Thiago Lima Souto

I'm an Automation and Control Engineer with a Master's degree in Mechatronics and over 15 years of NDT field experience across some of the most demanding industrial environments on the planet. I hold Level III certifications in UT, PAUT, ToFD and Eddy Current, with Level II in MPI and PT — and I'm currently completing a second Master's in Automation and Robotics Engineering in New Zealand.

My career started in 2009 on Petrobras pipeline construction in Brazil. It quickly evolved through offshore platforms in Norway, FPSO construction in Rio de Janeiro, refinery shutdowns at REPLAN, crack sizing for Monsanto in the United States, and pipeline inspection at the Shetland Gas Plant in Scotland. Each environment built a different layer of expertise — and a deep understanding of what reliable inspection actually demands.

Over those years I've personally inspected more than 20,000 stainless steel joints using phased array, across alloys from TP304 and TP316L to Duplex, Super-Duplex, Inconel 625 and Incoloy 800HT. I've built and qualified PAUT procedures validated by Petrobras SEQUI, ABS, MODEC and Bureau Veritas — and I've trained and supervised teams to deliver 1,700+ joints in a single 40-day campaign.

Since moving to New Zealand I've worked as Quality Manager at MTL (achieving AINZ signatory status across seven NDT methods) and as Advanced NDE Technician at Bureau Veritas Auckland. I've published technical papers at COTEQ and the South Australia NDT Conference on phased array inspection of stainless steel nozzles and eddy current testing of heat exchangers.

Twin Crystals exists to make that depth of experience available to clients who need independent Level III expertise — without the overhead of a large inspection company.