Applied Ultrasonics
15 May 2023
According to the American Welding Society, there’s set to be a skills shortage in the US of 400,000 welders by 2024. In Australia, 70,000 will be needed by 2030 (as reported by Weld Australia). With welders playing a critical role in a range of industries, including military, aerospace, construction, automotive and manufacturing to name a few, thousands of businesses face disruptions to their operations without appropriate contingencies.
Additionally, welders are set to be integral to the development of the infrastructure required to achieve global renewable energy targets, thus delaying our transition towards more sustainable practices worldwide unless action is taken. Privately-owned businesses and government agencies who are set to be affected by the skills shortage must consider several potential impacts including:
Increased labour costs: Workplaces will need to offer competitive remuneration to attract and retain skilled employees.
Longer lead times: As teams become leaner, development and maintenance projects can be expected to take longer to complete and cause disruption to operational efficiency.
Reduced productivity: Where project delays or equipment failure occur due to stretched maintenance resources, productivity can be impacted leading to potential issues in customer satisfaction as well as profitability.
Safety risks: With less skilled welders in the workforce, inexperience may have safety implications increasing the risk of workplace accidents and injuries.
Outside of attracting more workers into the welding field, the question remains how do we minimise the impacts on operations into the future? As part of the solution, Applied Ultrasonics offers a genuine fatigue improvement method intended to reduce the required frequency of maintenance, repair and asset replacement. As such, treating your assets, structures and equipment with UIT can be an appropriate preventative measure to reduce some of the impact of welding skills shortages on your operations.
To illustrate the true value of fatigue life improvement, see below a real-world example of how UIT partnered with a mining customer to bring down their repair and maintenance frequency.
It’s innovative technology, like UIT, that provides the answer to navigating industry challenges and we’re excited to share our solution with you. To enquire about the suitability of Ultrasonic Impact Technology for your application, please contact us and we will connect you with a representative in your region.
