Companies wrestling with the consequences of low welding skills levels among their workforces are advised adopt long-term view with regard to improving welding expertise.

South African supplier of welding consumables and equipment ESAB Africa Welding and Cutting marketing director Kim Brightwell says the process of acquiring and improving welding skills cannot be short-circuited.

“There is a misconception that inexperienced welders can be sent on construction code certification courses and then be supplied with high-tech computer-controlled welding machines on the shop floor to plug the knowledge and experience gap. From a supplier’s viewpoint, we have observed the tendency within the industry to [employ] short training courses and then supplement [this training] with sophisticated welding equipment,” Brightwell says.

He says this is not the purpose of the latest high-tech welding equipment, which is really aimed at improving efficiency and productivity. Ultimately, this reflects badly on the supplier of the welding machine and consumables when the desired result is not achieved.

“While welding inverters have become much more advanced, with preset parameters and synergic controls for better welding, they are not a panacea for poor welding skills, and the operator still needs to know his trade,” Brightwell says.

Welders, particularly those practicing manual metal arc stick electrode welding, he adds, have to learn their trade over several years to fully qualify as skilled artisans with the necessary depth of knowledge to get the best out of high-quality machines and consumables such as those supplied by ESAB.

"There is no substitute for comprehensive training to develop fully capable welding artisans who can weld to standard with minimal requirements for rework," stresses Brightwell.

Extensive, in-depth experience in a workplace that implements quality management systems such as the ISO 3834 quality management system for welding is the medicine which will eliminate poor welding and improve quality and productivity, he concludes.