“Over the past several years UTI-Bloomfield has helped launch the careers of so many new technicians, while also being a great friend to the county and local community,” said Essex County Commissioner Carlos Pomares. “Their new welding program continues this tradition of the school opening up new, alternative, and promising career paths for the young people in our county and throughout the region.”
BLOOMFIELD, NJ – Universal Technical Institute (UTI) Bloomfield’s campus leadership joined elected officials from Essex County, instructors, employers, and students to celebrate the recent opening of UTI’s Welding Technology Training Program. The 36-week program teaches students the soft and hard skills they need for welding in careers in industries ranging from automotive fabrication to construction.
“Welding complements our core technician programs and will give our students and graduates opportunities in an even greater range of industries,” said UTI-Bloomfield Campus President Shawn Alexander. “Our country needs welders to build bridges, highways, office buildings, pipelines, power plants, vehicles, and even spacecraft—they are in fact the backbone of our economy. We’re looking forward to working closely with our many employer partners as we train and prepare the next generation of welders for future careers.”
“Over the past several years UTI-Bloomfield has helped launch the careers of so many new technicians, while also being a great friend to the county and local community,” said Essex County Commissioner Carlos Pomares. “Their new welding program continues this tradition of the school opening up new, alternative, and promising career paths for the young people in our county and throughout the region.”
The grand opening also featured a tour of the new welding lab, which includes Lincoln Electric’s Virtual Reality Arc Welding Trainers, also known as VRTEX welding simulators, used by UTI Bloomfield to train future welders. The virtual reality system offers rich, vivid graphics and sounds featuring real-world welding and fume equipment in an engaging, gaming-inspired environment. Users wear specially-equipped virtual reality welding helmets and enter data such as material type, process, gas flow and amperage; monitor displays then show accurate, real-time analysis of each practice weld.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that the nation’s aging infrastructure will require the expertise of welders, cutters, solders, and braziers to help rebuild bridges, highways, and buildings[1]. This demand could grow even more with massive federal infrastructure spending likely in the coming months and years. The metropolitan Tri-State area of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania has one of the heaviest concentrations of employed welders in the country. [2]
Bloomfield’s welding program launched in July 2021 and is UTI’s seventh, with two additional programs launching at UTI campuses in 2022. The program includes hands-on training and instruction through a comprehensive curriculum developed in collaboration with Lincoln Electric (Nasdaq: LECO), a global leader in the welding industry. The first class of UTI Bloomfield welding students is set to graduate in April of 2022.
For more information on UTI-Bloomfield’s welding program, visit: https://www.uti.edu/programs/welding
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About Universal Technical Institute, Inc.
Founded in 1965 and headquartered in Phoenix, Universal Technical Institute's (NYSE: UTI) mission is to serve our students, partners, and communities by providing quality education and support services for in-demand careers. Approximately 250,000 students have graduated from one of UTI's 14 campuses located across Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Texas. UTI's campuses are accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC), while its employer-aligned technical training programs are offered under four brands: Universal Technical Institute, Motorcycle Mechanics Institute / Marine Mechanics Institute, NASCAR Technical Institute, and MIAT College of Technology. For more information and a complete list of all programs offered, please visit www.uti.edu or follow on LinkedIn @UniversalTechnicalInstituteand on Twitter @news_UTI.
About Lincoln Electric:
Lincoln Electric is the world leader in the design, development and manufacture of arc welding products, robotic arc welding systems, plasma and oxy-fuel cutting equipment and has a leading global position in the brazing and soldering alloys market. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Lincoln has 48 manufacturing locations, including operations and joint ventures in 19 countries and a worldwide network of distributors and sales offices covering more than 160 countries. For more information about Lincoln Electric and its products and services, visit the Company's website at www.lincolnelectric.com.
