Company Announcement - The 2015 Young Welder of the Year competition, which will be held from 26-30 January 2015, has kicked off with a bang with unprecedented interest being expressed in it from all over the country. This is has become the foremost skills test for young welders in South Africa. The winner will represent South Africa at the WorldSkills competition to be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from 11-16 August 2015. The sponsors for the 2015 competition so far are: Abicor Binzel, Afrox, AFSA, Air Products, Arcelor Mittal, Hulamin, Merseta, SASSDA, Thuthuka Welding and WASA.

Jim Guild, executive director of the Southern African Institute of Welding, says that the Young Welder competition is an industry initiative and would not survive without its sponsors. “We are all grateful that the sponsors understand the growing importance of this competition in terms of encouraging welding as an exciting and sustainable career for our youth. There is always room for more sponsors and those interested should contact the Institute.” SAIW GM Operations, Sean Blake, says he is delighted with the enthusiasm of the entire industry including both TVET Colleges like College of Cape Town and a company artisan training school – Steinmuller. “The increased involvement of those who are teaching the youth welding skills is most encouraging and with their support we will be extending the footprint of the competition quite considerably,” Blake says. “We are particularly pleased that Steinmuller has opted to be on the organising committee and we look forward to working with them.”

In terms of the extended footprint Blake says that there will be regional competitions in November 2014 in the Western Cape, KZN and Mpumalanga. “This will give a lot more youngsters the chance to get into the finals in Johannesburg and will, of course, substantially increase awareness of the Young Welder competition,” Blake says.  There will also be an increased focus on marketing and promotion for the 2015 competition. “Using the theme ‘Creating Employment: Skilling our Youth’ we plan to get wide coverage of the competition in the classical media like radio, print and television. But we also plan to use the social media like Facebook, Twitter and others, which are appropriate for the age-group of the participants in the Young Welder competition. We will also be making a special video CD of the competition, which will be used as a promotional tool,” says Blake.