PEORIA, Ill. — The world’s largest earthmoving machinery manufacturing company is actively recruiting FFA, SkillsUSA, BSA and other youth who may be interested in careers in welding.
According to the American Welding Society, a shortage of welders in the U.S. will reach a deficit of 400,000 workers by 2024. Older welders are reaching retirement age, and younger welders aren’t replacing them fast enough. With the average age of a welder 55, and fewer than 20 percent under the age of 35, recruiters at Caterpillar, Inc. are becoming more proactive in ensuring the Fortune 500 company will have the workforce it requires to keep the world supplied in “Big Yellow” machinery-- which includes dozers, graders, excavators, generators and mining equipment.
“Caterpillar’s relationship with FFA and Skills USA goes back many years,” said Donald Stickel, a welding engineer who helps direct CAT’s youth outreach program. “My current vice-president, Karl Weiss, was the Caterpillar executive member on the board for FFA, and he himself had been a member of FFA. He saw the value of the skills that are developed when you are part of a program like that, and those kinds of skills are valuable to Caterpillar.” Weiss is currently the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Caterpillar.
CAT sharpened their focus on promoting welding careers to youth groups around three years ago, due to an industry-wide shortage of welders, welding technicians and welding programmers, according to Stickel. “Maintaining our relationships with these youth groups is critical to us in order to make sure the next generation of the workforce is interested in welding,” he said.
A recent tour of the Caterpillar Technical Center in Mossville included a few dozen BSA Scouts hailing from the W.D. Boyce Council, which is headquartered in Peoria and serves nearly 7,000 Cub and BSA Scouts. Their visit included three, twenty-minute stops at workstations inside the Tech Center’s prototype production facility. The segments included education in manual welders and welding methods, robotic welding, and additive manufacturing, including the production of plastic 3-D prototype machinery and parts.
“It was fun and exciting to see welding at Caterpillar,” said Larry Nelson, 11, a Tenderfoot BSA Scout with Mossville Troop 50. “I also liked the welding demonstration of both automated and manual welding.” Added Larry’s father, Chad: “It was great for Caterpillar to set up this program to show Boy Scouts about the welding careers and opportunities that we would not have otherwise known about.”
Stickel said he has received plenty of positive input from parents of youth who have participated in one of the Mossville plant tours, including many who were excited to know that CAT would be interested in hiring their son or daughter. “Another often-heard comment is ‘this doesn’t look like my grandfather’s factory.’ Our factories are very modern and safety conscious, with clean environments,” he said.
The visit by the Boyce Council scouts represented the first visit to Mossville by a BSA group, noted Kevin Joustra, also a welding engineer who helps with the youth tours. “We are just now starting to branch out and to tap into organizations like BSA. We have employees here at Caterpillar who are Eagle Scouts, and they had been advocating for this. They are showing the rest of us the value in it,” said Joustra.
Though the CAT Mossville facility does not employ many fabricators, there are high-paying jobs available for certified welders at some of the company’s other central Illinois plants, across the U.S. and throughout the world, according to Joustra.
“We have a need for welders and welding technicians,” he said. “Welding technicians at Caterpillar do everything from troubleshoot issues on the shop floor, to programming robots and writing instructions for welders on the shop floor. On another level, welding engineers have four-year degrees and focus on technology development, metallurgy and process development.”
Stickel and Joustra recommend to parents and guardians that if a youth indicates interest in a welding-related career, find out if their school offers any vocational classes that incorporates welding. “Try to get into those hands-on courses,” said Joustra. “Sometimes if a high school doesn’t offer them, a local community college will offer them in conjunction with the high school.”
Stickel said his kids are fortunate to have an in-house welding program offered at their high school, Illinois Valley Central in nearby Chillicothe. “They offer welding, engineering and drafting. You’ll want to get an education in the STEM areas, which all revolve around what a welding technician may do,” he said. “At CAT, we can offer a career path that you can grow from your first job.”
Both FFA and SkillsUSA hold annual local, state and national welding competitions, and BSA offers a welding merit badge. These are great ways for youth to try out welding to see if a career in the field might be of interest, Stickel added.
“This shortage of welders is only getting worse,” said Joustra, “but the opportunities are out there.”
