Rethinking welding apprenticeships

CWB Group Executive Director Dan Tadic addresses attendees of a meeting at Mohawk College on February 23, 2018. Twelve potential employers and17 potential apprentices in CWB Group's new model apprenticeship program were in attendance to learn more about how the program would work. Apprenticeship candidates were also interviewed by the companies in attendance.

Welding apprenticeships are a critical aspect of Canada’s manufacturing industry. It is through apprenticeships that young welding talent is developed, and that experience can colour a young person’s view of what their future in the industry looks like.

The biggest problem that apprentices experience is the limits of the shop in which they work. Their employer may make only one particular product, use one type of equipment, use a limited number of consumables, or employ only one particular welding process.

“Those limitations in skill development really stifle our ability to innovate as an industry,” said Dan Tadic, executive director of CWB Group. “Our ability as an industry to improve overall quality and productivity is limited when our apprentices aren’t able to fully develop their skills.”

CWB Group is trying to change this and is in the process of launching a five-year study of a different apprenticeship model.

“In our model, the apprentice would rotate among a number of employers for their training period so that they get exposure to more products, a variety of welding equipment, welding consumables, and processes and have the opportunity to work with a number of skilled journeymen,” said Tadic. “This gives them an opportunity to see how different people work. The five-year study is to see if training in a different way will increase productivity and quality and improve inline profitability of employers.”

CWB Group has found a group of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Hamilton, Ont., area that it anticipates will be part of its initial intake of apprentices. In February 12 companies were signed up in the Hamilton region, and a meeting took place on Feb. 23 during which 17 apprentices were invited to be interviewed for consideration in the program.

“We are looking for suitable apprentices who are willing to work at one employer for a year, move to a second in the second year, and a third in the third year,” said Tadic. “Apprentices will have a minimum of three rotations.” Employers involved in the program were encouraged to have one apprentice hired by the end of March to get the program started.

CWB Group has hired Peter Warrian, PhD, an economist and Senior Research Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, to conduct the research on the concept. He is scheduled to issue an annual report on the project, as well as produce a labour market analysis report to examine actual industry needs for the skilled trades.

In Ontario the apprentices will be registered with CWB Group rather than the employers, which means the CWB Group will be collecting all the data necessary to release funding for the apprentices to the employers.

Ideally, CWB Group’s goal is to create industry hubs across the country in which apprentices will cycle through a number of employers to better develop their skills. Tadic expects that once the first hub is launched in Hamilton, others will soon follow in centres such as Winnipeg and Edmonton.

“The biggest challenge is finding companies to engage in the process,” said Tadic. “We are now making direct visits to employers, having face-to-face meetings to make sure they understand how we can all benefit from this approach. This has been very valuable.”

There is much that has yet to be determined with respect to the program, of course. For instance, at the end of a rotation, which apprentices will go to which companies? Regardless, Tadic is confident that the participating companies will find answers to this and many other questions along the way.

“We are providing leadership and guidance in the process,” Tadic said. “We are confident that companies will see the overall benefits of this new approach and will find ways to adapt to it.”

If your company is interested in taking part, contact the CWB Group, www.cwbgroup.org.