Why not make welding training more like work?

This student, who was a part of the 'simulated' workplace at Northland Career Center in Platte City, Mo., assembles one of several frames using a jig that she designed and built. The frames were parts of cylinder racks to be used in the school's welding program. Image: North Career Center

“Good luck trying to find someone that’ll even show up for work.”

It’s a common refrain that I hear in conversations with metal fabricators and read on social media about topics related to finding workers. Job shops and manufacturing companies are to the point where they’ll accept shortcomings in skill development for the entry-level jobs they offer, but applicants still seem to lack common traits like having a good work ethic and promptness. The soft skills are so lacking that some applicants can’t get to the hard skills development.

This trend hasn’t occurred overnight. Manufacturers in communities all over the U.S. have been wrestling with this reality for several years. In fact, some technical education institutions have taken steps to adapt more of a workplace-like environment to prep their students for the realities of working in manufacturing jobs.

Northland Career Center (NCC) in Platte City, Mo., instituted a “simulated” workplace at the school in 2014-2015 after a couple of years of researching other programs, particularly West Virginia schools that had created similar programs. Curt Claycomb, an NCC industrial welding instructor, said teachers got behind the effort, and with the support of the school’s Institutional Advisory Board and the Industrial Welding Advisory Committee, everyone committed to making it work. Career and technical educational learning now was going to reflect what was expected in the workplace.

What exactly does that mean? In the industrial welding curriculum, students have to clock in and out each day. They wear uniforms. A leadership structure is introduced for all of the welders in the program. Students attend team meetings to talk about projects. They develop procedures to turn written instructions on blueprints into 3D fabrications. They learn about how quality control and inspection are done to ensure defect-free parts and satisfied customers. They are even introduced to lean manufacturing concepts, such as the 6S organizational system. All of this is the backdrop for the typical welding education that focuses on print reading, thermal cutting, and arc welding processes.

Program instructors also keep a close eye on student performance. They are given monthly “employability” reviews that cover areas such as attendance, punctuality, work ethic, personal responsibility, willingness to learn, leadership, teamwork, critical thinking, problem solving, organization, communication, and overall attitude; all of that accounts for 40% of each student’s overall grade. (Technical skills account for 45%, math 5%, English 5%, and other electives 5%.) Claycomb said that in the years since the program was instituted, these new concepts have made “a significant difference in our classrooms, bolstering a sense of teamwork, program pride, ownership, responsibility, and accountability.”

The students offer a perspective that gives metal fabricators an idea why this simulated workplace is good for employers. Adrianna Hewitt, currently a junior and returning to the industrial welding program in the fall, described her classes as well-organized, with everyone having their own work they have to do and a list of how to do it. “Everything is learned from each other, on your own, or from the teacher,” she said. Such flexibility in an employee is a dream for a shop that might not always have a mentor available to watch someone for a full shift.

Clell Burdiss, a 2021 graduate of the program, found that aspects of his internship mimiced what he practiced in the school’s welding lab. For example, the fabrication of battery boxes during his internship required him to be cognizant of possible burn-through on the thin metal, similar to a shelf he made as part of a first aid kit project he made at NCC. The internship also ran 6S activities like they were run at the school.

“Employers that hire and provide internship opportunities have commented on how well-prepared NCC students are to enter the workforce environment,” he said.

In summer 2020, NCC was recognized for its efforts with an award from the Southern Region Education Board. Actually, it was the third year in a row that the school received the award. Over the past eight years leading up to last summer, NCC had boosted enrollment from 249 to 428 students and increased pass rates on technical skills assessments from 52% to 86%.

Students are attracted to the work-school environment. Local employers, including those that serve on NCC’s advisory board, like the students graduating from the program. Brian Noller, NCC’s director, said that even a presentation about the program and meeting students impressed the Platte City governing council. What’s holding up other communities from trying this out?