Humber College’s apprenticeship class of January 2020 with representatives from TIW Steel Platework Inc.
APPRENTICES GOT HANDS-ON tank experience in Toronto, thanks to a partnership between Local 128 (Toronto), TIW Steel Platework Inc. and Humber College. TIW donated a scaled-down, high-cone tank to the Humber College apprenticeship class of January 2020 after learning about the need from Humber College instructor Nathan Guthrie. Guthrie had approached TIW for a cost quote on an eight-foot tank for his advanced training apprenticeship class.
“I was expecting a quote and then making it a budget item for the next year.” said Guthrie, “TIW ended up saying they’ve got that kind of material laying around and would like to donate it. It was awesome to see the contractors wanting to help out.”
Guthrie and two other instructors at Humber College led the class in assembling the tank, which arrived with a set of blueprints. The process allowed students to apply critical thinking and problem-solving methods while working together as a team, as well as use a variety of tools.
“We have around 20 hours of tank theory that we could talk about, but this way, they actually get to lay it out on the floor of the shop and build it—which is 100 times better,” said Guthrie. “They get to learn how to fit plates, what works and what doesn’t work.”
Donating the tank material was a win-win for TIW.
“The struggle we have in Ontario right now is there aren’t that many new tank builds out there,” said Glenn Alloway, General Manager at TIW, “So, it’s hard for these guys to get much practical experience out in the field. Donating was an easy decision to make. Any time we can help out trade colleges like that and help out the Boilermakers, it makes sense.”
The January 2020 class assembled the tank but did not weld the fully-formed tank completely, so that it could be taken apart and reassembled. The program is planning to use the tank to educate future apprentices, and it will stay at the Humber College program until it is no longer usable.
