re-INVENT Your Company’s Future at MSCA19!
Venture Capitalist and Serial Entrepreneur, Josh Linkner, will be featured at the opening session of this year’s MSCA19 Education Conference, October 13-16, 2019 at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, CO. To Josh, creativity and innovation are the lifeblood of all human progress. As such, he’s spent his career harnessing the power of creative disruption. His journey has been non-traditional at every step. As the founder and CEO of five tech companies, Josh built his businesses from a blank page into a combined value of over $200 million. As a hyper-growth CEO of over 20 years, he’s used innovative approaches to topple competitors, fight through adversity, and achieve at the highest levels.
Companies, communities and individuals fail for many reasons, but one of the most common—and easily avoidable—is the failure to re-INVENT. Josh will lay out a road map for individuals and companies to successfully and continually challenge themselves to re-INVENT.
MCAA Senior Vice President/Treasurer Bob Bolton, who also serves on the association’s Board of Directors, thanked the NCPWB Technical Committee for the opportunity to address the conference. He also recognized Bob Silvia, Chairman of the NCPWB Board of Trustees, for his many years of service.
United Association (UA) Training Specialist Randy Gandy provided an update on the UA’s activities, which include the development of a new plastic pipe fusion welder qualification to ASME Section IX (PE-9). Once qualified, fusion operators will be permitted to join PE-20708, PE-3608, and PE-4710 on piping less than 8” in diameter in the horizontal position, plus or minus 45 degrees, using McElroy fusing machines. He noted that administration of the new test will require two additional individuals: a data logger and someone capable of reviewing the data acquisition and documenting the results on a review report. A sample report will be part of the UA weld test package provided on 
Christian Trudel of Tecnar Automation highlighted the market forces driving the evolution of pipe prefabrication and advocated automation as the solution to these challenges. He explained how companies can maximize the welding performance of a typical spool shop using automated welding stations such as the Rotoweld 3.0. These stations provide tools to assist welders in delivering high quality welds in accordance with ASME standards, which in return increases production and a company’s bottom line.
Dale Flood with Tri Tool Inc. focused on productivity’s role in enabling contractors to secure more work, thus keeping fabrication in the United States. To remain relevant, he said, welders must constantly sharpen their skills and embrace new technologies. He cited Rick Calverley, Director of Education at Lincoln College of Technology, stating, “We need to be driving our students to the technology and not away from it. You just need to think about 10 years from now, and you know that technology is going to roll over again into something different. These students are going to be a part of that as well.”
Kenny Ruggles, an International Representative at the United Association, noted that U.S. Department of Labor projections indicate that the construction industry will face a shortage of 12,850 welders annually by 2024. He then provided an update on how the UA is addressing this anticipated shortage. These efforts include monitoring and sharing information about upcoming projects and organizing non-union welders. The UA also has implemented welder finishing schools that recruit those with prior welding experience, train them, and enroll them into either an apprenticeship program or as provisional journeymen.
Barry Messer, Technical Director for Metallurgy and Welding at Fluor Corp and Messer Engineer Ltd., provided an overview of new brittle fracture susceptibility in carbon steel pipe, fittings, and flanges that meet ASME Code. He explained how severe reductions of the toughness properties of new-fabrication carbon steel piping components have created a new brittle fracture risk in the last few years. He also offered guidance on how to avoid low toughness and mitigate the risks of in-service brittle fracture.
Britton Langdon of MSUITE, creators of FabPro software, focused on fabrication measurement and predictive management. With the increasing scope of projects going through fabrication facilities, he said, it is imperative that contractors and shop foremen have a real-time understanding of how the shop is performing, how long the work will take, and whether the shop will meet the delivery dates that have been set. With accurate shop tracking and predictive analytics, shop foremen can better manage their work with far less effort.
Aaron Hall was recognized for his long-time service on the NCPWB Board of Trustees.
Five individuals were recognized for attending five consecutive NCPWB Technical Conferences. The recipients, pictured left to right holding their award certificates, are: Aaron Hall; John H. Kerr; Jack Weaver; Bob Silvia, Chairman of the NCPWB Board of Trustees; and Mike Schum, NCPWB Technical Conference Chair.
