Inside Weld Australia: Advanced Welder Training Centres
beginner level to intermediate level in Gas Metal Arc Welding, and tackled the beginner level in Manual Metal Arc Welding processes. The students all achieved good average scores in the range of 80% to 97% with continued practice. The second week of training comprised a mixture of practical welding in the metals workshop and further simulator practice. Several standout students produced single run fillet welds of a very acceptable quality standard. The program was warmly received— all session were attended with great enthusiasm. The student engagement was particularly pleasing, resulted in very high rates of hands-on learning. TAFE Queensland TAFE Queensland SkillsTech is working closely with major industries in their region to deliver training solutions through ISO 9606-1 and the augmented reality technology. SkillsTech also plans to incorporate their technology into welding training in their apprenticeship programs and other government subsidised courses. As such, SkillsTech has recently commenced a campaign to market ISO 9606-1 training courses, as well as their new AWTC facility. Over the last three months, TAFE Queensland SkillsTech has facilitated a series of presentations to showcase the new Soldamatic augmented reality simulators. In late June, SkillsTech visited Harrap’s (a leading supplier of integrated marine engineering, fabrication, maintenance and construction services) Hemmant facilities. As a result, six Harrap employees are expected to participate in ISO 9606-1 training. In early July, SkillsTech held a presentation at Chinchilla for Shell’s QGC venture. QGC produces natural gas from the Surat Basin of southern Queensland and supplies domestic and international markets. The objective of this presentation
was to inform QGC welding supply chain participants of the new ISO 9606-1 training. In mid-July, SkillsTech visited Brisbane Die Gauge and Tool (BDGT) Precision Engineering—a leading CNC machining facility for the resources, packaging, construction and manufacturing industries. In late July, SkillsTech facilitated a demonstration in conjunction with Kemmpi. In addition to the welding simulators, this demonstration featured Kemmpi’s ‘Fastmig machines’ and ‘WeldEye Weld monitoring software’. This demonstration was a result of direct feedback from a workshop held with DMTC earlier in the year. SkillsTech also held a presentation at the Trade Training Centre in Townsville, in partnership with the Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning’s Advanced Manufacturing Hub. Finally, SkillsTech representatives recently met with Major General (Retired) Fergus McLachlan, who is the Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning’s new strategic advisor for the LAND 400 project. McLachlan was given a tour of the heavy vehicle and welding departments to demonstrate how SkillsTech is working to support defence. Weld Australia is looking forward to collaborating with AWTC members at the upcoming national meeting.
Top: A Student at Regency TAFE in Adelaide tries their hand at welding using a Soldamatic augmented reality welding simulator. Middle: The ‘Train the Trainer’ program at TAFE Queensland SkillsTech. Bottom: The ‘Train the Trainer’ program at Federation University Australia in Ballarat.
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