What do plumbers, electricians, mechanics and welders have in common? The answer: all of these skilled trades are experiencing a shortage of qualified people. Ask any hiring manager in the country who deals with the skilled trades, and they’ll tell you the number of positions available for skilled labor outnumber the amount of qualified candidates. Fabricating, manufacturing and metalworking companies in northwest Pennsylvania are no exception. That is until the Erie County Welding Course Initiative proactively addressed the situation and a highly customized welding certification and training program was formed from an alliance between the Erie County Technical School, manufacturers and local business organizations. By teaming up with General Welding Supply, Bernard Welding Equipment and Miller Electric Mfg. Co., the alliance has provided students with advanced welding products that meet the region’s demand for highly skilled, certified welders.

Here’s how the Erie County Welding Course Initiative works. The Erie County Welding Course Initiative allows participating companies to train and certify their newly hired welders off-site at the ECTS. Through customized instruction, a student earns the certifications required by his or her hosting company. Currently, the three participating companies require two-higher level certifications from ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) and AWS (American Welding Society). The instructors mold the curriculum around the specific needs of each company, dividing training between classroom and theory time (20 percent) and welding lab time (80 percent).

Photo 1: Welding Course Initiative student Jeff Grunzel uses the Bernard Q-Gun and Centerfire consumables for the MIG welding portion of his training.

The host company pays for its student to attend the Welding Course Initiative, and the students are considered “on the clock” while attending the program. In turn, the host companies receive highly skilled, fully certified welders capable of producing superior products. Plus, through the Welding Course Initiative, companies invest in the future of their businesses, products, employees and the local economy.

When the Welding Course Initiative was still in the planning stages, Scott A. Catalano, welding instructor, Quality Inspection Services stepped in to help. Commissioned by local companies, Catalano evaluated each company’s needs, built customized curriculum and made recommendations for welding equipment to the ECTS. The school then turned to General Welding Supply of Erie, Pennsylvania.

General Welding, along with Bernard and Miller personnel, were able to work around the short timeline and needs of ECTS, Quality Inspection Services and their client companies. “We initially worked with another distributor,” says Aldo Jackson, Ph.D., director, Erie County Technical School. “They weren’t able to meet our terms, so we contacted General Welding. They stepped right up and said, ‘We can do this for you. Let’s make it happen!’”

Reliable Equipment

A Certified Welding Educator, Catalano knows quality welding equipment helps produce quality results, and it saves time, money and operator frustration in the long run. With training conducted on two daily shifts (7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m to 11:00 p.m.) and up to 24 students in each class, students are burning a lot of wire. That’s why Catalano chose Bernard® Q-Guns™ and Centerfire™ consumables in his customized welding curriculum for the Erie County Welding Course Initiative.

Photo 2: Bernard MIG Specialist Emil Vasek (holding MIG gun) explains the technology behind the Q-Gun and Centerfire consumables to Aldo Jackson, Ph.D., director Erie County Technical School (left), welding instructor Scott A. Catalano (left-center) and Ken Dougan of General Welding Supply.

“I’ve chosen to use Centerfire for this program, and for all my programs, because I feel I can put more pounds of wire through the tip, nozzle and diffuser with less breakdowns,” says Catalano. “To give you an average: the students put down about 150-pounds of wire per tip in a short circuit application.” Because welding is a skill that’s perfected by practice, students want to spend more time welding instead of changing consumables (photo 1).

"Bernard Centerfire’s large diameter tip bases and tapered seats increase electrical conductivity and heat transfer,” adds Emil Vasek, MIG specialist, Bernard. The result is better weld consistency and improved consumable durability (photo 2).

“With Centerfire, the tip is always centered, it’s easy to change out and the students don’t have to worry about stripping threads,” says Catalano. “With Centerfire there’s more surface area, which I believe leads to better arc characteristics and better electrical contacts.” When coupled with the appropriate nozzle, Centerfire contact tips stay fixed either flush with the end of the nozzle, at 1/8” stickout, 1/8” recess or 1/4” recess.

Like the manufacturing companies that participate in the Welding Course Initiative, Catalano also knows that downtime can affect the program. “We are on a tight time frame: 25 days for the entire program,” says Catalano. “We can’t delay training a student because we have problems with the equipment.” That’s why Catalano uses the durable Bernard Q-Gun. The Q-Gun includes an upgraded back-end assembly to increase durability and flexibility on demanding MIG welding applications used by students in the Welding Course Initiative. The Bernard Q-Gun’s rigid strain relief (located between the power cable and the wire feeder), prevents the power cable from kinking and provides better wire feeding. The result is a more stable arc, better quality welds, more welding time and better productivity.

Excellent Support

To support continuing technical education, Bernard and Miller offers an educational discount for equipment sold to chartered non-profit educational institutions. “As a distributor, I just like dealing with Bernard and Miller because of the ease and everything else,” says Ken Dougan, branch manager, General Welding Supply. “And we were able to set ECTS up with a total package with an educational discount. It made business much easier for everybody.” For a non-profit educational institution like ECTS, the ease of business was definitely appreciated. “It wasn’t like we had $50,000 laying around to buy a bunch of equipment,” adds, ECTS director Jackson. “General Supply, Bernard and Miller stepped right up in terms of financing to get the equipment into the building.”

Due to the smaller size of the welding stalls (8 feet long, 8 feet wide and 7 feet high) and Catalano’s diverse curriculum that covers a variety of welding processes, Ken Dougan, branch manager, General Welding Supply also suggested that the Miller XMT® 304 CC/CV and XMT 456 CC/CV inverter-based power sources would literally be a great fit for the Welding Course Initiative (photo 3).

Photo 3: Catalano and Vasek discuss the Miller XMT 304’s compact size—one of the primary reasons for using the product at ECTS.

 

The XMT® 304 MIGRunner™ Package includes a 22A wire feeder, Bernard Q-Gun with Centerfire consumables and cart with a cylinder rack that allows instructors to organize equipment vertically for maximum space savings. Including the space occupied by two gas cylinders, the MIGRunner cart has a small footprint that measures only 26 inches wide and 32 inches deep. The MIGRunner’s heavy-duty handles and wheels also allow instructors to quickly and easily transport welding equipment to different locations within the school.

Capable of MIG, pulsed MIG, Stick, TIG, Flux Cored and Air Carbon Arc Gouging, the Miller XMT 304 and 456 are versatile welding power sources in a compact package and come standard with a Bernard Q-Gun with Centerfire consumables.

“I suggested the Miller XMTs because they are smaller units that fit in the welding booths much easier,” says Dougan. “With the XMT’s multi-process capabilities, our one power source will perform every process on which we need to train students.” The XMT 304 and 456 weigh only 79.5- and 118-lbs. respectively compared to a traditional power source which can weight as much as 545-lbs.

“I like the Miller XMT’s ease of arc starts and characteristics, especially when you’re Stick welding” adds Catalano, “The versatility of the CC/CV power source is really nice because I don’t have to constantly switch from a CC to CV power source. I’ve got it all in one package.”

The students also appreciate the Miller XMT’s user-friendly interface. “The Miller is a good machine,” says Jeff Grunzel, student, Erie County Welding Initiative. “You can do a lot of things with it. You just get your parameters set and hook it up.” Even with only three weeks experience welding, Grunzel is able to produce quality weld beads with the Miller XMT and Bernard Q-Gun with Centerfire consumables (photo 4).

Photo 4: Bernard Q-Guns and Centerfire consumables help students like Jeff Grunzel learn the technique of MIG welding.

Catalano also values the excellent technical support that he receives from the companies. “I’m extremely happy with the response I’m getting,” says Catalano. “It’s been phenomenal. It’s like that with everybody involved in the Welding Course Initiative. Everybody has been so quick to respond. I have never seen that before and I love it.”

A Positive Impact

For Vasek, the shortage of certified welders in the United States has been a constant problem throughout his career. Vasek is aware of the important role of continuing technical education on the manufacturing and fabricating industry, which is why he and Dougan stepped up to the plate to provide the Welding Course Initiative and Erie County Technical School with much need welding equipment and resources. “I’ve been in the welding industry for 33 years, and throughout that entire time, I don’t think I’ve ever seen where we’ve had an overabundance of welders,” says Vasek. “The students in this program want to learn, which means they’re looking to better themselves and improve the future of manufacturing in this country, which is great!”

With its customized curriculum, the Welding Course Initiative will continue helping companies invest in the quality of its products and employees while also offering Erie area residents with rewarding career paths in welding. “There are a variety of things you can do with welding,” adds Grunzel. “It seems like the welding field is expanding in all kinds of directions. I see a lot of opportunities for advancement in the future.