Increase in demand for California building trades workers on refinery jobs
Boilermakers Local 92 in Bloomington, California, is experiencing significant growth in labor demand. This is in part due to a recently enacted state law that impacts refinery jobs. The law requires that 60 percent of skilled workers employed by contractors at refineries and chemical manufacturing facilities be graduates of state-approved apprenticeship programs.
This increase in demand for California building trades workers on refinery jobs — coupled with the industry-wide shortage of skilled welding operators and a boom in power plant construction projects in southern California — had Local 92 leaders searching for solutions. They needed to put trained members to work faster on projects to meet the needs of their contractor partners. Contractors win bids for work and then rely on labor from local union halls to complete those projects.
Some contractors are investing in new technologies and equipment and implementing advanced welding processes to help them stay ahead of the competition and thrive in the face of industry challenges and trends. Local 92 saw the improved productivity and efficiency that resulted for these contractors and decided to undergo a similar switch for its apprenticeship and member training programs.
The addition of equipment with new technologies and capabilities allows Local 92 to train members in cutting-edge advanced wire welding processes. This in turn helps the union meet the increasing demand for skilled workers.
The result, according to Boilermakers Local 92 President Oscar Davila, is the ability to put more members to work — faster — on more jobsites.
Growth in training needs
Local 92 is about 1,000 members strong and offers the standard national boilermaker apprenticeship program, which typically trains up to 40 members at a time for the union hall. The four-year, 6,000-hour apprenticeship program covers a range of welding processes, materials and certifications. Areas covered include MIG, TIG, flux-cored and stick welding on carbon and stainless steel; rigging; cutting; safety; and pipe-specific training. To become a journeyman, an apprentice must also complete 48 self-study lessons, 21 on-the-job training modules and a minimum of 144 hours per year of classroom instruction.
The union serves a number of industries, including oil refineries; shipbuilding; and coal, natural gas and nuclear power plants. Local 92 focuses on quality, safety and meeting critical deadlines. Their ultimate goal is to fill the needs of contractors and their customers in the most cost-effective way.
A major contractor in the Local 92 region recently converted to advanced wire processes for welding in the field — including Regulated Metal Deposition (RMD®) from Miller Electric Mfg. LLC — and reaped significant productivity benefits that help meet or beat critical project schedules. RMD, a modified short-circuit MIG process, provides much faster travel speeds and eliminates back purge on some alloys, saving time and money for the contractor, while allowing operators to produce consistent high-quality welds. Those were eye-opening benefits for Local 92 leaders.
In addition, union leaders wanted to remain at the forefront of the welding technology contractors are using, so members can be prepared for where the industry is heading, Davila said. Training in new technologies and processes helps increase the demand for Local 92’s labor pool. It also utilizes the welding skills members already have, while training them to be more successful with the advanced welding technology.
Conversion to more productive processes
To stay in front of changing technology, Local 92 began using the Miller® PipeWorx 350 FieldPro™ system for training programs. Members train on the FieldPro to gain certification in pulsed MIG and RMD welding processes. Local 92 requires them to pass a 6G TIG root pass heavy wall tube test before they can begin training on the PipeWorx system.
A few members were reluctant to change from the traditional welding processes and the way things were previously done. But the ease-of-use of the machines and the high-quality welds they can achieve quickly won members over, Davila said.
With a modified short-circuit MIG process such as RMD, the welding system anticipates and controls the short circuit, then reduces the welding current to create a consistent metal transfer. Precisely controlled metal transfer provides uniform droplet deposition, making it easier for the welding operator to control the puddle. Advanced welding processes such as pulsed MIG or RMD also are more forgiving to variations in stickout. They also result in a calm, stable arc, which is easier for operators to control.
These processes also provide travel speeds that are three to four times those of TIG or stick welding. On some alloys, advanced wire procedures allow for no back purge, resulting in saved operator time and material costs.
Previously, operators TIG welded the root pass on P91 pipe with a back purge. Today, Local 92 is training members using RMD for the root pass without a purge. This is followed by solid wire pulsed MIG for the remaining passes. This saves tremendous time and consumable costs, Davila said.
Technologies and processes that make it easier for skilled welders to become trained — and that make it easier to complete quality work in less time on the jobsite — are important for the industry as it faces the growing welding operator shortage.
Completing jobs in half the time
Local 92 has seen numerous benefits from the conversion to advanced wire processes. One significant benefit is the ability to complete welds much faster. Using RMD and pulsed MIG, welders can complete welds in about half the time compared to using stick or TIG. And they do so without sacrificing weld quality, Davila said. A project that previously took three days can now be done in one and a half, for example.
In addition to the increased productivity and time savings, the switch in processes also saves money in materials and consumables. Eliminating the back purge on the root pass saves in gas. It also eliminates the cost of the pumping systems needed to distribute the gas on jobsites. That’s a benefit for contractors as well as the union, since Local 92 realizes material savings during the training process.
In addition to the capability for advanced wire processes, the FieldPro systems offer remote control welding technology. The ability to make process changes and parameter selections at the weld joint with no special cables helps significantly minimize downtime that welding operators spend traveling back and forth to the power source. This results in more arc-on time, which helps welding operators complete more welds and achieve higher overall productivity.
Remote control technologies also offer benefits for welding operator safety, since reducing the number of trips to the power source helps reduce trip and fall hazards. This can especially make a difference on expansive jobsites. Davila said jobsites are often so large that welding operators may be working 400 feet in the air. Boilers, dams, power plants, storage tanks and pressure vessels are usually of massive size, so a major portion of boilermaker work is performed at great heights.
When welders have the ability to easily control parameters at the weld joint, it offers major safety and productivity benefits. It also eliminates the need to make do with less-than-optimal parameters.
Demand for Boilermakers Local 92 members
The ability to train members quickly in more welding processes has Local 92 workers in demand, Davila said. This allows more members to be utilized on different jobsites and helps prevent downtime for the workers in between projects.
Often the union membership is 100 percent employed on jobsite projects, with Local 92 leaders looking for more skilled workers to train so they can fill contractor needs. As more contractors realize the benefits of the advanced welding processes, this demand will likely continue to grow, Davila said. Leaders plan to continue to invest in this technology and add more FieldPro machines to expand the training opportunities in advanced wire processes.
New welding technologies and a switch to welding processes that are easier to learn and use help Local 92 train more skilled workers to meet growing contractor and customer needs. The conversion also boosts productivity without sacrificing weld quality — helping ensure contractors can fulfill projects on time and on budget.