Computers play key role for
plumbers in training
At a training school for plumbers in East Providence, 116 plumber apprentices are learning their time-honored trade the new-fashioned way: manipulating a mouse in front of a computer as they learn to cut, fit and weld pipe, rather than grappling under a sink with wrench in hand.
Beyond Cash Donations: How New Forms of Giving Are Transforming Not-for-Profit Accounting
Evolving Funding Landscape for Not-for-Profits Not-for-profit organizations are being asked to do more with less,…
Learn More
Local 51, the union for plumbers, pipe fitters and refrigeration technicians in Rhode Island, opened the Union Hall & Training Facility at 11 Hemingway Drive in East Providence last January. The 18,000-square-foot facility offers computer training in five classrooms.
In one tech-driven, 3,000-foot classroom, apprentices learn how to break down and rebuild refrigeration air conditioning systems with the use of a computer program.
Other students in a refrigeration class sit in a conference room, their eyes glued on a wall monitor. They are participating via video conference in a lesson being taught at that moment in another plumbing training center in California.
In another computer laboratory, apprentices spend weeks learning the art of high purity welding before ever strapping on a face shield and laying their gloved hands on a blowtorch. The apprentices will pick up the tools of their trade only after becoming proficient at the computer program, where 90 percent of the learning occurs, said Kenneth Aurecchia, business manager of local 51.
The high-tech training school for plumbers is an example of a trend seen throughout the blue-collar trades, say Aurecchia and other experts. The apprentice system, through which newcomers learn the skills of their trade, looks much same today as it has for hundreds of years. But the way apprentices learn has changed dramatically in recent years.
Today, plumbers, carpenters, electricians and other hands-on trade workers have to lay their hands on a computer keyboard to learn their craft. Technology is radically transforming even old-fashioned manual labor industries.
“It’s all changed. Everything is high tech today,” said Aurecchia.
Using computers to teach plumbing allows the union to save a lot of money and also improve safety, said Aurecchia. Pipe is extremely expensive, as are the materials used in such plumbing procedures as high purity welding. And though training in union shops is extremely safe, learning how to use power tools and blowtorches also involves a low level of safety risk, even when all safety standards are being followed.
Familiarizing apprentices with the technique before putting tools in their hands cuts down on waste and time of training, and improves safety, said Aurecchia.
“What would probably take you three, four, five months, today you spend 15 or 20 days on the computer and then you get certified in a day in a half,” he said.
Computer programs, video conferencing and other technology is also changing learning in other traditional blue-collar trades, say experts. In carpentry, automotive repair, construction, electrician, and even culinary arts training centers, sophisticated presentations on DVD or simulations on CD-Rom are ubiquitous today.
Trade unions are constantly designing and employing state-of-the-art-training programs that are relevant, accessible, transportable, useful, and tailored to the real world. Technology in training is necessary today, in order to improve the marketability of their members and the competitiveness of their industries, according to the Carpenters Training Committee for Northern California, an organization that provides apprenticeship, journey-level, and related training services for union carpenters and union contractors in 46 California Counties.
“Today’s commercial carpenter is on the forefront of modern technology, utilizing
computers and lasers as an integral part of the construction process,” said
a statement of the organization’s Web site. “As the technology of our industry
continues to change, we constantly strive to develop new and innovative full-service
training programs.”
