Miller Electric Mfg. Co. (www.millerwelds.com) and Hobart Brothers Co. (www.hobartbrothers.com) announced October 4 that they would give $1 million to the American Welding Society (www.aws.org) to provide initial funding for the American Welding Society Welder Workforce Development Program.

The American Welding Society Foundation will use the donation to fund increased training of entry-level welders and specialized training of existing welders, and to address the shortage of trained welders in the United States.

According to American Welding Society and other industry research, the current average age of a welder is in the mid-fifties. Fewer graduates entering the profession, coupled with the projected retirement of half of the experienced welding workforce, has led to a shortage of skilled welders that could weaken U.S. manufacturing and the overall economy.

The donor companies have selected Bruce Albrecht, a member of the American Welding Society board of directors and a trustee of the American Welding Society Foundation, to represent them on an American Welding Society Foundation committee to establish the workforce program.

"It is the expectation of Miller and Hobart Brothers for this gift to serve as a catalyst for other welding-related companies to support this cause," Albrecht said.

"Miller was the first corporate sponsor of the American Welding Society Foundation when it formed in 1990 to provide scholarships to welding students, and we continue to fund two American Welding Society welding engineering scholarships, as well as the World Skills Competition Scholarship. We are proud to make yet another commitment to the future of welding in North America," Mike Weller, president of Miller Electric, said.

"Our industry must support the efforts that American Welding Society has undertaken. We are extremely proud to be a founding sponsor of this program, but this must be an effort of the entire welding industry to address the critical shortage of welders," Sundaram Nagarajan, Hobart Brothers group vice president, said.

"When my wife and I pledged $100,000 to launch this capital campaign just a few months ago, our vision was that others would step up to initiate efforts to have a powerful impact on the future. Today, our dream has been realized," commented Ron Pierce, chairman of the American Welding Society Foundation.

"We hope this unprecedented donation will encourage our other industry partners to join Miller and Hobart Brothers to help us build a stronger welding workforce for America," Sam Gentry, executive director of the American Welding Society Foundation, said.