Nonprofit technical organisation the Southern African Institute of Welding (SAIW) says South Africa’s 2015 Young Welder of the Year (YWoY), Jacobus van Deventer, is on track in his preparations for this year’s WorldSkills international competition, which will take place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from August 11 to 16.

The biennial WorldSkills international competition showcases vocational training skills in various trades, as well as artisans who test themselves against international standards.

“Van Deventer is only 20, but the quality of his work is beyond his years. He also has an excellent work ethic and is willing to learn,” says SAIW YWoY convenor Etienne Nell.

The YWoY award, which is awarded every two years by the SAIW, recognises the country’s most talented and skilled young welders. The age limit for the award is 22 years.

Welders have to showcase their mastered skills in four welding processes, namely shielded metal arc-welding, gas tungsten arc-welding, gas metal arc-welding and flux-cored arc-welding.

The welding can be done on aluminium, stainless steel, carbon steel, or on another welding material of the participant’s choosing.

Van Deventer demonstrated his skills in welding various types of metal in four welding procedures over the course of a five-day competition.

SAIW executive director Sean Blake says the institute is “pulling out all the stops” to ensure that Van Deventer is prepared for the tough international competition. “We have brought in an aluminium specialist to help train him in this material and we have also brought in the very same Lincoln machine that he will be using in Sao Paolo,” says Blake.

Blake adds that Van Deventer’s employers, engineering and fabrication company Steinmüller Africa, have been cooperative in allowing him to take time off work to train for Sao Paolo. “In fact, they started his training on their premises immediately after the competition. He then moved to the institute where he is in his fifth month of intensive preparation,” says Blake.

Van Deventer is Steinmüller Africa’s first apprentice to have been awarded the title.

Meanwhile, Nell says interest in the YWoY competition is increasing. “The competition has generated a great deal of interest from all over the country. With 20 finalists this year, we had a record number of participants in what has become the foremost skills test for young welders in South Africa,” he says, adding that the institute expects participation to continue growing in future.

Blake adds that the competition is an industry initiative and would not survive without its sponsors.