Page 27 - OHS, April 2021

To produce quality work here and bring jobs back to America, we need a new generation of skilled craftspeople capable of producing high-quality products. We need craftspeople trained and supported within the entire educational system and not as a separate vocational stream simply focused on delivering workers.
In simple terms, American industry was built on a combination of skilled tradespeople and a sizeable unskilled labor pool. If we are serious about something as specific as contaminated welding and welding in general, we need to be serious about providing a career path that speaks to a new generation. One that does not merely turn out a cheap pool of labor but one with equipment to meet today’s generation demands and seeks to reduce the segregation of “vocational” training from “academic” training.
The idea of an either-or educational stream should be long dead by now. With technological changes, mobility expectations and a different expectation about the meaning of work, it is no longer an either-or proposition. To meet this expectation requires a new hybrid model under full support of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. This is a model that combines both TVET and STEM type programs in a way that will produce individuals capable of continuous updating of knowledge and skills as rapid technological changes continue to occur. It also offers a balanced skills development program with educational choices that includes both the hands and the brain.
I have seen firsthand the success in Buffalo of the startup competitions and innovative centers and the great new ideas such programs create. I have also seen an inability to move from concept to production—the how and what of making things sorely lacking. It is one thing to see a need and propose a startup product, but it is quite another to get it made and get it made here in the U.S.
The “Made in America” idea, as a brand, still has currency around the world. It has always meant quality to purchase and use a product stamped “MADE IN USA.” We are rapidly losing that brand currency as other nations have, and continue to have, programs that support their next generation of skilled tradespeople.
How does any of this relate to reducing and eliminating contaminated weld/welding in general? In two words, not much, and yet, as it relates to the future of American manufacturing, a whole lot. America needs—and will continue to need—to see innovative ideas flourish and trained hands to turn great ideas into reality.
If you want to reduce contaminated welds, start by producing a new generation of American craftspeople skilled in the use of their hands (and brains) to manufacture high quality, Made in America products, with a resulting emphasis on long term TVET education that combines both the practical and the mind.
Richard W. Doornink is president and CEO of Welding Chemicals Inc.
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