SPARKS ARE FLYING

Karla Wall Thursday, December 4, 2014 Comments Off on SPARKS ARE FLYING
SPARKS ARE FLYING

 As SWLA Gears Up For Massive Industrial Expansion, What’s Being Done About The Need For Welders?   

 

By Karla Wall

 

It’s estimated that 86,000 skilled craftsmen — welders, pipefitters, machinists, millwrights — will be needed along the Gulf Coast over the next five years, during the construction phase of the expected industrial expansion.

And a good portion of those will be welders.

Dr. Joseph Fleishman, vice chancellor of economic and workforce development at Sowela Technical Community College, says about 5,000 new welders will be needed here in SWLA, where the expansion is expected to top $80 billion in projects.

Given that, according to the American Welding Society, the age of the average American welder is 54, and about 45 percent of welders in the U.S. is age 50 or older, it’s not difficult to see that there will be a dire need for welders in the next few years to not only fill the additional positions created by the upcoming expansion, but to replace welders who will soon be retiring.

Is there any way the area’s three trade and technical education institutions can train that many new welders?

“There’s absolutely no question about it: We cannot meet the demand,” says Roger Creel, director of the Calcasieu School System’s College Street Vocational Center. “There will be a tremendous demand over the next five to seven years, and there’s no way we can meet that. What we can do is train all the students we can here in this area, and prepare them to settle into permanent positions — for maintenance and turnaround — once the construction phase is complete. We want to train Southwest Louisiana’s young people who want to stay here and take permanent positions.”

Fleishman, however, is more optimistic, saying that between the state’s community colleges, as well as the local Associated Builders and Contractors School, and the parish school system program, it won’t be as difficult to meet the need for welders as some might imagine.

“Sowela is only one of 13 technical community colleges in Louisiana,” he says. “They’re all at capacity in their welding programs, as we are. We communicate each month on the programs in the college system. If we utilize the community college system correctly, we can meet the demand.”

And it’s important to remember, says Fleishman, that the influx of jobs probably won’t occur at one time.

“The jobs will come in in a staggered way,” he says. “They won’t happen at once.”

Here are a few ways that ABC, Sowela and the parish vo-tech program are preparing to train enough welders to meet the coming demand.

 

A Joint Effort

The area’s three trade education schools are cooperating in an effort to meet the coming demand for workers.

ABC and the parish vo-tech center, for instance, are holding evening classes, for those who are out of high school, at local high schools in outlying parishes.

And students taking classes at ABC and the vo-tech center can receive credit for those classes at Sowela.

 

Expanded Programs

All three schools are beefing up their welding programs at record pace.

The vo-tech center, says Creel, has five welding programs, all at capacity, and there’s been a “big increase” in interest in the programs, says Creel.

Courses are being offered at Westlake, Starks, DeQuincy and Sulphur. All students are provided with safety gear, including boots, helmet and gloves.

The courses don’t prepare students for immediate employment, says Creel, but to attend ABC and Sowela for secondary training.

“You have to be trained at level 2 to go into industry, and serve a 3-5 year apprenticeship,” says Creel. “Our goal is to get students through core training, then through level 1 training.”

Plans are to offer summer classes to introduce students to a career in welding, Creel says.

A new welding building is being constructed at Starks High School, says Creel, and when it’s completed, by the opening of next school year, it will house evening courses.

ABC’s welding classes are also at capacity, and the school is also expanding its class offerings.

“We’ve expanded the enrollment limit for our classes,” says ABC director Kirby Bruchhaus.

ABC is offering classes in Kinder for high school students, and is also offering night classes.

Sowela’s welding programs are full, as well, and the school is having to put students on a waiting list for classes.

“We have 53 students on the list to start our Chicago Bridge and Iron welding classes each day,” says Fleishman. “And by next year, we hope to have 100 or more in our two-year welding program,” he says.

Classes are offered 4-9 pm Monday-Friday for non-credit courses, and 8 am-3 pm Monday-Friday for credit courses.

“We’re training from 8 am-9 pm Monday-Friday,” Fleishman says, “and we’d like to add Saturday and Sunday classes. And if industry needs us to offer classes from 9 pm-4 am, we will do that.”

Sowela currently has 36 welding booths for students, says Fleischman, and has just upgraded the ventilation system. Plans are to double the number of booths very shortly, for a total of 66. And, within the next six months, Fleischman says the school plans to add another 50-60 booths after that.

“We’re spending the money now,” says Fleishman.

 

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Getting The Word Out

If there’s any hope of getting enough welders trained to meet the coming demand, students (and, more importantly, their parents and families) have to know about what the area’s vo-tech institutes offer. So publicity has been a major concern for all three schools.

The Calcasieu school system’s vo-tech Center system hired Lorna Albers as a career coach, and a big part of her job is to visit schools to get the word out about, and get students interested in, the center’s programs.

“I speak to high school and middle school students about (the coming expansion), career planning, and high school courses that teach skills for jobs that are high pay/high demand. By Thanksgiving week, I will have spoken in all of our high schools, then I will go back to speak to 10th graders, starting in January, just before they start registering for next year’s classes.”

ABC also does presentations at area high schools, most recently spending three days speaking and giving video presentations at high schools in the five-parish area.

Fleishman says he recently appeared on KPLC to talk about the new scholarship funding from Praxair for the Skills Pipeline Workforce Development welding course.

“We already had 44 openings for that program,” he says. “When I went home that evening, we had 70 individuals on that list. At the end of a week, we had over 100. We now have 200 people on the list, all wanting to take advantage of the program.”

 

Financial Aid

That type of financial aid program is another big key to helping train the workforce of tomorrow, and students in all three institutions are able to take advantage of financial assistance.

ABC students, says Bruchhaus, can get financial help through the Workforce Investment Act, which helps not only with tuition but with childcare and travel expenses.

There’s also the TOPS Tech program, which, like the regular TOPS program, provides financial assistance through the state.

“You have to meet the regular TOPS requirements,” says Bruchhaus. “It’s similar to the TOPS program, but for vo-tech students.”

Sowela students have a wide variety of options available for financial aid, including the Praxair funding, which has to date totaled $300,000.

 

Partnering With Industry

And the Praxair funding points to another key element in the push to train workers. All three agencies work closely with area industry to provide the specific type of training each organization needs.

“We understand the industry culture, and we work with industry to meet their specific needs,” says Fleishman. Sowela works with industry to develop programs, he says,  to ensure that, when a student completes a course, he or she is guaranteed a job — they’re ready to meet the specific needs of that company.

“A job is not just a hope, it’s a reality,” he adds.

Capital One last year gave $80,000 to Sowela for its welding programs. This year, it gave another $70,000. And Technip, an international engineering, management and construction firm, recently donated $100,000 in welding equipment.

Sasol, of course, is building a new training center at Sowela, which will initially be used to train Sowela employees, but will eventually be used to train all students. And Sasol has also donated to ABC for its programs.

 

Sparks Will Fly

Meeting the demand for welders in the next few years won’t be an easy task, but by getting the word out about the high-paying jobs opening up soon, partnering with and listening to area industry to meet its needs, and ensuring continued growth of facilities and course offerings, the area’s trade schools are well on their way to meeting that challenge.

 

 

Return Of Rosie The Riveter

 Is The Upcoming Expansion Enticing Young Women Into Non-Traditional Careers  Such As Welding?  

 

The overabundance of jobs that will come with the industrial expansion expected over the next few years, and the enticement of healthy salaries immediately after graduating from a three-month course, has many young people — and older adults facing unemployment or wanting a career change — thinking of a career in the skilled trades.

That includes young women, who are increasingly opting to train for careers long considered male territory. Welding, for instance.

But we’re not exactly seeing the return of Rosie The Riveter — yet.

According to the American Welding Society, only one in 20 welders in the U.S. is female, despite the long-held belief that women have the fine motor skills, patience, and hand/eye coordination to excel at the skill.

Young girls simply aren’t conditioned to look at welders in hoods, boots and heavy gloves and think, “I can do that.”

But women are beginning to consider careers in the skilled crafts, thanks to outreach programs such as Baton Rouge Community College’s new Women in Welding course, which currently has 15 women training for careers as welders.

And, if ever there was a time for young women to think about such a career, it’s now.

Its estimated that 86,000 skilled craftsmen will be needed along the Gulf Coast in the next few years, and Dr. Joseph Fleishman, Sowela’s vice chancellor for workforce development, says that, in SWLA, a good percentage of those will be welders.

“We’ll need about 5,000 welders here over the next few years,” he says.

Add to that need the facts that, according to the AWS, the average American welder is 54 years old, and about 45 percent of the welding workforce is age 50 or older, and that 111,000 new welders will be needed just to replace retiring welders, and you begin to see why the push is on to introduce young women to consider welding as a career.

And, says Fleishman, companies today are interested in maintaining a workplace with a balance of male and female employees, and are thus eager to hire women, particularly in a male-dominated field.

“Women get hired very quickly,” he says. “It’s very easy for a woman to find a job (in the skilled crafts).”

Lorna Albers, career coach with the Calcasieu Parish School System’s College Street Vocational Center, says she’s seen an increase in the number of female high school students interested in a trade and industry career.

“There have always been a small number of female students in our T & I classes,” she says, “but now it seems they are more serious about making it a career. I’m getting more interest this year from female students in the high schools, so I definitely think we will have more (females) in our classes next year.”

Roger Creel, the College Street Center’s director, agrees.

“We do have some girls in welding,” says Creel, “though not as many as in other craft areas. I have seen more interest in welding from girls, also in process technology. We’re actively marketing non-traditional students.”

Heavy marketing by trade schools, the lure of a very good salary, and a workforce more than eager to hire might just have more and more women donning those heavy helmets and channeling Rosie The Riveter.

 

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