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IMAGE
OF WELDING SUPPLEMENT ISSUE
By Phil
Pratt, President
Hobart Institute of Welding Technology
For those who
are close to the welding industry and for that matter most all
the industrial trades, a major catastrophe is developing, one
that we cannot afford to ignore.
With the average age being 54*
of all the skilled trade workers, that would suggest that within
the next 10 years, potentially 50% of them will retire.
If there are 440,000 welders in the United States, that
means we need to be training 220,000 right now and I would
venture to say, we’re far from it.
In the last
issue of The
World of Welding magazine (Winter
2001), I wrote an article “I’M
MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!”
It started to address the subject of the Image
of Welding and what we can do about it.
With the excellent response we had to the article, the
Hobart Institute of Welding Technology has taking the initiative
to produce this supplement on the topic. (To see the full
commentary, please visit http://www.welding.org/newsletters/winter2001/mad.html
)
Ultimately,
I’m asking you to JOIN
THE IMAGE ARMY! Neither
the Hobart Institute of Welding Technology, nor the American
Welding Society, nor any individual company, can effectively
combat this pending catastrophe single-handedly, but we can if
we join together. I’m
going to commit some of my time and some of our resources to be
on the forefront of this concern.
Write or email me with your constructive comments as to
successful, proven ideas that have worked for you to improve the
Image of Welding and
we will consolidate them in future issues of The
World of Welding for everyone’s benefit.
Phil
Pratt, President
Hobart Institute of Welding Technology
400 Trade Square East
Troy, OH 45373
Email: phil.pratt@welding.org
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