Northern College held its Welding Industry Visioning Forum at Durham College in Whitby on Friday, December 12. Chris Rees of Suthey Holler Associates hosted the session, and Ross Brindle of Energetics, Inc., did the facilitation.

Approximately 35 interested welding professionals from all areas of the welding industry attended.

The objective of the exercise was to generate a vision for the Canadian welding industry for the next 10 years, one on which the industry could build a direction for its future. The vision will enable Northern College to develop a business plan for an applied innovation and development facility to be affiliated with its School of Welding Engineering Technology, based in Kirkland Lake.

Through the contributions of participants and the work of the facilitator, the group developed a number of key elements that will be assembled over the next few weeks to produce a vision for the welding industry:

• Key Trends and Drivers – factors that will shape the welding industry in Canada over the next 10 years
• Vision Statement – a description of the welding industry as it is envisioned in 2013
• Strategic Goals – goals that further define the future state of welding and quantitative goals that support the vision
• Grand Challenges – identification of high-level challenges that the industry must address to achieve the goals and realize the vision

The general feeling of the group was that it had been a highly productive day, in which a lot had been accomplished.

Chris and Ross will produce a vision document for the Canadian welding industry. This document will be circulated throughout the industry for comment and support.

A working committee has been established to obtain broad participation in this initiative throughout the industry.

CANADIAN WELDING ASSOCIATION JOURNAL

The February 2004 issue of the Canadian Welding Association Journal has gone to press. Watch your mail box and the CWA website in early February.

The theme for the next issue, scheduled for May 2004, will be Robotics in Welding. It will include not only robotic processes and equipment, but also the welding processes often used with robotics. If you are interested in providing an article or paper, please review the Guidelines for Authors.

CWA BOARD OF DIRECTORS APPOINTMENT

Elgin Hartsell has been appointed by BOC as its representative on CWA’s Board of Directors. CWA thanks Marc Desjeans and Guy Le Houillier for their contribution to the Association in the past.

CWA (TORONTO CHAPTER) AND CINDE DINNER/DANCE

CWA’s Toronto Chapter is a sponsor of the Canadian Institute for NDE (CINDE) dinner/dance on December 20 in Oakville, Ontario. Full information on the event can be seen on the Toronto Chapter page.

CWA NATIONAL OFFICE