PENN YAN, N.Y. – New technology is allowing Finger Lakes Community College to train welders where they are needed — including on the factory floor of a bus manufacturer in upstate New York.
The college recently recognized six graduates of a beginning welding course held at Coach and Equipment, a bus manufacturing plant in Penn Yan.
The class is part of a new approach by the college to address a shortage of welders by bringing small training programs directly to employers and communities across a four-county region between Syracuse and Rochester.
Workforce solution
For Coach and Equipment, which employs about 200 people, the partnership solves a persistent challenge: the company needs a steady supply of welders, but only in small numbers at a time.
“We had considered training our own welders,” said Brian Forrest, the company’s human resources manager. “Working with FLCC was a very nice way to achieve the goal of offering a reward to people already working here who had the aspiration to move up.”
The course was the third welding class graduation for the college in three months.
Almost an hour away in Newark, five adults completed the same 12-week training program in December. Four had job offers within a week of graduation.
In January, six students at Victor High School completed the class while earning high school elective credit. Two now plan to pursue careers in welding, said school counselor Nick Sculli.
“They didn’t have plans at the beginning of this year, and now they do,” Sculli said. “It gave them a direction.”
Another small class for adults is underway at the college’s main campus in Canandaigua.
Computer simulation
The program relies on portable simulation technology — the Miller AugmentedArc welding simulator — that allows instructors to teach basic welding techniques safely and quickly.
Students wear a welding helmet and hold a torch-like tool connected to a computer running simulation software. The system recreates the look and feel of real welding without sparks, molten metal, or heat.
“It’s portable. It’s easy. You can teach people faster with it,” said FLCC President Robert Nye. “Innovation and flexibility are the keys to meeting today’s diverse training needs.”
In rural areas, welding jobs are widely scattered, making a centralized training facility costly and impractical.
Instead, instructor Jahaan Williams travels between sites carrying the simulator in two cases resembling oversized luggage. The system can be assembled in minutes.
Inside the welding helmet, students see the same visual cues they would encounter in a real shop. The software also provides immediate feedback, alerting them if they hold the tool incorrectly or need to adjust their motion. Because the training is virtual, students can practice repeatedly without using fuel or metal.
During the final two weeks of the 12-week program, students move into a real welding shop to apply the skills they practiced on the simulator.
At Coach and Equipment, classes were held twice a week at a shift change so employees could participate without leaving the plant.
The company plans to offer another class this summer as it prepares for an expansion that could include a second production line to help reduce a backlog of bus orders.
For Forrest, the biggest benefit has been employee enthusiasm.
“I went and chatted with people after the first weeks to see how it was going,” he said. “One person said, ‘I can’t wait for the next class. It’s so interesting.’”
