I am pleased to report that The Welding Federation for Africa (TWF) is up and running. On October 21, our first webinar was opened by newly elected TWF president, Ayo Adeniyi. Over 150 people from across the continent attended.
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SAIW has signed an SLA with the TWF for a range of certification schemes, including ISO 3834 Company Certification in particular, but also training, qualification and certification of welders, fitters, welding inspection personnel; and pressure vessel inspectors. Our SAIW Inspector L1 and L2 Welding Inspector courses are already very well known in Africa and TWF wants to use these as the basis for an Africa-wide TWF Inspector Qualification and Certification programme.
I believe strongly in alliances and, in another joint venture, we have formed The Welding Innovations Network together with the Canadian Welding Bureau; HERA from New Zealand and the Indian Institute of Welding. The idea is to use the best available world experts to deliver webinars that cut across geographical boundaries.
SAIW has a history of inviting global experts to deliver seminars in major centres around the country. These were always expensive to organise and attendees had to take the day off work to participate. Seminars were, therefore, few and far between.
The Welding Innovations Network is a vehicle for securing the services of world experts to deliver webinars. We have started with a series by Professor Pingsha Dong from the University of Michigan, who has done a lot of work setting up welding standards in the US. We began by presenting a course on the design of welded joints in the Western time zone for the Americas. We recently completed the last part of this course for Africa and Europe and the course will now be taken across to India, to cover the Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh area; and then on to New Zealand to cover the Pacific Rim and the East.
Two follow up courses by Prof Dong, ‘Residual stress and distortion control’ and ‘Advanced fatigue and fracture analysis methods’, are also being planned. We are on the lookout for other topics and world experts who are willing to work with us, though, and suggestions would be welcome.
We are also excited about the Mpumalanga Stainless Initiative (MSI) and SAIW’s recognised role within it. The Steve Tshwete Local Municipality (STLM) in Middelburg is home to several steel, petrochemical and beverage production facilities. As a result, the municipality’s manufacturing sector contributes 17,2% to local GDP, higher than the manufacturing contribution from the province and the nation. Steel beneficiation is a cornerstone of the MSI, which presents a sizeable market opportunity for SMMEs. This would require artisanal skills such as welding, however, and SAIW is planning to establish a satellite branch in MSI’s facility to meet these needs.
The past few years have been all about restructuring, COVID and recovery. Next year is about growth, starting with our practical welding school. We have put together an exciting ‘I’m an International Welder’ campaign, which we are launching in this issue of African Fusion, with a career decision tree and infographics on career paths that the SAIW can provide. We see a key role for certified welders with in-demand skills, who can attract good wages anywhere in the world. We are also putting a programme together combining open days with bursary opportunities to promote awareness of the value of SAIW’s NDT and IIW welding co-ordination programmes.
We hope that the industrialisation of Africa, together with the advantages of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will promote strong and sustainable African growth and, with the re-industrialisation of South Africa, that we can restore manufacturing’s contribution to national GDP back to above 20%.
John Tarboton
