Texas has more welding jobs than any other state in the United States, with an estimated total of 50,000 employed welders and a growing number of jobs needing to be filled. This demand has made Texas the land of opportunity for welders, and the Industrial Welding Academy has made it their mission to properly train and produce the best welders in the state.
The Industrial Welding Academy (IWA) held the grand opening of its new Beaumont location recently. This is the second IWA location to open since the company’s start in Houston 12 years ago. Beaumont was chosen for the new location in response to the city’s booming refinery, petrochemical and manufacturing industry and lack of skilled craftsmen.
IWA is owned and operated by Andre Horn and his wife Miranda. Horn is originally from the Golden Triangle area and has over 29 years of experience in welding and welding training. He chose to pursue the untapped welding education market in the Golden Triangle, which lacked the discipline the industry needed, knowing there was great opportunity for growth and success, not only for IWA, but also for the refinery industry in Beaumont and surrounding areas. Bringing IWA to this new location helps the community by providing more jobs at the facility and providing the skilled and qualified workers needed to keep up with the various in-progress and upcoming expansion projects in the area.
At IWA, there are several variations in the program for students to choose from, ranging from different class hours to different skill levels they can complete, with the end goal being employment.
They offer a six-week program that runs from Monday through Thursday with three varying, four-hour time slots for students to choose from. With a 15 to 1 student to instructor ratio, students get much-needed one-on-one training. During the course, one hour is dedicated to theory and the other three hours are practical hands-on training. IWA also chooses to run the program like an actual job.
“We want our students to become professionals, so we run our Academy just like they are on the job,” CEO Andre Horn said. “If you are late more than twice without excuse, that counts against you. There will be disciplinary actions just like a job. If you can’t do this for four hours a day, how do you expect to do it in the real world for eight to ten hours a day? It is all about preparing them for the real thing.”
Apart from the basic six-week course, there is the option to continue training to become a specialty welder. To become a specialty welder, the student must complete an additional 18 weeks of training. Becoming a specialty welder ensures a higher pay leads to a higher value within the welding community.
“The more training you do in this industry, the more valuable you are,” Mr. Horn said. “The welding industry is vast but lacking the skilled workers it needs. Once you become a specialty welder, your value in this industry is outstanding at that time, as long as your skill is accompanied by impeccable work ethics.”
In addition to the welding training they offer, IWA hosts “Certification Day.” Before getting employed, every welder must take a test to prove their ability meet the welding code requirements. This can range from a structural welding test, which primarily involves buildings and bridges, all the way to a specialty welding test, which includes working at refineries and plants.
“Certification Day is something we started with the American Welding Society about 12 years ago in the Houston area,” COO Dan Jones said. “We had high-school students and post-secondary students who finished their training at school but could not get a job because they were not certified welders. We wanted to give them the opportunity and tools to bridge that certification gap.”
In Houston, the Certification Day started with around 300 students and has since grown to over 800 students. This opportunity was brought to Beaumont in 2018 where they had close to 45 students participate. Their goal is to grow to over 400 participants this year.
Apart from the obvious welding training goal at IWA, they also have another greater goal for this academy, and that is to impact the community and use their school as a ministry to its people.
“To us this is a ministry,” Miranda Horn said. “We see individuals come in who are actually broken, and we try to do as much as we can to mentor them to make sure when they leave here, they do not leave as the same person.”
IWA’s goal is to focus on training up the whole person. While the main emphasis is on their welding skills, students learn the importance of strong interview skills, time management and overall professionalism. They even work with the City of Houston in assisting those who have been incarcerated and are released with no skill or trade by welcoming them into the welding academy and helping reintroduce them into society with the knowledge and training that can prevent them from ending up back in prison.
“We come in to inspire, empower and educate,” Mr. Horn said. “Any time you are working on yourself, you are going to encounter some hardships and that is the ministry side of what we do. When you are sick and tired of being sick and tired, you come to IWA, and we are going to help you out.”
On the outside, IWA may seem like any other training academy, but once a student enrolls into the program, their lives immediately begin to change. Mr. and Mrs. Horn have made it their purpose in life to positively impact the life of every individual to walk through their doors. At the Industrial Welding Academy, welding is just a stepping stone to changing lives, and with the opening of the Beaumont location, the number of lives being changed can only increase.
“This is a ministry,” Mr. Horn said. “And the best way I know how to teach is to lead by example. Iron sharpens Iron.”
