FAQ's

Are the ITC Thermography Certifications we receive nationally recognized (worldwide)?
The ITC has trained students from around the globe, many traveling great distances from Australia, the Pacific Rim, the Middle East, Europe, and of course the U.S., Latin America and Canada. We also have a training center in Europe that we have operated for a number of years.

Our infrared certifications are globally recognized and are designed to exceed the requirements of international infrared thermograhy certification standards.

The staff of ITC participates in infrared certification committees to ensure we are aware of the latest developments in international standards. The most widely recognized standard for non-destructive testing in most areas of the world is ASNT, an American standard. A European norm, EN473 is rapidly gaining support and we plan to follow both ASNT and EN473 standards in our new international training center. We are participating in, and in many cases leading, infrared certification developments in the Scandinavian countries, France, Israel and Australia.

What does your Level I, Level II and Level III Thermography Training consist of?
See course topical outlines and ITC overview.

Is your training recognized by other infrared teaching vendors (if I take your Level I or II Thermography Course will other training vendors accept your certification)?
Other third party training organizations have historically accepted our certifications as prerequisites for their infrared thermography courses without exception. We are confident that our curriculum provides more than an adequate base of knowledge for any of the infrared training industry's current course requirements.

Are you currently involved in infrared training for any other large corporations?
Our corporate client list is too large to list in this document, but includes Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Pratt and Whitney, Boeing, NASA, Chubb Insurance, Texaco, Cinergy, Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas and Electric, FP&L and Champion Paper. Contact information can be provided upon request.

We are looking for a vendor to service our organization for the next 10 years. What are your company plans in the future?
We fully intend to have the ITC remain as the premier Infrared Training organization for the next ten years and beyond. We are committed to providing the highest quality of infrared training services. We recognize that infrared cameras are of little value if they are not effectively utilized. To this end, we invested more than $1MM USD in 1998, $1.4MM in 1999 and continue to increase our investment annually to build the ITC's staff, facilities, and products.

Just a few of the more notable investments we've made in infrared training:

	We have expanded the International Infrared Training Center to include a corporate infrared training headquarters near Stockholm Sweden (modeled after the facility in Billerica MA) and made significant enhancements to our existing regional training centers in Germany, France, and the UK.
	We have opened an infrared training center in Italy.
	We have established Message Boards where infrared camera users and thermographers can ask questions, download technical articles, and communicate with each other.
	We have prepared and introduced several computer based training (CBT) thermography products.
	We started an annual infrared camera user’s conference, InfraMation, in 2000. Each year, the InfraMation conference features about 30 papers on infrared applications. These infrared seminar proceedings are available both in print and CD Rom. For detailed information, visit the conference website www.inframation.org.
	We publish a free monthly infrared training newsletter available to all thermographers. The complete archive of back issues ( from February 2000 on) can be downloaded here.

Are you able to go to all international sites for infrared training and are you available for assistance if any technical problems arise?
Our thermography training staff routinely travels internationally and visits any corporate sites. We are happy to provide thermography training and application support by phone, personal visit, email, and our Internet web site. The fact that our parent company, FLIR Systems has offices in more than 60 countries helps this effort significantly.

What are your company’s policies on thermography re-certification?
Typical ITC Level I Certificate

We require all ITC-thermography certified students to recertify every five years. Re-certification may be accomplished by gaining a sufficient number of “re-certification points” or passing another exam and submitting new infrared field assignments. Re-certification points may be earned by attending specific infrared industry conferences, attending additional infrared training courses, and / or presenting papers or publishing an article in a research journal or trade magazine.

What recognition(s) does your company hold in the field of IR training?
The Infrared Training Center is the world’s largest infrared training organization. We have trained more students; have more ASNT Level III Instructors, support staff and training equipment/application laboratories than any other infrared training organization in the world today. In fact, we established the world’s first hands-on infrared applications laboratory. Combining this with our modern multimedia auditorium and computer training laboratories makes theITC truly unique in the world of infrared training. We do more on-site infrared training courses today than any other infrared training organization. We support these customer site courses with a staff of 10 thermography certified instructors who conduct courses at our customer’s facilities utilizing portable versions of our infrared applications training tools. We are also the only infrared training organization to be certified to the ISO 9001: 2000 Quality Management Standard.

Name the benefits we will gain if your company does IR training for us?
Your students will obtain hands on training in their infrared camera and software systems from an infrared thermography training staff that has direct factory support on the most popular infrared cameras and software. Nobody knows our infrared cameras or software better than we do. In the area of IR Theory and Applications, we have more ASNT Level III Thermography-certified instructors in our organization than any other company in the world today. Our approach to infrared applications training utilizes innovative laboratory models both in our corporate training centers and in the infrared courses we teach on the road. Our unique applications laboratories allow each student to obtain relevant experience diagnosing common industrial electrical and mechanical equipment; effects of load, wind speed, distance, emissivity and solar gain are also explored. Our infrared software training facility allows hands-on use of the software, card readers and printers. We always have access to the latest software revisions and non-published “tips and tricks”. Lastly, the ITC has a $250MM infrared company behind it; this significantly enhances our access to resources for innovative expansion of our infrared training curriculum and reduces the possibility of a lack of continuity of service due to financial problems or staff changes.

What IR guidelines do you use?
Our infrared training protocols are based on ASNT SNT-TC-1A recommended guidelines. Recognizing the differences between NDT and PdM training needs, we deviate from the guidelines where we feel the student needs specific infrared application emphasis to produce a more competent thermographer. We are also ISO 9001 certified.

What are the requirements for training material/facilities l that we would have to provide for an on-site infrared training class?
We customarily request a classroom with lights that dim, a whiteboard, sufficient table workspace for the students to work and take notes, a screen, and a 110VAC or 220VAC power source. We bring an LCD multimedia projector, selected field laboratories and course workbooks for each student.

Is your infrared training directed toward any specific infrared camera?
We own, and train on virtually all makes of infrared cameras. We are also the only factory-authorized organization to train on all AGEMA, Inframetrics, and FLIR Systems infrared cameras. We can easily adapt our courses to be generic in nature in regards to infrared camera equipment, or tailor our thermography instruction to include more focused training on a specific model or models of IR cameras.

Describe the infrared training materials provided for attendees?
ITC Students receive four manuals, a framed certification and a laminated ITC identification card.

Students receive a 264-page bound manual for the Level I Infrared Thermography Course material. They also receive a 80-page bound Laboratory Manual to use with the permanent interactive Application Laboratories at our training facilities or a separate 33-page manual for our regional and customer site labs. Finally there is a 26-page bound Infrared Software Lab Manual (with sample report templates on diskette) the students use in the hands on 22-station Computer Training Laboratory. We also provide each student with a copy of ITC Utilities CD. It has heat loss software, avoided cost calculation software, technical papers, infrared camera manuals, back issues of our ITC monthly newsletter, and many other software items useful to the practicing infrared thermographer.

Upon completion of an infrared training course, and a successful passing of the exam, students receive a Training Certificate and a laminated wallet identification card.

List of accomplishments in furthering IR technology?
Our infrared training staff has made several contributions to advancing the state-of-the art in infrared thermography. Gary Orlove was a key member of the design team for the very successful Inframetrics ThermaCAM infrared camera. Dr. Bob Madding started the first thermography training course in 1978 and co-founded the Thermosense Conference, one of the largest IR applications conferences in the world. Ron Lucier started the first program to use infrared thermography to inspect nuclear power plants. All have published numerous technical papers and articles on thermography applications. In 2000, the Infrared Training Center also began the InfraMation Conference, with proceedings published in hard copy black and white format as well as fully searchable, full color CD ROM format. Known as the “Thermographers’ Conference”, InfraMation continues to grow as a very popular venue for all infrared thermographers.