About Us

About pica

PICA (pronounced pee’-ca) is an acronym for Pipeline Inspection and Condition Analysis. We are a Canadian-based company with operations throughout North America, South America, Australia, and Asia. PICA USA is incorporated in Colorado and employs client-facing and project-delivery professionals in California, Texas, Louisiana, and North Carolina.
PICA’s roots in pipeline inspection technologies go back to 1972 when Dave Russell, our founder, and president, incorporated Russell Non-Destructive Examination (NDE) Systems in Edmonton, Canada. In the late 1990s, Russell began applying Remote Field Eddy Current (RFEC) technology, now called Remote Field Testing (RFT), to metallic water mains in the United States and around the world. The demand for water main inspections grew, leading to the creation of PICA. The graphic below illustrates Russell NDE and PICA’s long-standing leadership role in the pipeline inspection industry.

Why PICA?

PICA offers unique solutions to a diverse client base. All PICA clients receive:

Personalized customer service
Fair and competitive pricing
Innovative solutions to unique challenges and constraints

PICA engineers and technicians are problem-solvers. Every pipeline is unique. Pipeline owners and engineering consultants come to PICA to find technologies and inspection approaches that will enable them to confidently assess the condition of critical buried pipelines. PICA routinely develops solutions for the most challenging pipeline inspection conditions and constraints. Our specialty is high-resolution electromagnetic inspections that accurately measure corrosion and wall loss in metallic pipe (steel, DIP, CIP) and corrosion of wires, bars, and cylinders in concrete pressure pipe (PCCP, CCP, RCP, RCCP). We offer a variety of inspection tools and inspection methods for both in-service and out-of-service pipelines. Our data analysis and defect reporting enable our customers to make proactive, cost-effective repairs to prevent future leaks and larger, costlier failures. To support our in-line electromagnetic inspections and to validate our inspection findings, we offer tools for internal and external hand-held