Improve productivity, remain compliant and take on the competition in 2017
Welding for profit // Whats in this toolkit?
Whats in
this toolkit?
Its a practical guide to improving
the profitability of your welding
business. It addresses key issues
such as working cost-effectively,
meeting stringent new standards
and adopting game-changing
technologies without significant
upfront investment.
02
Whos it for?
Owners and managers of small to medium sized
welding businesses.
Whats covered?
1. Rebuilding the skill base.
2. Improving your welding processes.
3. Adopting new technologies.
Why it matters
Because we know you operate in a challenging market downward
pressure on margins combined with growing demands for compliance and
a worsening skills shortage. There are no easy fixes and some potential
solutions, such as new technologies, can feel out of reach.
How it will help
1. It lays out the issues you face and offers practical guidance on how to
navigate often contradictory challenges.
2. It offers insights into what others do and how to square the never-ending
circle of achieving compliance-quality-profit.
3. It tells you where to find the information you need to make the right choices.
1 Rebuilding the
skill base
 Welding for profit // Rebuilding the skill base 04

1 Rebuilding the
skill base
Are most of your welders aged 45+?
Do you have young skilled welders
knocking on your door, asking for work?

If you answer yes then no, youre not alone. There is a well
documented skills gap in the welding sector, caused by a 20-year
period where fresh talent either didnt or couldnt get a foothold. It
now presents a major challenge for the future.

This much you know, but

what can you do about it?
 Welding for profit // Rebuilding the skill base 05

Apprenticeships
Entrenched problems such as a skills There are a number of key issues to consider before going down this route:
gap need long-term solutions. Quick
fixes arent the answer. Employing
an apprentice may seem a big
commitment but, faced with an
ageing workforce, it could be a vital
investment in your companys future.
Funding: In England you can apply for a Shop floor experience: Applying an
1,500 government grant if you take on an apprentices newly acquired knowledge
apprentice as long as you have fewer than in the workplace is vital for their
50 employees and your apprentice is aged development. Doing a flat weld in a college
1624. You can claim support for up to five workshop is not the same as working on
apprentices. The organisation training your jobs of every shape and size on the shop
apprentice can also apply for government floor. Mentoring an apprentice does take
funding to deliver the learning. planning and commitment but will produce
skills specific to your processes.

Training: Its critically important your
apprentice gets high quality training
in welding skills. Several bodies either
accredit or offer training including the
Engineering Construction Industry
Training Board (ECITB) which has a
network of over 20 accredited training
providers across England, Scotland and
Wales, including private trainers and
colleges. The manufacturers association,
the EEF, also runs courses for welding
apprentices at its technology training
centre in the Midlands.
Standards: In addition, the welding sector
has two new Trailblazer apprenticeship
standards designed by a consortium
including employers, skills bodies and
The Welding Institute. Theyre for
general arc welders (Apprenticeship
Level 2) and multi-positional arc welders
(Apprenticeship Level 3) and as part of
the governments apprenticeship reforms
will replace the existing standards. You can
find out more information on Trailblazer
standards at Semta.

For more information contact the National

Apprenticeship Service on 0800 015 0600.
 Welding for profit // Rebuilding the skill base 06

Apprenticeships
7 steps to success

Step 1 Step 2

Choose a mentor carefully, someone who will guide and support an Set clear and achievable goals. Without them,
apprentice with patience, but who can also implement a structured your apprentice has no benchmark to measure
programme of on-the-job training. their development.

Step 3 Step 4 Step 5

Monitor progress and Encourage two-way communication. Nurture your apprentices

provide consistent Ask your apprentice for their opinion enthusiasm. Show you
and regular feedback. on both their training and progress. appreciate their desire to learn.

Step 6 Step 7

Liaise closely with the training provider Maintain their development, even when the apprenticeship is
to ensure integration between college completed, identifying their particular skills and how they can
and workplace learning. move forward and progress within the company.
 Welding for profit // Rebuilding the skill base 07

Upskilling your existing workforce

While youre considering hiring A number of bodies such as The Welding Institute, the In addition, Government bodies such as the UK
ECITB and the CSWIP provide skills development in welding, Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) run
an apprentice, dont forget your such as training in Advanced Welding Processes and projects with SMEs seeking innovation and productivity
Welding Inspection. If you are an ECITB in-scope employer, improvements that can inform skills development within
greatest asset - your current you may be eligible for grant support for training. the workplace.
workforce. As welding technologies
and standards change, to remain
competitive you need both
cost-effective working practices
and quality-driven processes that
make you eligible for valuable
contracts such as EN 1090 work.
 Welding for profit // Rebuilding the skill base 08

How are other welding

businesses handling Case Study: Hartwell Manufacturing

the skills challenge? Three years ago, the management team at

Hartwell Manufacturing looked around their
shop floor and realised they had to act. Of their
65 skilled workers, 75% were over the age of 55.
Like many other manufacturing and engineering
As a private training provider, Hartwell received
no public funding for the 100,000 centre
development but can access your apprenticeship
fund for running costs. Two groups are planned
for 2016/17, hopefully increasing to four in
the following year. Thats more than Hartwell

1CENTRE
companies, they were being badly squeezed by needs but, as a company, they are committed
TRAINING the chronic skills gap. Of that top age group, all to reviving the skill base of the sector to ensure
had been trained at Hartwell, but that was 40 its future, and have invited other prospective
years ago. employers to see the trainees in action.

SUCCESSFUL Quality manager Emma Ward believes there are

APPLICANTS STUDENTS So Hartwell decided once lessons to be learned from this success story for

again to create a new all companies, no matter their size: The staff

100,000
who trained here 40 years ago have remained
generation of skilled with Hartwell ever since. Training your own
workers while their increases loyalty. Also, they are being trained in

INVESTMENT experienced engineers your methods, procedures and specialisms, which

mth were still around to pass

is a big advantage.

INTENSIVE PROGRAMME
on their knowledge. Our experienced workers are excited about
passing on their skills and the trainees really
respect their knowledge. Its been a great success.

ONE BIG Today, Hartwell runs its own training centre next
door to the company workshop. Almost 400 Food for thought, and if it persuades you to

SUCCESS! applied for the first traineeships and 14 were

chosen. They are getting hands-on experience,
take on an apprentice, you will find some bright
prospects graduating from the Hartwell centre
mentored and guided by Hartwell staff, yet over each year.
half of them will move to other companies when
the four-month intensive programme is over.
2 Improving your
welding processes

2 Improving your
welding processes
The skills and experience
of your workforce are vital
components in the overall
welding process, but
theyre not the only ones.
Using appropriate pre and post weld
processes such as pre-heating and
flame straightening, as well as the
correct equipment and consumables,
are also important.
Welding companies should review
these regularly to ensure all margins for
improvement are optimised. However, in
one area, potential for process improvement
beyond the margins may still be unexploited
your choice of shielding gas.
Welding for profit // Improving your welding processes 10
If you use a shielding
gas thats tried and
tested, why change it?
Shielding gases
If you use a shielding gas thats tried and
tested, why change it? If using a new gas may
incur additional cost, and require a change
in your weld procedures, why bother? Youve
won contracts based on this procedure, so
why disturb a system that works?
The problem is that, as customer demands
increase and margins get squeezed, you
need every tool available to improve your
performance (to get and keep contracts)
and profitability (to make money out of
them). Some tools, such as automation,
may feel out of reach. So can you afford to
ignore considering other options?

Refining your use
of shielding gases
can improve:
Profitability
U sing a particular gas mix can speed up
the weld process noticeably, reducing
expensive skilled labour costs. For
example, the addition of hydrogen to
argon, when TIG welding austenitic
stainless steel, results in a more fluid
arc which allows welding speeds to be
significantly increased.
It can also produce welds with reduced
surface oxide formation which can
reduce or eliminate the need for post
weld oxide removal.
The capacity to produce neat, smooth
welds can also open new markets where
the weld aesthetic is important.
Welding for profit // Improving your welding processes 11
Quality
As the name implies, the primary function of the shielding gas is to
shield the weld pool, adjacent material and welding consumables
from contamination which is caused by coming into contact with
excessive amounts of atmospheric gases such as nitrogen and
oxygen. However, the shielding gas also has a significant effect on:
How the molten metal is transferred from the weld wire into the weld
pool when MAG welding (i.e. dip, globular, spray, etc)
Spatter generation
Cosmetic appearance
Corrosion resistance
Weld integrity, penetration and fusion
Deposition rates
Weld profile
 Welding for profit // Improving your welding processes 12

Your choice of shielding gas will depend content, leading to excess penetration
on the thickness and type of metals
you are welding and the process you
and spatter levels. Conversely welds
produced on heavy section material
The correct selection of shielding
are using (TIG,MIG, MAG, etc). For
example BOCs Argoshield range of
using Argoshield Light would have
insufficient fusion due to the reduced
gases can vastly increase welding
gases contain varying amounts of CO content. speeds whilst improving weld quality
CO. Whilst Argoshield Heavy gives
excellent weld quality on thicker section and reducing overall welding costs.
material, welds on thinner sections
would be too hot due to its higher CO
 Welding for profit // Improving your welding processes 13

Experienced welders may

question the need to change
Adopting new approaches
tried and tested methods.
They will need time to adjust
5 tips to get traction
to using new shielding gases
because these can alter the
welding process, often making
it quicker, which should also
off-set any per unit increase in
the price of the gas itself.

If you face Make full use of Work to peoples Give it time. Unlike Monitor and provide
initial inertia or support offered by strengths. For apprentices, you are encouragement.
resistance from your gas suppliers such example, the best asking experienced They may not be 16
workforce, listen as BOC who can welder to first craftsmen to change but they could still
to their concerns provide advice, introduce to a new ingrained and trusted feel uncertain and
(e.g. improved guidance and assist shielding gas may methods. Also, if vulnerable. Praise and
process time means with training to be whoever is your possible, allow them support always helps.
less overtime) ensure your welders neatest and most to practice new skills
and explain are happy with any methodical worker. when under less
benefits (job new gas supplied. The improved finish output pressure.
security through on the weld will
company remaining motivate them to
competitive). Start persevere with
with team leaders. adapting to the
They will see the new technique
bigger picture and required and then
can become change sell it to others.
advocates while
coaching other staff.
 Welding for profit // Improving your welding processes 14

Reducing repairs and re-working

Time is money and any reduction on hours spent repairing, re-working
or just tidying welds is worth pursuing. There are a number of ways to achieve this:

Educate your Test your Use good quality Consider causes

team
Educate your team on new
procedures and techniques. Demand
for compliance often comes from
the end client, so make sure
your standards are up to scratch.
Compliance = lower risk = a more
attractive prospect to end customers.
welds
Test your welds in a lab, if possible,
or against carefully defined
parameters according to the specific
requirements of the job.
consumables
Use good quality consumables such
as wire and electrodes to ensure best
quality results.
of downtime
Are you having to take time out to
repair equipment? Is there anything
you can do to protect that equipment
better?
3 Adopting new
technologies

3 Adopting new
technologies
What, you may say, has that got to do with you?
Well, the capital expenditure required for automation
and other technologies may be beyond the budget of
many smaller welding companies, but not all.
If you run a specialised welding operation, servicing
high tech sectors or those which have high
demands for quality and reliability, your appetite
and need for new technologies will be greater. Size
in itself will not be a reason not to invest. However,
it can be harder for mainstream fabricator welders
to see the value of adopting new technologies,
and may assume they are beyond their reach. This
doesnt need to be the case.
Automation aside, there is evidence that a
growing number of small to medium companies
are investigating applications such as fibre and CO2
lasers. Lasers have been used for cutting since the
1960s but increasingly their welding applications
have become more widespread in place of
resistance welding.
Welding for profit // Adopting new technologies 16
Within manufacturing, 90
percent of what welders,
cutters, solderers, and
brazers dohas the technical
potential for automation.
- McKinsey Quarterly, July 2016
Benefits can include:
lower heat input
reduced heat affected zone (HAZ)
lower distortion rate
higher welding speed
Its worth noting that though there are clear
advantages to lasers, their use is sometimes
associated with health and safety hazards like
laser radiation, and welding and cutting fumes,
which need careful management.
Changes in processes can cause some temporary
disruption during switchover, but any delays are
swiftly mitigated by the time savings that can be
achieved once theyre up and running.

Digitisation
Digitisation of welding data can create time
efficiencies for smaller businesses and can often be
retro-fitted to existing processes, thereby reducing
any disruption. It also provides an automated audit
trail, satisfying compliance requirements as you work,
and removing any associated time-intensive admin.
If you are working to EN 1090 standards, being
able to trace the history of your welds may be
costing you many hours, as you manually record
and store information about the processes you
have followed and these may also be open to
human error.
By combining digital capture and cloud storage,
the welding industry is now on the cusp of
transforming such data use in a way that will
benefit any company, whatever its size. In addition,
other valuable data about the weld process itself
- duration, heat input, power used could also be
recorded accurately and efficiently.
Welding for profit // Adopting new technologies 17
Important data about any weld process can now be stored
and retrieved on cloud-based systems. AVANTO from
BOC is one such platform with a tablet browser-based
interface for easy shop floor use that connects all steps
in the welding process flow for ease of management. It
enables the recording of job information including welding
procedure used and associated parameters such as machine
settings. It ensures that only qualified welders can complete
a job and helps companies manage and keep weld quality
test results. All data is stored in the cloud with quick and
easy access for any subsequent weld traceability enquiries,
quality checks or other compliance issues.
By combining digital
capture and cloud Sophisticated digital welding machines currently capture
valuable data about weld procedures undertaken on
storage, the welding that machine which can be stored and analysed. As
industry is now on the technology advances and becomes cheaper, these
digital capabilities will become available to a broader
cusp of transforming range of welding companies in the future, boosting
such data use in a efficiency and productivity of SME welding businesses.
way that will benefit
any company, Some gas cylinders are now installed with a digital display
and the computing intelligence to provide information
whatever its size. such as gas levels in a more useful way. For example
BOCs 300 bar GENIE cylinder will display how much gas
is left in the cylinder and calculate how much longer you
can continue to use the cylinder at your current rate.
 Welding for profit // Adopting new technologies 18

Will these examples

of new technologies
be just nice to have
or mission critical?
What are some of the potential benefits of holding
digitised information on weld processes, welder
qualifications and weld history/provenance? Well,
they can:

Help owners to manage welder qualifications

and allocate project resources.
Enhance traceability through improved gathering
of compliance data, plus the capacity to monitor/
query that data for QA improvements.
Assure an SMEs insurers and clients of their high
level of compliance and traceability of data, and
help SMEs compete for EN1090 contracts.
Improve efficiencies and quality through better
monitoring and analysis of processes.
 Welding for profit // Adopting new technologies 19

Finance and other business support

There is a wealth of business development advice and
support available wherever you are based in the UK,
including information on accessing finance.

Good places to start in England are For funding advice specifically,

the Local Enterprise Partnerships
and Growth Hubs across the country.
Similar support is provided by other
bodies in Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland.
https://www.gov.uk/business-
finance-support-finder is another
useful source of information.

Is your welding business as profitable as it can be?
Checklist
Are you rebuilding the skill base in your
company through training apprentices
and upskilling your existing staff?
Are you optimising your welding
processes, improving both quality and
profitability, through the use of tools
such as better gases?
If youre working to EN 1090 standards,
have you harnessed digital information
technologies to streamline arduous weld
traceability processes?
Welding for profit // Adopting new technologies 20
Summary
Commercial pressures on welding businesses have never been greater. Skills are in
short supply, customers demand ever more stringent standards and margins are under
continuous competitor pressure. As a result, smaller businesses may soon be at risk
unless they embrace the need for change.
Potential solutions such as automation may be beyond the development budget of
your company. But by focusing on what you can do, threats can become opportunities.
Streamlining procedures, becoming watertight on regulation and training staff to perform at
their best will help make your business more attractive to customers and align it for growth.
Simple steps, like investing in higher performing gases, implementing new technology
on a staged basis and integrating an information management system can improve
productivity short-term and provide the foundation for longer-term planning.
For more on the issues outlined in this toolkit and expert
opinion and advice on the world of industrial gases visit our blog
Re-imagining Gases www.boconlineblog.co.uk
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Improve productivity, remain compliant and take on the competition in 2017