EDITORIAL As most of you know, there is a dire shortage of skilled and educated welders and other welding professionals, particularly in manufacturing and energy production. The shortage of skilled welding personnel has reached a critical level. By 2019, it is estimated there will be a need for at least 239,000 new and replacement welding professionals. To meet the shortage, we need to improve the image of welding to draw more people into our field. We also need to train these new people and provide additional education opportunities for those who have already chosen welding as their profession. The pay is good, but increased skills and education can lead to even better compensation. Traci Tapani, copresident of Wyoming Machine, has described her company’s and the country’s need for welders in an article published in The New York Times. For the past 19 years, she and her sister have been copresidents of a sheet metal company they inherited from their father in Stacy, Minn. “Many years ago, people learned to weld” in various ways “… they did not understand metallurgy, modern cleaning and brushing techniques, and how different metals and gases, pressures, and temperatures had to be combined.” Moreover, in small manufacturing businesses like hers, explained Tapani, “…we do a lot of low-volume, hightech jobs, and each one has its own design drawings. So a welder has to be able to read and understand five different design drawings in a single day.” Women are an underused resource in welding in the United States. According to the Dept. of Labor, women represent only 6% of the U.S. welding and brazing workforce and only 2% of welders are women. History has shown that women have stepped up in times of need. Everyone has heard of Rosie the Riveter, but there was also Wendy the Welder and Barbara the Brazer. Welding and brazing are great occupations for women as well as men. There are many opportunities in many different types of work. We just need to publicize those opportunities and showcase the role models we already have. Thus, let’s celebrate women in welding and recognize those women who are the role models and the trendsetters. One of those role models is a young female welder whose great-grandmother welded during World War II and whose grandfather welded in a shipyard. She is proud to follow in their footsteps. Another is a trainer who sums up the opportunities in this way, “There’s an opportunity in this industry to have a career for life. You can work on the manufacturing floor or in the field as a welder, or as an ironworker building a stadium. You can become an engineer and develop welding products or travel around the country as a Certified Welding Inspector.” There are also women CWIs, welding engineers, welding engineering technicians, welding quality assurance professionals, nuclear and nonnuclear welders, materials engineers who do welding and brazing, welding sales reps, CEOs, COOs, members of the AWS board of directors, chairs and past chairs of AWS Sections, and speakers at Section meetings and international conferences. Thus, we already have good female role models, but we need to do a better job of getting the word out about them. We need to encourage women in all ways and in all employment categories of our profession. I challenge you to be a mentor to a capable woman welding professional. Give her some encouraging words, or better yet, give her an opportunity. This year I am proud to annouce that the AWS Foundation now offers two new scholarships that have been endowed specifically for capable females to improve their skills and education. In addition, Airgas is offering a discount for all female “card-carrying” members of AWS in honor of the company’s female leaders. This year, let’s celebrate women in welding and help fill the need for properly skilled and educated welding professionals who will make our country proud. 4 JANUARY 2013 Founded in 1919 to Advance the Science, Technology and Application of Welding Officers President Nancy C. Cole NCC Engineering Vice President Dean R. Wilson Well-Dean Enterprises Vice President David J. Landon Vermeer Mfg. Co. Vice President David L. McQuaid D. L. McQuaid and Associates, Inc. Treasurer Robert G. Pali J. P. Nissen Co. Executive Director Ray W. Shook American Welding Society Directors T. Anderson (At Large), ITW Global Welding Tech. Center U. Aschemeier (Dist. 7), Miami Diver J. R. Bray (Dist. 18), Affiliated Machinery, Inc. R. E. Brenner (Dist. 10), CnD Industries, Inc. G. Fairbanks (Dist. 9), Fairbanks Inspection & Testing Services T. A. Ferri (Dist. 1), Victor Technologies D. A. Flood (At Large), Tri Tool, Inc. S. A. Harris (Dist. 4), Altech Industries K. L. Johnson (Dist. 19), Vigor Shipyards J. Jones (Dist. 17), Victor Technologies W. A. Komlos (Dist. 20), ArcTech, LLC T. J. Lienert (At Large), Los Alamos National Laboratory J. Livesay (Dist. 8), Tennessee Technology Center M. J. Lucas Jr. (At Large), Belcan Engineering D. E. Lynnes (Dist. 15), Lynnes Welding Training C. Matricardi (Dist. 5), Welding Solutions, Inc. J. L. Mendoza (Past President), Lone Star Welding S. P. Moran (At Large), Weir American Hydro K. A. Phy (Dist. 6), KA Phy Services, Inc. W. A. Rice (Past President), OKI Bering R. L. Richwine (Dist. 14), Ivy Tech State College D. J. Roland (Dist. 12), Marinette Marine Corp. N. Saminich (Dist. 21), Desert Rose H.S. and Career Center K. E. Shatell (Dist. 22), Pacific Gas & Electric Co. T. A. Siewert (At Large), NIST (ret.) H. W. Thompson (Dist. 2), Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. R. P. Wilcox (Dist. 11), ACH Co. J. A. Willard (Dist. 13), Kankakee Community College M. R. Wiswesser (Dist. 3), Welder Training & Testing Institute D. Wright (Dist. 16), Zephyr Products, Inc. Women: An Underused Resource in Welding Nancy C. Cole AWS President
Welding Journal | January 2013
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