assessing the importance of
problems faced during the implementation of the plan.

Programme Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)

PERT is a variation on CPA but takes a slightly more sceptical view of time
estimates made for each project stage. To use it, estimate the shortest
possible time each activity will take, the most likely length of time, and the
longest time that might be taken if the activity takes longer than expected.
The formula below is used to calculate the time for each project stage:
Shortest time + 4 x likely time + longest time
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This helps to bias time estimates away from the unrealistically short timescales normally assumed.
A variation of both CPA and PERT is a technique known as reverse
scheduling, which the completion date for the last terminal element for the
project is determined and then all other operations are worked back from
this date, each operation having its own target date.

Rev 1 January 2010

Planning.
Copyright TWI Ltd 2010

Summary
The Senior Welding Inspector doe not need to have an in-depth knowledge
of planning and would not be responsible for the planning of inspection
activities on a large project or contract, this would be the responsibility of
the planning team or planning department.
I
However the SWI does need to have a basic understanding of project
planning as inspection tasks must link in with other terminal activities to
ensure that inspection tasks are carried out on a timely and cost effective
basis, in accordance with the planning system being used on a particular
project or contract.

Rev 1 January 2010

Planning.
Copyright TWI Ltd 2010