SAISC INDUSTRY NEWS
SAIW Foundation learner SECURES an internship
ABOVE( from left to right): In2Structures’ director Linda Wijnberger, Angel Mthebula and SAIW’ s Michelle Warmback on the premises of In2Structures.
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There are so many people who could benefit from the wonderful career opportunities that welding offers but who simply cannot afford it...
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The SAIW Foundation was started by the Southern African Institute of Welding( SAIW) as a public benefit organisation to provide training to disadvantaged individuals. Training areas include welding and inspection, the training of trainers for welding, related technologies and more.
“ There are so many people who could benefit from the wonderful career opportunities that welding offers but who simply cannot afford it. The SAIW Foundation will provide as many of these people as possible this opportunity,” says SAIW executive director Sean Blake.
He says the initial seed funding for the SAIW Foundation has come from the Institute but the idea is for the industry at large to participate.“ We want the SAIW Foundation to become a conduit for the welding industry’ s charitable efforts so that, through economies of scale, we can give as many youngsters as possible a chance in life, while at the same time doing as much as we can to alleviate the skills shortage in our industry.”
Nonhlanhla Angel Mthebula’ s internship with leading dome structure manufacturer In2Structures in Wynberg, Johannesburg is an excellent example of this. Angel was part of the first ever group of trainees that was brought to the SAIW for training through funding by the SAIW Foundation. Her internship materialised after In2Structures made a donation to the SAIW Foundation for Angel’ s training on the SAIW’ s IIW International Welder training programme. As a result of this donation, Angel’ s training is being extended to include GMAW welder training and welding aluminium. Part of the agreement was that she would do the internship at In2Structures.
Angel says she is delighted with her internship with In2Structures.“ I have been working hard at the SAIW to progress in my International Welder course and I will now have the chance to implement what I have learnt in the real world,” she says.
Blake says that this agreement between In2Structures’ and the SAIW represents an excellent win-win situation.“ As In2Structures’ core business is welding, they wanted to give something back to the welding community. They also wanted to improve their BBBEE score on skills development through investing in the training of a black female welder. At the same time, the SAIW Foundation requires funds to train more previously disadvantaged people. This was such an easy way for both parties to meet their individual objectives. We hope that other companies follow In2Structures example,” Blake says.
Robor assists rhino relocations
Robor recently donated 12 tons of steel and assisted in the re-drawing of steel boma designs to support the valiant efforts of the“ Rhinos Without Borders” team. The project coordinators so far have facilitated in the relocation of
31 Rhinos, with plans to move a total of 100 rhinos.
Robor’ s donation of steel will be used for the construction of mobile steel section bomas that can be moved across reserves, from one release site to another. This greatly reduces the conflict associated with releasing many Rhino from the same boma and therefore significantly improves the success of the project.
Rhino Bomas” to the Bostwana Wildlife Department. Robor is truly honoured to have been able to assist in this very worthy project and we sincerely hope that our role will go a long way toward the preservation of the Rhino species.
The Robor engineering works are hoping to complete the full 51 steel sections by the end of November 2016, for an official handover of the“ Robor
24 Steel Construction Vol. 40 No. 6 2016