Non-destructive testing in Germany
The Aachen region and the North Rhine from Nivelles. Every method except radiography.
Request a QuoteAachen is closer to Nivelles than Luxembourg is
150 kilometres separate Nivelles from Aachen. Cologne and Düsseldorf are further out but still within a radius that allows same-day work. North Rhine-Westphalia is Germany's foremost industrial region: chemicals, metallurgy, mechanical engineering, energy.
Between the Belgian border and the Rhine the fabric is made of chemical sites, pressure vessel shops, equipment builders and structural steelwork subcontractors. Many already work on both sides of the border. So do we.
One point deserves mention: Belgium has a German-speaking Community, around Eupen and Sankt Vith, some thirty kilometres from Aachen. We work there on the same terms as anywhere else in Belgium — radiography included, because it is Belgian territory.
What changes when you work in Germany
The German term has nothing in common with the French one: it is Zerstörungsfreie Prüfung, abbreviated ZfP. Nobody in Aachen searches for "non-destructive testing" in French. The learned society of reference is the DGZfP, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Zerstörungsfreie Prüfung.
The German market is built around powerful inspection organisations — TÜV foremost among them — and a dense standards culture in which European standards are adopted under the DIN EN prefix. The technical content is identical: DIN EN ISO 17637 for visual weld testing, DIN EN ISO 17638 for magnetic particle testing, DIN EN ISO 3452-1 for penetrant testing.
For pressure equipment, Directive 2014/68/EU is known as the Druckgeräterichtlinie. Same text, different name.
What we perform in Germany
Visual testing, penetrant testing, magnetic particle testing, conventional and phased array ultrasonics, thickness measurement, hardness testing, material identification, ferrite measurement, pressure and leak testing.
Radiography stays in Belgium
The use of radioactive sources in Germany falls under its own licensing regime, separate from the Belgian one. Our FANC-AFCN licence does not apply there.
Radiography is therefore carried out in Belgium, on site or in our bunker at Nivelles — including for the German-speaking Community of Belgium, which remains Belgian territory. Every other method is performed at your German sites.
Why call us from Germany
Because a contractor 150 kilometres away, available seven days a week and around the clock with a 24-hour attendance commitment, solves problems that a large group scheduled three weeks out does not.
LCNDTEST is an inspection body accredited by BELAC under number 786-INSP to EN ISO/IEC 17020 — the standard Germany knows as DIN EN ISO/IEC 17020. BELAC and DAkkS are both signatories to the European mutual recognition arrangements.
We are SCCp certified by TÜV AUSTRIA: the SCC scheme is German-speaking in origin, so it reads directly to a German client.