www.ffjournal.netA TREND Publication

January 2018 ®

STAMPING/PRESSES

Monitoring technology spotstrouble before it happens

LASER TECHNOLOGY

Advances in fiber optic takelasers into new markets

+

8 FFJournal® January 2018

From the Senior EditorBY GRETCHEN SALOIS

“You may delay but time will

not.” Putting off something

until it becomes a problem

can be more costly than you think.

Today’s average welder is 57 years old and

that’s a big problem. Once they retire,

that priceless knowledge and

years of experience will exit

along with them, leaving va-

cant positions that will

outnumber the shrinking

pool of applicants.

Benjamin Franklin’s writ-

ings offer an endless source

of well-worded axioms span-

ning multiple generations. He continues

with, “Lost time is never found again.” If

time is money, then it’s simply not smart

business to avoid the inevitable.

In this month’s cover story, FFJournal

asks those tasked with educating and in-

spiring tomorrow’s workforce in the

welding and manufacturing sectors on

how the commodity of skilled labor is

being lost and what means of preparation

are needed.

With each passing year, manufacturers

waste another opportunity to expose

today’s younger generation to a new wave

of high-tech metalforming and fabrication

jobs. Government programs have not

seemed to pave the way, so it’s up to a col-

laborative effort between educational

outlets and corporate initiatives to bring

awareness to young people about an in-

dustry that is advancing at lightning speed.

Welding is ripe with opportunities.

“The welding industry alone is expected

to produce at least 5,000 new jobs each

year in the U.S.,” says Monica Pfarr, ex-

ecutive director at the

Welding American Society

Foundation.

Despite this projected

need, many manufacturing

executives are taking a re-

active—rather than a

proactive—attitude since

investing in training pro-

grams and apprenticeships don’t affect

this quarter’s profits.

“Procrastination costs more in the end,

so if manufacturers want to increase pro-

ductivity and impact their company’s

bottom line, then they will make person-

nel development a huge part of their

business planning,” advises Jeannine

Kunz, vice president at Tooling U-SME,

part of the Society of Manufacturing En-

gineers.

While perception is slowly catching on

to the benefits of developing programs

and investing more now versus later in to-

morrow’s welding industry, it’s not

happening fast enough. That lack of fore-

sight will be more costly than calculated

investments in educational opportunities.

Start on page 16 to find out why. FFJ

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Aclass from a private grammar school

wandered over one day to the Ameri-

can Welding Society’s welding trailer

in Ohio. Surrounded by digital welding

simulators, the students quickly split

into a battle of boys versus girls.

“The girls were just killing,” recalls

Duncan Estep, center director

for Weld-Ed. “It just so hap-

pened that day Governor

Kasich showed up. He asked

one of the girls what she

thought of welding and she

told him, ‘Well… I never re-

ally considered welding

before but … maybe I could

be a welder.’”

WELDING BY GRETCHEN SALOIS, SENIOR EDITOR

16 FFJournal® January 2018

We need

YOUReversing the stigma:

solid stake in the future o

Welding is not an obsolete occupation.

In fact, it is very much alive. However, the

average welder is 57 years old. Reliable re-

placements with a fraction of the

knowledge and skills that retirees take

with them are not easy to find. Part of the

difficulty the industry faces is there isn’t

enough effort to actively fill those vacant

positions until it is too late.

As technology evolves so, too, do welder

job descriptions and required skills. Lay-

ing down a strong seam is just one of the

skills worth noting as manufacturing floors

around the world shift to high-tech pro-

duction with automation. Welding

technicians must possess critical thinking

and problem solving skills while using ad-

vanced technology.

“Within the next decade, there will be

a need to fill nearly 3.5 million manufac-

turing jobs, and a current gap in essential

manufacturing skills will likely result in

some 2 million of those jobs going un-

filled,” warns Monica Pfarr, executive

director at the American Welding Society

Foundation (AWS).

Jobs in the trades retain a negative

stigma but that hasn’t stunted industry

growth—yet. “The welding industry alone

is expected to produce at least 5,000 new

job openings each year in the U.S., at the

same time that the talent pool is decreas-

ing,” she says.

Access denied

The stigma associated with skilled trades re-

mains as Career Technical Education

(CTE), an educational curriculum for fu-

ture industrial workers, suffers from up to a

25 percent shortage of CTE teachers in

manufacturing and sciences, according to

AWS. U.S. federal funding for these educa-

tional programs are on the decline and shop

classes are still unavailable to the majority

of public school students. Atop that, in an

effort to save cash short term, companies

often neglect apprenticeship programs, a

sound investment in the long term.

Efforts like the Every Student Succeeds

Act “offer hope,” says Pfarr, but that op-

portunity is relegated to individual states

to enforce it. According to AWS, only 37

percent of Americans believe the U.S.

manufacturing industry is experiencing

resurgence. Yet, says Pfarr, “there are

many good-paying manufacturing jobs

and opportunities abound in high-tech in-

dustries. Welding skills, in particular, are

broadly transferable across different man-

ufacturing industries and can be viewed

as a highly salable, high-tech occupation.”

AWS offers scholarships and works to

help people learn about careers in weld-

ing. That trailer in Ohio gives visitors a

chance to glimpse what the work is like.

AWS partners with several organizations

and with educators like Weld-Ed, funded

by the National Science Foundation,

which focuses on technicians with an as-

sociate’s degree in welding technology.

Slowly but surely

Efforts are starting to make an impact.

“Whereas years before, parents didn’t

want to see their children working a

skilled trade, we’re starting to see that sen-

timent reverse,” says Estep at Weld-Ed.

Weld-Ed trains welding technicians to

wield soft skills in addition to laying down

a good seam. “Welders need to under-

17January 2018 FFJournal¨

WANTED: Journeyman TIG/MIG welder

WHERE: RIX Industries, Benicia,California, a manufacturer ofspecialty gas compressors

REQUIREMENTS: Excellentcommunication skills, ability toread engineering drawings,BOMs, blueprints; follow oralinstructions; build large andsmall parts from drawingswithout assistance; pass carbonsteel and stainless steel pipewelding test (6-G); preparerecords to ensure quality productand processes according to ISO9000/9001 standards.

JOB BOARD

Welders have a

e of manufacturing

JOB BOARD

WELDING

18 FFJournal¨ January 2018

stand that, in addition to being able to

weld and identify a good weld, program-

ming and critical thinking are required as

technology advances,” Estep says. “Weld-

ing is a high-tech industry: 90 percent of

welding technician training requires ma-

terial training in particular, whether

welding metal to metal or to plastics.”

A well-rounded welder must be able to

work with a group of people and exhibit

professionalism. “One in 10 qualified

welders has those qualities that make

them a reliable employee,” Estep says.

Choosing a welding career can change

life for the better. “I knew a guy who was

delivering pizzas who decided to train to

become a welder,” Estep says. “After a year

of training, [he] took a job with a pipeline

company. [He] went to work on time and

did a good job and he’s netting $150,000

a year. His case is not rare because the de-

mand for people who can do the job and

come to work on time have a solid future

in the industry.”

Welding, says Estep, is ubiquitous.

Work can be found on pipelines, offshore

rigs, bridges, ships, commercial construc-

tion, manufacturing operations and

fabrication shops. “The people who know

this are already employed.”

Weld-Ed works with instructors to teach

welding technology curriculum alongside

teaching metallurgy and the science be-

hind joining materials, programming

robots and much more. “A welding tech-

Weld-Ed students are taught the

latest welding techniques as

well as soft skills and materials

training to understand the

science behind the process.

WANTED: GTAWwelder/pipefitter

WHERE: OCS Process System,Westlake, Ohio, design andengineering, fabrication,installation, service, support,equipment and supplies

REQUIREMENTS: Fitting ofstainless steel tubing and pipe;.fabrication and welding ofstainless steel tubing, pipe andsheet metal. Applicants shouldhave good communication skills,be able to read blueprints,certification and fabricationexperience is a plus, must bewilling to travel. Tooling U-SME urges manufacturers to be proactive in cultivating

tomorrow's workforce instead of waiting until it is too late.

19January 2018 FFJournal¨

nician must become a subject matter ex-

pert—from holding the torch to analyzing

nondestructive testing—and that need

will continue,” Estep stressed.

Welders are crucial, he says. They make

an engineer’s visions come to fruition. “And

that’s the point: As a welding tech, you need

to troubleshoot and figure things out and by

understanding the material you’re working

with and making sure you’re selecting the

right rods and the weld is the way it needs to

be, that takes foresight.”

Silver tsunami

Jeannine Kunz, vice president at Tooling U-

SME, says 88 percent of manufacturers

report they have difficulty filling jobs. “But

when you ask them if they have a plan to

address the issue, more than half reply they

don’t. Manufacturers are not always focused

on human capital and workforce develop-

ment,” she notes, adding, “Many are small

businesses focused on operations, so we

tend to see a high execution gap. These

problems end up being addressed once the

situation is at the extreme point, and that’s

what’s challenging.”

SME works with schools, companies

and educators to help spread the training

opportunities available to students and in-

cumbent employees.

“Automation is changing the way man-

ufacturing employees work and it’s

creating brand new jobs for the work-

force,” Kunz says.

SME and its training and development

arm, Tooling U-SME, hold events to work

on strategy to recruit and retain skilled

trade candidates. The work emphasizes

“the value in making larger investments

in learning and development programs

and ensuring that baby boomers leaving

the workforce don’t take their years of

tribal knowledge with them without pass-

ing their intel down to the next

generation,” she says. “More companies

are asking us to help them retain this

knowledge before they’re faced with the

silver tsunami [referring to retirees].”

Manufacturing and fabrication jobs are

not cookie cutter positions. “We’re helping

manufacturers and educators plan for jobs

that don’t exist yet, such as data scientists

and technicians that analyze information

from sensors, etc.,” Kunz says. “With all

the new software technology that accom-

panies the latest machines, manufacturers

need workers who can handle the type of

problem solving involved with [new ma-

chines and programming].”

Manufacturing professionals are aware

of obstacles in hiring. What has caught

them off guard is that the current work-

force is being outpaced by technology, so

“now they’re scrambling, trying to estab-

lish learning and development programs

to catch up,” Kunz says.

Automation is not the enemy

Speaking plainly, automation does adjust

for worker shortages where labor costs are

high, says Jukka Rantala, vice president of

Pematek Oy Ltd., a welding automation

manufacturer. Repetitive, high-quality

welds produced by robots automate tasks

and can streamline production processes.

“The idea, however, is not to replace

welders but to move the manual welders

to a task that can’t be automated,” says

Rantala.

A specialist in the shipbuilding industry,

Pematek receives requests from companies

either seeking to automate every process

possible, or automating so they can reallo-

cate workers elsewhere. “But it’s not always

feasible to automate every task,” he says.

“For tasks like a short weld, it makes no

A welding technician must become asubject matter expert, from holding thetorch to analyzing nondestructive testing.

Duncan Estep, Weld-Ed

WANTED: Welder/pipefitter

WHERE: Exelon IndustrialServices, Orchard Beach,Maryland, an energy producer

REQUIREMENTS: Lay out, fitand fabricate components toassemble structural forms, suchas machinery frames, pressurevessels and systempiping/supports. Position andsecure parts and assemblies tospecifications; tack weld or weldcomponents and assemblies,using electric, gas, arc or otherwelding equipment; interpretpower plant prints anddrawings.

WELDING

20 FFJournal¨ January 2018

sense to have a robot. There needs to be a

balance between both.”

Welders must often adapt to working

with robotic welding systems, but that may

requiring additional training. “We take the

typical welder and give him training for a

few weeks and after he is able to use the

robot, it becomes an extension of his own

hand,” Rantala says. “The robot does the

dirty work while the technician can go off

and handle something else.”

In Australia, K-Tig CEO Neil Le

Quesne says the average age of welders in

the U.K. and Australia is not far behind the

U.S. at 55. “The dramatic decline is com-

pounded by the manufacturing industry in

general—and oil and gas industries in par-

ticular—has grown exponentially since

mid-2009, accelerating job demand for

specialist welders,” he says.

The U.S. is expected to have a shortage of

400,000 welders by 2024, according to AWS.

“The default position of many parents is

to encourage their children to dig them-

selves into sometimes insurmountable

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21January 2018 FFJournal®

debt by pursuing one of more four-yeardegree programs,” says Le Quesne. “Bycontrast, welding is and will increasinglybe a pathway to a long and rewarding ca-reer in an industry which will experienceinsatiable demand for decades to come.

“The opportunity this represents to mil-lennials is outstanding—there is absolutelyno shortage in work, only a shortage ofworkers,” he continues.

Flexibility important

Finding qualified welders in rural Utah,for example, is no small feat. “It’s becauseof that needed flexibility—we’re not hav-ing our welders work on one widget dayin and day out—it’s hard to find workerswho can acclimate to the changes thatoccur on a daily basis,” says Bob Greer,shop superintendent at Tech-Steel Inc.The shop often trains new hires in houseso they will be able to work with the vari-ous thicknesses customers expect.

“Sometimes you’re shooting from thehip when deciding to take a chance on

someone to train them, but if they showthat desire to learn and eagerness to work,odds are they’re going to be a good addi-tion to our team,” Greer says.

Tech-Steel works with a local job corpsthat runs apprenticeships. “We don’t get alot of out-of-state interest,” Greer says. “Sowe do what we can to lure in quality [localcandidates] with consistent, well-payingwork.”

Retaining talent is an ongoing challenge

for many companies, including Tech-Steel.“We cross-train so our employees can becapable of more than one skill on the pro-duction line. Sometimes they take thatinformation and go elsewhere, but we get ahigh retention rate—we’ve been here for50 years and we’ve retired many people outof the shop. They spent their life here rais-ing their families and making Tech-Steel amajor part of their lives. We work to makesure that sentiment continues.”

Tech-Steel’s investment in its local tal-ent pool is something SME’s Kunz toutsas essential to avoid labor shortages. “Tak-ing a proactive approach and discussingworkforce challenges with key stakehold-ers will help better address this problemhead on,” Kunz advises. “Procrastinationcosts more in the end, so if manufacturerswant to increase productivity and impacttheir company’s bottom line, they willmake personnel development a huge partof their business planning.”

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