Similarities Between Baseball Players,
Doctors, and Welders

by Andre Odermatt

Ron Scott, Vice President and General Manager at HIWT, enjoys watching his son play baseball. Through the years, many hours of practice have given Brenton Scott the skill required for pitching some winning games of baseball.

Ron recently explained to me that a baseball player, who has a ten-year career and a batting average of 300, has earned the credentials to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Imagine a welder making good welds only 30% of the time! How long would he be able to hold any welding job? A welder typically works all his life and needs to make a homerun with each weld during these 30-plus years. Ron further explained to me that, assuming good eyesight and steady hands, a welder should be able to make homeruns until the end of his career and be eligible for the "Welders Hall of Fame". And for those welders referring to their ability who say, "I lost it," Ron has the following message:

If you ever had it, you will never lose it; and if you lost it, you never had it!

And that's what Ron wants written on his tombstone! He has mentioned it so many times in the past and I am sure that he will have plenty of opportunity to repeat it in the future.

Visualize this scenario: Many surgeons typically operate on patients under the best possible conditions. They work in air-conditioned operating rooms with perfect light to see exactly where to start the incision and to proceed with all the other operative work. The patient is positioned so the surgeon can have the best access and the doctor is surrounded by a staff of assistants to help make the operation a success. After all, the life of a person is in his hands!

As a comparison, welders need to work on aircraft, including parts and maintenance, automobiles, medical instruments, building structures and many more things that relate to the safety and well being of people. However, there is no bright light that shows the welder where to start the weld. In fact, he starts in the dark! Each time a welder starts and stops creates the potential for a failure and harms the appearance of the weld. This extremely important act is done in the dark because the welder needs to keep his head safe behind the helmet. Moreover, a great number of welds cannot be done in the ideal position but are instead performed in the vertical or overhead positions. Many welds are made in confined spaces or on highly elevated scaffolding. Does the surgeon work under better conditions than the welder to protect and save lives? A dedicated welder is an artist obsessed in attempting to make every weld better than the last one. Many times, someone's life may depend on that weld!

Some may think that meeting standards, codes and passing tests is all it takes to make a perfect weld. Others believe that welding is simple and anyone can do it. At HIWT, we believe that a dedicated welder not only needs to pass all tests but also wants to perform with an ever more flawless seam. Unfortunately, because of reasons outlined here along with many other variables, not every weld seam appearance is always the same. If a seam has more than one start, it is probably visible. To restart without creating defects or noticeable glitches in the seam, borders on the artistic! If travel speed is not constant when it needs to be, bead width will not be consistent. Just the act of making a fillet weld with exactly equal legs, time and again, is something that needs hundreds of hours of practice and a strong will to make it more perfect with every new weld.

The Hobart Institute helps welders to make a more perfect union and become eligible for a "Welders Hall of Fame". Practicing, along with continuous learning throughout a lifetime, diminishes errors and helps each welder to make a "home run" every time! After all, someone's life may be in your hands!