The power of clean air in the shop

The proper air ventilation system can create a metal fabricating environment that helps to support the image of what modern manufacturing is. Photo courtesy of Hastings Air Energy Control

Pardon Kellie McElroy Hooper if she’s excited about her new welding lab at South Central College’s North Mankato campus. The new digs have created a waiting list to grab one of the 20 spots in the semester-long welding certificate program. That’s saying something considering the college had dropped its welding program in the late 2000s.

“I don’t think we would be able to attract students with this type of enthusiasm for the subject without this new environment,” said McElroy Hooper, dean of the college’s career and technical educational department. “Anytime you give people a nice, clean environment that’s also very professional, you are going to get better results in the end.”

One of the key upgrades of the welding lab, which used to have only 12 welding booths but now has 20, is the air ventilation system. The state-of-art setup keeps the air clean even when a majority of the booths are being used. Before the remodel, just a couple of welding students laying down beads could create a haze that hung over the entire area.

That new ventilation system may not sound like that big of a deal for a welder or fabricator that has spent the better part of his life working in a shop where haze from welding fumes and plasma cutting tables are a permanent fixture, but it means a great deal to a person that might not be totally familiar with modern manufacturing. Today’s young people want challenging careers that allow them to be creative and solve problems. But they don’t want to do those jobs in a dirty and unsafe environment.

South Central College sees its new welding lab as a recruiting tool for creating a deep labor pool for manufacturing talent for nearby metal fabricating companies. Metal fabricators should look at their own facilities in the same way. A work environment with clean indoor air is a positive for current employees and potential new hires.

The good news for metal fabricating companies is that industrial ventilation technology has progressed to the point where installing a modern dust and fume collection system isn’t as costly as it once was. These systems are more intelligent, so they operate in the most efficient way possible. They also feature components that don’t require as much energy to run and don’t use as much compressed air as other conventional ventilation systems.

To learn more about how to turn your own metal fabricating shop into a clean and welcoming work environment, register for an upcoming webinar: “Controlled Process Ventilation: Save Money, Save Lives.” David Bohrer, CEO and chairman of the board for Hastings Air Energy Control, will discuss how IVEC ULTRA ventilation systems can remove dust and fumes from an indoor manufacturing environment on-demand while helping to deliver a quick return on investment.

The webinar is scheduled for Jan. 21 at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT. You can register for the online event here.

An investment in a clean work environment is good for a metal fabricator’s current workforce, but it also helps to boost manufacturing’s overall image. If companies want to convince others that today’s modern manufacturing is not dark and dirty, they need to remove the dust and fumes. There’s no getting around that.