More welding courses added to fall semester

By MIKE JAMES - The Independent

COALTON May 15, 2008 11:51 pm

— Pulling an all-nighter usually is associated with textbooks and dorm rooms.
This fall at Ashland Community and Technical College, some students will be working late into the night on their classwork, except these students will be learning welding.
An insatiable industry-wide demand for certified welders has prompted ACTC to add a third shift, so to speak, to its welding program. Currently there’s one section that runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and a second from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., said welding technology program coordinator Frederick Burton.
Starting fall semester, there will be a third section from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m.
The late-late shift is the result of heavy demand and limited resources. Welders are in short supply, both in local industry and across the nation. And technical colleges have only so much space and equipment to devote to training new ones.
ACTC, for instance, enrolls 30 students in each section. There are 36 welding booths at its EastPark campus, but some of them are for specialized functions. So late-night classes are the most efficient way to use the equipment. “Our facilities are maxed out,” Burton said.
ACTC has a steady influx of welding students in part because of dual credit agreements with area technology centers at local high schools, he said. Students from those programs tend to continue their education at ACTC.
Also, Local 248 of the Plumbers and Steamfitters Union has an agreement with ACTC to accept some qualified graduates directly into its apprenticeship program at a higher level than usual; that agreement draws more applicants.
Prospective welders are drawn by the abundance of jobs and the handsome wages. Depending on skill level, newly certified welders can enter the job market at from $28 to $36 per hour, said Mark Estep, maintenance manager at the Marathon Catlettsburg refinery.
Marathon itself hires scores of welders and the refinery business nationwide is hiring, he said. And the supply isn’t meeting the demand.
Paradoxically, the now universal emphasis on higher education could be a contributing cause. “So many kids go to (four year) college and fewer of them want to work with their hands,” Estep said. Companies like Marathon send representatives to career fairs and work with technical schools like ACTC to attract applicants.
The aging of the baby-boom generation is a factor in many occupations, including welding. Industry-wide, the influx of new workers is offset by retirements, said Rob Lynch, project manager for McGinnis Inc. in South Point. A new project will require some 120 to 150 welders and area schools aren’t turning them out fast enough, he said.
Schools need to work more closely with local industry to meet specific needs, Lynch said.
But ACTC already does that, said dean of community, workforce and economic development Gary Bradford. “Our faculty literally go out and talk to people in industry,” he said. “That is very important to us.”

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