Training for the future

Abstract

When high schools, community colleges, trade schools and other traditional modes of education were unable to meet the demand for skilled welders, the Vermeer Manufacturing Co. decided to initiate its own in-house welder training program. The program provides company-specific skills in gas metal arc welding (GMAW) to new employees in a timely fashion to facilitate the need for entry-level welders. The program is designed to take novice or unskilled welders and provide them with the basics in practical hands-on welding as well as blue print reading. These basics are enough to allow the successful graduate to provide the company with value-added work on the first day of production.