Profiles in manufacturing: Offering a hand up to boost the trades

Over the past year, we’ve spoken a great deal about the challenge of finding young talent for trades positions. This month, we profile five people who are doing what they can to encourage young people to enter the trades—through introductions to the trades, on-the-job training, and financial and mentorship support.

There’s not one answer to the challenge of the talent crunch, but through these efforts at least a few new recruits are finding their way to their dream job in the trades.

Jolene Borrelli and Mackenzi Johnston, The Red Bench Women’s Workshop Corp.

Normally, I wouldn’t feature two young leaders two years in a row in the pages of Canadian Fabricating & Welding, but Jolene Borrelli and Mackenzi Johnston of The Red Bench Women’s Workshop Corp. have had a remarkable 12 months of growth since they were last featured. This culminated in the pair receiving the AWS International Meritorious Award in recognition of their indelible contributions to the welding industry at FABTECH Atlanta in November.

When last we spoke to Borrelli and Johnston, they were in the planning stages of creating The Red Bench, conceived as a community shop for women and diverse people in Edmonton to learn welding skills, gain confidence in the process, meet mentors, and hone technical skills in a casual, friendly environment. At that time, they had secured a space at the welding engineering firm Canwe Solutions Ltd. but were still looking for other sponsorship sources to equip the shop and ensure they could cover other costs.

The pair achieved a great deal in the course of a couple months.

“We secured ALCO Gas and Oil Production Equipment Ltd. as a primary sponsor,” noted Johnston. “They really stepped up for us and provided the key funding we needed to get to the next step, covering our insurance and utilities.”

Using a GoFundMe campaign, the pair was able to cover the rest of their financial needs.

“That funding gave us a new level of legitimacy, and we were able to reach out to other companies in an effort to equip our shop,” said Borrelli. “We contacted Miller Electric and they hooked us up immediately with a welder, PPE, jackets, welding helmets, and gloves. ALCO Inc. heard what ALCO Gas and Oil was doing and said, ‘What do you need?’ Thanks to their input, we secured more welding machines, tools, gas cylinders, and wire. Hobart also stepped up with consumables. Other smaller businesses gave us money for more PPE. By the end of January, we were ready to open our doors.”

The Red Bench is a membership-based community space where, for a small fee, women and diverse people are given access to the shop for project-based group sessions, classes, and to work on personal projects.

The first event they held to introduce members to The Red Bench was a DIY group project, the ALCO Gas and Oil Jewelry Tree.

(From left) ALCO Gas and Oil Jewelry Trees project participants Teagan, Shannon, Gillian, and Aleeza stand with Red Bench Co-founder and President Jolene Borrelli. Welding PPE was supplied by Miller, one of The Red Bench's primary sponsors.

“Over the course of six weeks, we got into the shop every Sunday for three hours and fabricated these trees,” said Borrelli. “The five attendees did everything from design, measuring, cutting, and welding everything together. And in our last session, we visited local powder coating facility The Powder Mill to have the trees coated for free. Everyone had so much fun. It was supposed to be a five-week program but we extended it by a week.”

The project garnered so much interest, there was a waiting list for the next session. In the background, Borrelli and Johnston kept interest up through social media engagement, highlighting members and their work.

“All the participants differed so much,” said Johnston. “Some had trades experience, some had a little welding experience, and some had never touched a tool in a shop before. We really tried to show that is what The Red Bench is all about, bringing all these people together from all sorts of backgrounds into a room where they all feel capable. It was an amazing proof of concept.”

Following this, they went right into another group project, the ALCO Gas and Oil Wall Hooks (naming rights for the projects is part of The Red Bench’s corporate recognition plan).

Again, five participants took part in what was a four-week program.

“What was great about this project was that it involved many different fabricating disciplines – cutting, bending, forming, drilling, not just welding,” said Johnston. “In fact, there was so much interest that we had a significant waiting list.”

This took Johnston and Borrelli into the summer months, when they started offering more regular programming, where members could take a full health and safety orientation, and then take introductory courses on a variety of welding techniques, including MIG, stick, and TIG. Angle grinding workshops were planned as well.

In addition to these courses, two special welding events were held: one hosted by CWB Group that discussed metallurgy, and another event hosted by InnoTec Alberta.

“These were learning sessions but also social events and workshops where everyone came away with a small project that they fabricated,” said Borrelli.

The Red Bench now has 53 members in Edmonton (with 17 others elsewhere in the country who joined as supporting members), and of that membership, 31 took advantage of its programs in the past year.

Ashley and Dustin Kucher of Dark Arc Welding.

“Two of those people have now decided to work in the industry,” said Borrelli. “One woman who was working as a lab assistant joined our jewelry tree program and loved it so much, she went to Women Building Futures and through that program got into pipefitting. During our second project, a woman who had been through a Women Building Futures program decided welding was the track she wanted to take on the strength of her experience at The Red Bench.

“It’s stories like this that tell me we can make a difference in a very short span of time. That has really encouraged us.”

For Borrelli, the past year has shown her that she is capable of being a leader.

“I can see I have these skills in me,” she said. “I contribute to my community, I can run a business. I never knew I could do that. And I learned so much more about welding than I had before.”

Johnston had a similar response.

“I learned so much about being a leader in a formal capacity,” she said. “It blows my mind that we are making real, acute changes for the people coming into our program. I’ve also learned a lot about being flexible and adapting as the program rolled out. It has been very rewarding.”

The Red Bench has been building more connections with organizations like Alberta Women’s Science Network (AWSN) and the American Welding Society (AWS) to further bolster its visibility for the new year.

“It’s together with organizations like AWSN, CWB Group, and AWS that we really make waves and changes in society,” said Borrelli. The goal for the new year is to have more involvement from volunteers and other members in how and what programs are rolled out to members.

“Working on this has been like a second full-time job for both of us,” said Johnston. “As rewarding as that has been, we want to make sure The Red Bench sustains itself beyond us and becomes a true community endeavour. That is what we always envisioned.”

Dustin and Ashley Kucher, Dark Arc Welding Inc.

When Dustin and Ashley Kucher incorporated their business, Dark Arc Welding Inc., 10 years ago, the goal was to build a successful business, not to expect recognition beyond that success. But the company’s growth, its approach to developing talent from within, and the other ways it has connected with communities in the Peace River Regional District in B.C. has brought recognition; this year the two were honoured with the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award at the BC Achievement Foundation’s 2022 Indigenous Business Awards (IBA).

Nicole LeClair, Founder of the Nicole LeClair Welding Bursary

Dustin began as a sole owner/operator, working out of his truck doing mostly on-site facility construction in the Dawson Creek area in 2008 when he was still a teenager. Ashley joined the business in 2012, and they incorporated the operations.

“I started helping him, going to job sites as a helper, as well as doing basic organizing of receipts and other paperwork,” she explained. “I had some administrative experience at the time, but getting my safety tickets was definitely new to me when I started to work with Dustin.”

Developing the company into a business that includes 38 employees, 22 trucks, and a busy fab shop has meant a lot of on-the-job training for the husband-and-wife team, as well as a commitment to continuing education at night and on weekends. That, combined with raising their son, has made the past 10 years very busy.

Given its location, Dark Arc has developed expertise in working with the oil and gas sector, doing a lot of field installation work – everything from weld head construction to facilities. But the company is involved in other sectors as well, including large-capacity structural work, pressure piping in carbon and stainless, aluminum tank repairs, and more for mining, forestry, and agriculture.

“We like to market ourselves as a shop that can handle all markets that touch our communities here in the Peace River District,” he said.

Now that she’s not needed in the field, Ashley has built her back-office credentials, getting an applied business technology/administrative assistant diploma through Northern Lights College.

“I definitely feel like I completed that at the right time so that I can handle all the administrative tasks that I manage now,” she said.

Dustin continually reads books to help expand his management know-how, but on the practical side he has also earned his CWB welding supervisor ticket and taken a power engineering course, which he noted was applicable to the company’s pipe fitting operations.

“Having an overview of how a plant works and how the oil and gas industry really functions has been key,” he said.

But taking on a more managerial role for Dustin has meant learning how to delegate and understand how having the right people in the right positions is an asset.

“I think it’s really important to listen to your employees and hear their point of view,” he said. “We have a lot of skilled people here that, depending on the job, honestly know more than I do, so I try to find the subject matter experts and rely on them to answer questions that I don’t know because that is their value.”

Dustin and Ashley have been growing the talent pool at the company by offering on-the-job training as well. Anyone who joins the company receives a certain amount of training in the controlled shop environment before going out on site visits.

“We basically develop a skill set for them,” said Dustin. “We have check sheets and various tasks they have to perform and get audited and signed off on before being deemed competent. Once that program has been completely signed off, then they start assisting in the field, going out with one of our seasoned welders or pipefitters, and then they are monitored for about a year.”

Dustin says that the program has been a great value for them in drawing talent from the local community, including indigenous communities in the area.

“We had some people develop into very competent hands from virtually no experience through the program,” he said. “If you’ve got a good attitude and you’re coachable, that’s key. Being willing to learn and do what needs to be done is everything, because sometimes there are good jobs and others are less than ideal, but being willing to do what needs to be done leads to success.”

Community outreach is something that has become an integral part of what Dark Arc is all about. The company donates CNC art for charity drives in support of organizations like Ducks Unlimited and a variety of rodeo events in the area. The company has also done a fair amount of work with Doig River First Nation, Ashley’s home community of the Dunne-za from Treaty 8 territory, about two hours north of Dawson Creek.

Although Dustin and Ashley recognize how far they’ve brought the business in 10 years, the recognition was still a surprise.

“Receiving this award is an honour and we really weren’t expecting this level of recognition for it,” said Ashley. “So, after 10 years of hard work together, making it through the pandemic, working many hours while raising our son, it brings a profound feeling of happiness that working from the ground up to build this business has been worth it. I’m proud to do business on my home treaty territory and I’m grateful for the opportunities we have working with our partners in the region. And to be acknowledged with this award and receive support from our community, our employees, family, and friends, we are very thankful and appreciative.”

Of course, the journey doesn’t stop here.

“We’d like to eventually have a team of 100 people,” said Dustin. “And we have hopes of building a new facility at our current location, to have sandblasting and powder coating on-site so that we can outsource less.”

Anne Giardini, Chair of the BC Achievement Foundation, noted that “receiving recognition is not only important for the person receiving it, it also sets them up as a peer, an advisor, a role model, an example of what others can achieve.” The theme of this year’s awards was “Preparing the path, directing the feet.” Through its on-the-job training, its connection to other businesses and community organizations in the Peace River District, and perhaps connecting with other fab shops and welders further afield through articles like this, Dustin and Ashley can both continue to lead by example and offer direction to others.

Nicole LeClair, Welding Professor, Founder of the Nicole LeClair Welding Bursary Award

Nicole LeClair has been an active supporter of welding education since she entered the trades. Beyond being a welder/fitter, welding engineering technologist, and welding inspector, she received accreditation as a Red Seal Welder in 2018 and now teaches courses at Mohawk College and online theory courses for Lambton College’s micro-credential program.

It was her passionate interest in the trade that led to the creation of The Nicole LeClair Welding Bursary Award. It’s aim is to support welding students who are pursuing welding at the post-secondary education level at publicly funded institutions within Ontario. Applicants must be residents of Ontario and may be entering into any year of program study to be eligible to apply.

This award is supported by LeClair's personal funds and other charitable donations. In its first year and with only her own funds as the basis for the award, the bursary was able to support one student, offsetting tuition and other fees. Over the past three years, thanks to support from Linde, LeClair was able to grant four bursaries a year in the amount of $2,000 each. Thus far, 13 students have had support from the bursary program.

“It has been really gratifying to hear from past winners about how the bursary has helped them,” said LeClair. “One student got in touch to tell me that she’d been able to purchase her own house recently, thanks to the secure job she has found in this trade that we both love.”

In 2022, the bursary had 25 applicants, suggesting a great need for this financial support.

LeClair would be remarkable enough for supporting these students, but she continues to go out of her way to help others in the trades any way she can. In the past, she has supported the CWB Welding Foundation as an advocate, speaker, and instructor.

In addition, when Fleming College received word of the bursary program (when one of its students received it), a special projects coordinator there reached out to LeClair and asked her to be a part of its Building Bridges for Women in Trades and Technology – Mentorship program, which sets up a female student with a mentor in her trade of interest.

“I have online chats with my mentee when she wants guidance or has challenges of any kind she wants to discuss,” said LeClair. “When I was a student, I didn’t have anything like that, and I think having that kind of support can really help younger people in the trades. It’s all about retention.” She is now in her second year of mentoring through the program.

Beyond this, LeClair facilitates a biweekly webinar series called the Women in the Trades Peer Mentorship Event Series through Halton Industry Education Council (HIEC).

“HIEC had a ‘Women as Career Coaches’ program that I was involved in,” said LeClair. “They thought of me when they were developing this. It’s a forum where women can come to learn about different trades and also receive support in a safe space. There is a different speaker every time from different trades, and with the group in the session, people can ask about how to get involved in certain trades, ask advice about issues in the workplace—any information they might need that others feel they can help with. A lot of people who attend are already in the trades and can offer valuable advice.”

As companies look for new ways to attract talent, professionals like LeClair who reach out and offer a hand to those following behind them are doing what they can to create an engaged cohort for the coming years.

Editor Robert Colman can be reached at rcolman@canadianfabweld.com.