Sparking interest: Welding industry benefits from skilled training at Idaho schools

Some call it an art. Others say it is a science. But most who choose a welding career can agree one thing: It is no easy task.

“You get burnt, hurt, crawl on concrete floors. It’s a hard, nasty and dirty job,” said Mike Wheeler, department chair of the Manufacturing and Welding program at the College of Western Idaho (CWI) in Nampa. “You have to be willing to do the things others are not in order to produce something good.”

Beyond the demanding physical challenges of the job, and according to American Welding Society (AWS), a nonprofit organization whose global mission is to advance the growth of the industry, a “critical” need exists to train and hire 330,000 welders nationwide by 2026, particularly here in Idaho.

“Welding is probably the most vital role for us. It’s what we do,” Andy Rendo, production manager at REYCO Systems, a subsidiary of Idaho Steel, said. “We produce equipment and that is how we make money.”

Of its 110 staff members, REYCO employs 25 welders, though Rendo said that figure could easily jump to 30 to 35 welders to meet production demands for the firm, which specializes in stainless steel products for food manufacturers.

“It’s quite difficult to find skilled welders,” he said. “And it’s difficult finding people who are patient and willing to work through the training it takes to become a skilled and proficient welder and fabricator.”

To help meet the growing demand for proficient welders, numerous companies in Idaho are relying heavily on career and technical education (CTE) programs at both the high school and college levels to help fill a variety of positions.

At CWI, Wheeler said his program has “grown immensely,” from one shift with an instructor with 15 students to three shifts, with one in the morning, afternoon and evening. The program for the fall semester is completely full.

“I have seen a renaissance and interest in the trades, and a renaissance in American manufacturing, especially in the Treasure Valley with so many people and businesses moving in,” Wheeler said.

With two decades of welding industry experience and having served as an instructor in the program since 2014, Wheeler said he welcomes any and all students who want to work hard and are willing put in the time to learn what he calls a “life-changing skill.”

“We try to meet the students where they are in terms of experience,” he said. “Some come to us from local high school programs and for others it’s all brand new. It’s challenging but we like it.”

One local outfit benefiting from the welding program at CWI is Western Trailers. Since 1958, the company has prided itself on its reputation as one of the nation’s “leading trailer manufacturers.”

And a need for skilled welders is what helps keep Western’s reputation going strong.

“We’re building agriculture and garbage trailers, and the world is always going to need food and the world is always going to produce garbage,” Ethan Crossley, production manager said.

At its site off Gowen Road, Western Trailers employs almost 80 welders, including six who graduated from the CWI program. And while Crossley said his company is staffed “fairly well” right now, there will always remain a need for qualified tradesman.

In addition to his role, Crossley, a welder by trade, also serves as a member of the advisory committee for the CWI welding program.

“We’re grateful for having CWI in the valley, plus the high schools and their programs,” he said. “We recruit pretty hard with all these groups and they supply us with a lot of workers.”

In Idaho’s two largest public school districts, West Ada and the Boise School District, CTE programs are also heating up for students who want to learn the welding trade.

As the Director of CTE for West Ada, Will Schumaker, another welder by trade, and a former longtime instructor in the program, said the district’s two sites, Meridian High School and Owyhee High School, are filled to capacity for this year’s Welding 1 course, serving roughly 340 students.

“We have a number of students, who, if they decide they want to be a welder, graduate and then go off and can find work with a number of local employers, especially those who build and manufacture trailers,” Schumaker said. “Once they go through our three-year program, students can get certified through AWS and walk into the work world with some initial welding certification in hand.”

In many school districts, the “college-going” culture that was once so heavily pushed has now shifted to promoting opportunities for students to master trades that can lead to a profitable and fulfilling career without the cost of a four-year college education.

“Students are realizing that if they have the skills and the certification there is going to be a job for them that involves a trade like welding that can be used in a number of other industries,” he said.

As both a former welding student and current supervisor of a college-level welding program, Wheeler has experienced the educational shift from the push for four-year degrees to a stronger emphasis on CTE programs.

“I grew up during a time when, if you did not pursue a four-year degree, you would be considered a failure,” he said. “There is so much more pushback on that now. The stigma of wanting to learn a trade or to go through a program such as ours has faded greatly.”

According to AWS, more than 50% of all products produced globally involve the talents and the skilled hands of a qualified welder. That fact is not lost on Jeff Roberts, also a trained welder, and principal of the Dennis Technical Education Center (DTEC), a site which offers a wide selection of CTE classes for students enrolled in the Boise School District.

“There is a lot of push to grow career and technical education in Idaho and to further current opportunities for students,” Roberts said. “We need to always be asking what Idaho needs, what the labor market looks like, and what can we do to support opportunities in these areas for students.”

So much so that Roberts, now in his third year overseeing the program, said DTEC enrollment has reached nearly 1,400 students, up from almost 1,000 when he first started, with twice as many students requesting to join the welding program.

“This is a reflection of the strong interest students have in learning how to weld,” he said. “It’s a life skill and a great industry and students are starting to see the career opportunities available. We measure student interest and then work to help meet that industry need.”

And not just in the Treasure Valley. Chelsie Wilson, a CTE program advocate for the Boise district, said the push for career and technical education, especially welding, is a statewide venture.

“We need to always be asking what Idaho needs, what the labor market looks like,” Wilson said. “And most importantly, how can we support opportunities in these areas for students?”

Figures provided by Wilson, who also once served as the state’s Trades and Industry Program quality manager, list 22 Local Education Agency (LEA) sites hosting welding programs statewide, particularly in some rural areas where agricultural welding is in such high demand.

“For this many programs and pathways to exist across the state, it means local industry is looking to fill these needs for specialized trades such as industrial or technical welders,” she said.

One of the 22 programs can be found at tiny Rimrock Junior and High School in Bruneau, Idaho. Considered a small school with fewer than 300 students in grades six through 12, Rimrock was recently awarded a $25,000 grant from the AWS Welding Workforce program.

For instructor Jason Tindall, an AWS Certified Welding Inspector and educator, as well as an alumni of Rimrock, the grant funds will help open doors and expand opportunities for students to pursue long-term welding careers.

“This is not a skill that can be learned from a textbook or an online course,” Tindall said.

Demographics for the rural area of Idaho indicate most students come from third- and fourth-generation farming and ranching families, or employees of local farmers and ranchers.

And the unique needs of a rural community play a vital role in producing a workforce to help sustain a variety of industries located throughout Idaho.

“Along with having an excellent working relationship with our local agricultural community, students get support from local business such as KJ Welding and the Simplot Corporation, specifically with their Soil Builders Division, as well as the Land and Livestock Division,” Tindall said. “The future and vision of this program is to offer more opportunities for students to become employable in the welding industry.”

According to the AWS website, of the nation’s more than 770,000 welders, as many as 160,000 are approaching retirement.

To boost workforce participation in this specialized field, AWS awarded more than $3 million in grants and scholarships in 2023 to help advance welding education and the profession across the country.

“Graduates of welding schools are in high demand nationwide, yet many institutions struggle to train enough workers to meet local industry needs,” Monica Pfarr, executive director of the AWS Foundation said. “Welding is a critical and indispensable trade that is essential to modern life.”

Leading the CWI program that he graduated from when it was originally housed on the campus of Boise State University, Wheeler has been bonded to the welding profession for most of his adult life. He said he still believes it to be a “renowned profession” with “lots of appeal.”

“There is still a great deal of interest in the field,” Wheeler said. “Every new building you see going up, there are probably four times as many people building the steel to send to that site. It’s a huge process when you consider the amount or number of people involved.”

An important fact not lost on Crossley, who knows firsthand that the name Western Trailers can be found on vehicles rolling through cities all across the country.

“I think there are very few people out there who realize that our trailers and even skyscrapers are being put together by welders,” he said. “Most people have no idea how much welding is done with people using their hands.”

And should the debate persist as to whether welding is actually an art or a science, at the end of the day it’s the quality of the product that matters most, Crossley said, one produced by a skilled individual trained to strive for perfection.

“It’s hard work but it can be quite fulfilling,” he said. “To see something be built from the ground up and be driving down the freeway thinking ‘I built that,’ it’s quite fulfilling to know you had a huge part in that operation.”