Robert Morgan takes greatpride in his crafta jobthat is
critically impor-tant to Americas con-struction industry. His
labor is fundamental to the erection ofsafe, efficient,
high-quality buildings.Now, after 39 years, Morgan is retiring.And
as he goes, two increasingly scarceattributes leave with him:
experienceand expertise as a structural steel de-tailer. And most
troubling, he has pre-cious few contemporaries who canadequately
fill his shoes.
While a fictional character, RobertMorgans tale is an
all-too-familiarscene playing out in engineering officesand
detailing houses across the U.S.Plagued by an aging workforce and
in-sufficient training opportunities, thesteel fabrication industry
is at a criticaljuncture. Simply stated, we have anemerging
manpower crisis and weneed to do something about itnow.
DETAILER AVAILABILITYDECLINING
The average age of a structural steeldetailer in the U.S. is 55
yearsan al-ready small workf orce on an unrelent-ing march toward
retirement.Although a younger generation of de-tailers is in place,
their average age is40-45 years and their ranks are alarm-ingly
thin. How did we arrive at thisprecarious position?
Our manpower dilemma is not a re-cent phenomenon. Fifteen years
agothe shortage of detailers was beginningto have a negative impact
on the indus-try. In response, many fabricators ex-
tended pay increases to skilled detail-ers and started new ones
out at aslightly higher wage to attract them.While this strategy
placated olderworkers and attracted the new genera-tion of
detailers mentioned earlier, itdid not bring sufficient numbers
intothe employee pipeline.
Complicating matters was the wide-spread adoption of
computerized tech-nology that, while improving qualityand
increasing productivity of shopdrawings, also masked an
escalatingpersonnel problem. Nationally, pro-duction levels of
fabricated steel wereincreasing using the sameor fewernumber of
steel detailers.
Meanwhile, a valuable farm teamsystem was slowly disappearing.
Asrecent as thirty years ago, large steelmanufacturers provided
apprentice-ships in which many budding detailersreceived on-the-job
training. Today,those mills have consolidatedinsome cases failedand
such traininghas all but disappeared.
Still, few fabricators today give seri-ous consideration to the
industrys fu-ture workf orce requirements. Thenumber of qualified
job candidatescontinues to decline as a once-abun-dant employee
pipeline slows to atrickle.
INDUSTRY PRACTICESPARTIALLY TO BLAME
Clearly, we must develop anothernew generation of steel
detailers.But there are thorny fiscal matters to beconsidered. Many
managers, hobbledby shrinking profits and tight budgets,
often ignore job-training funding re-quests. For many
fabricators it is fi-nancially prohibitive to hire graduatesof a
two-year AutoCAD program who,because of elementary skills,
requirefour or five years of additional training.And experienced
employees oftenmust devote valuable time in an al-ready demanding
workday to guidethese new hires.
Trainees typically do not receive fulldetailer pay until they
become prof-itable for the company, which oftenleads to negative
impressions of our in-dustry. Why bother with two expen-sive years
of college preparing for a jobthat will pay only slightly more
thanflipping burgersfor the next fiveyears? recruits ask.
And we are guilty of raiding ourown talent. Fabricators often
exacer-bate the workf orce dilemma whenthey pluck skilled detailers
out of theirengineering departments, turn theminto estimators and
project managers,and then replace them with employeesof lesser
capabilityor not at all. WaltKellys comic strip character Pogo
oncefamously observed, We have seen theenemy and it is us.
ACTION NEEDED We ignore this looming workf orce
crisis at our peril. Yes, technology hasgiven us powerful
computers and soft-ware that, when properly used by ex-perienced
detailers, dramaticallyincrease the already break-neck speedof
getting drawings to the shop for fab-rication. However, fabricators
and de-tailing houses are beginning to
March 2002 Modern Steel Construction
J. Russell Sutton, presidentFerguson Steel Co. Inc.,
Indianapolis, IN
(AISC Member)
DETAILING
Does anyone want to be a detailer?
recognize the folly of asking two-yearcollege graduates with
minimal experi-ence to manage such sophisticated soft-ware. These
programs have limitationsand are most effective when imple-mented
by more experienced users.
So how then should we respond?The industry must rapidly
implementtraining programs that are both effec-tive and attractive
to the emergingworkf orce. One example is the part-nership between
Vincennes University,a partner in the Community Collegesof Indiana
(CCI), specializing in busi-ness solutions, and Centerline
Detail-ing Services, a steel detailing firm inDanville, Indiana.
The Fundamentalsof Structural Steel Detailing is an inten-sive
three-week course taught by asteel detailer who is certified under
theNational Institute of Steel DetailingsIndividual Detailer
Certification pro-gram (NISD-IDC). A detailer trainingseries of CDs
developed jointly byNISD and the American Institute of
Steel Construction (AISC), are used inteaching this course. In
addition tosteel detailing, other subjects includedin the course
are: Management of contract documents
that have missing or incorrect infor-mation
How erection plans should be rep-resented
Managing large volumes of job revi-sions, while ensuring proper
docu-mentation
Project organization, includingidentifying cost-effective
methodsof detailing
Effective communication with em-ployees and customers,
especiallyon troubled projects
Welding, weld symbols and the im-pact improper symbols have on
pro-ductionStudents work using the
AISC/NISD Detailer Training CDs pro-gram and receive a
certificate of com-pletion. Students who have had three
years steel detailing experience, andwho have completed the
training CDs,are eligible to take NISDs IDC test (De-tailer Class
II certification).
In the class the students actually de-tail the structural steel
referenced in thetraining CDs while learning to managerevisions to
the building. Small classesensure individual attention and
direc-tion in this comprehensive course. Thethree-week course costs
around $3200,including room and board on campus,parking, two texts
(ASD 9th Edition andDetailing For Steel Construction), aswell as
the latest Jobber calculator, to bekept by each enrollee. The next
Center-Line/Vincennes University course isscheduled July 8th - 26th
2002. For addi-tional information contact Liz Bechnerat CenterLine
Detailing 317.745.1301 orat [email protected].
CenterLineDetailing and Vincennes Universitywill have a booth at
the NASCC inSeattle, 2002.
American Institute of Steel Construction www.aisc.orgDetailer
Training Series on CD-ROM
National Institute of Steel Detailing www.nisd.org
Vincennes University/CenterLine Detailing 317.745.1301
British Columbia Institute of Technology www.bcit.ca
Steel Detailers Institute of British Columbia 604.588.9274
Steel University (Steel Plus Network) www.steelplus.comPartner
Institutions:CEGEP de Rimouski (Rimouski, QC)Humber College
(Toronto, ON)New Hampshire Community Technical College (Nashua,
NH)Southwestern Community College (Creston, IA)
Resources for Steel Detailing Training
Modern Steel Construction March 2002
