In-House or Outsourced Scanning? A Decision Framework for Aerospace Suppliers

North Star Imaging has published guidance for aerospace suppliers weighing whether to bring digital radiography and computed tomography inspection in-house or send it to an outside provider. The company's view is that most suppliers are better off outsourcing until two conditions are met: a system would be kept busy for roughly half of available production hours on a steady, repeating mix of parts, and the supplier has or can recruit a NAS410 Level 3 to take ownership of the process. Below that usage level, the article argues, outsourcing is nearly always the cheaper option.