African Fusion August 2016

Afrox/POPUP welding school

Welding skills development

Afrox, in partnershipwith non-profit upliftment organisations, POPUP, has established and equipped a 12-baywelding school at the new Sipho Nkozi Community House Building Training Centre in Soshanguve. African Fusion talks to Johan Pieterse about the development. a top class training facility to accom- modate 12 students at a time. “This will be supported by our skills

welding standards, creating jobs across sub-Saharan Africa.” Says SAIW executive director, Sean Blake: “We are acutely aware of the need for more and better skilled welders in South Africa. We are therefore happy to support initiatives such as these, espe- cially if they create pathways for unem- ployed people to become accredited to International (IIW) standards.” Enhancing local skills is the driver behind Afrox’s skills development pro- gramme, which has nowbeen extended to schools to attract and inform pupils of the advantages of a technical career and encourage more young learners to take welding further at a tertiary level. As a result, Afrox has partnered with the Department of Education, support- ing its Technical School Recap pro- gramme under Mechanical Technology. The Afrox-supported strategy is focused on de-mothballing welding facilities, equipping themwith advanced technol- ogy equipment andupskilling educators to facilitate training. To date Afrox has upgraded and equipped 14 technical schools nation- ally, trainedmore than 40 teachers in the four main welding processes and com- municated the importance of technical skills qualifications at selected launches in the major provinces.

“ D eveloping skills across in- dustries will play a key role in developing South Africa’s economy and training welding artisans locallywill increase opportunitieswithin the country’s workforce,” says Afrox’s Johan Pieterse. “As a leading industrial gases and welding equipment supplier in sub- Saharan Africa, Afrox is establishing its first tertiary welding facility as our contribution to the upliftment of our unemployed youth and towards the development of entrepreneurial skills,” he adds. Launched in partnership with POP- UP (People Upliftment Programme), at the new Community House Building Training Centre in Soshanguve, South Africa. The new school has 12 fully equipped welding bays and is suitable for training in shieldedmetal arcwelding (SMAW); gas metal arc welding (GMAW); tungsten inert gas welding (GTAW); and oxy-fuel welding and cutting processes. The aim of the Soshanguve-based facility is to support various technical up-skilling programmeswith an empha- sis onwelding as an in-demand route to sustainable careers. Says Pieterse: “Quality training and development arise from good training infrastructure. The Afrox team, there- fore, leaped at the opportunity to build

development training programmes, which will contribute towards formal qualifications. We kicked off the first programme recently and look forward to certifying our first trainees in, the class of 2016. Afrox has developed a comprehen- sive set of in-house welder-training course material in an attempt to better match the real needs of South African In- dustry for artisans that have a thorough grounding in basic welding theory and the knowledge and ability to produce consistently high quality welds in prac- tice. “We are very proud of the quality of the material we have produced,” Pi- eterse tells African Fusion . “Thematerial is easy to read and understand and we have had a very positive response from thewelding industry about its suitability and usefulness. “We intend to pursue CHIETA ac- creditation for the material and we hope it will be adopted by other welding training schools in the future,” he adds. “Afrox intends to establish continuity by training instructors and partneringwith like-minded organisations, such as the Southern African Institute of Welding (SAIW), to ensure that we continue to developwelders trained to international

The People Upliftment Programme

PeopleUpliftment Programme (POPUP), is a non-profit organisation with a holistic approach to the upliftment of under-privileged communities, render- ing services to all persons living in Tsh-

Left: The Afrox-sponsored Welder Training Workshop has 12 fully equipped welding bays and is suitable for training in shielded metal arc welding (SMAW); gas metal arc welding (GMAW); tungsten inert gas welding (GTAW); and oxy-fuel welding and cutting processes. Right: The first programme was concluded in July and the first 12 trainees have successfully concluded a basic welder training course.

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August 2016

AFRICAN FUSION