With about 35 per cent of the nation’s blue-collar workforce expected to retire in the next five to 10 years, Midland’s Skilled Trades Centre is hoping to attract the next generation of workers to the field by offering new condensed versions of its regular programs  – including an eight-week welding program.

The compressed format will provide students with the skills they need to successfully meet Canadian Welding Bureau (CWB) standards and find employment in industries such as construction, custom fabrication, oil and gas, and manufacturing.

Students will receive exposure to a wide variety of applications such as oxy/acetylene theory and application, shielded metal arc welding, gas metal arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding and flux core arc welding.

The program will also cover welding symbols and blueprint reading and preparation for CWB testing, which will be offered at the Midland Campus at the end of the program.

The program fee also includes two complimentary qualification tests.

“Welders trained in multiple welding processes will have more employment flexibility,” says welding program co-ordinator Phil LeBoeuf. “Students are trained in a number of welding applications to expose them to the various employment streams in the industry. With a blend of theoretical and in-class training and hands-on instruction in our state-of-the-art welding lab, our students are well-prepared for industry employment.”

Over the past two years, a large number of students in the school’s existing part-time welding program have earned welding tickets through the CWB, something they credit the Midland campus with teaching them the skills necessary to achieve satisfactory status under the bureau’s strict testing guidelines.

“The CWB pass rate at the Midland Campus currently sits at 96 per cent. The welding program positions students to enter an apprenticeship program or jump directly into employment in various industries.”

The campus was accredited as a CWB Test Centre in 2006, earning approval to test for all types of structural welding procedures.

For more information, contact Phil LeBoeuf at 526-3666, ext. 215, or e-mail pleboeuf@georgianc.on.ca.