Welding remains a hot career.

"Employers call every day" looking for welders for jobs across the state, said Charlotte Speegle, Cisco Junior College dean of technical and workforce education. The school recently fielded a call from one Texas company needing 200 welders immediately, she said.

Meeting local demand is challenging enough for the college.

Since 2006, more than 150 individuals have graduated from five-week fast-track welding programs offered at CJC in conjunction with Development Corporation of Abilene, Workforce Solutions of West Central Texas, Texas Workforce Commission and local employers, Speegle said.

The fast-track program was developed after economic development officials identified a shortage of 200 welders in the Abilene area, according to Reporter-News files.

Twenty more people have completed CJC's two-semester welding credit program during the last two school years, and another 18 are scheduled to complete the program in May. There is an enrollment waiting list, Speegle said.

At Texas State Technical College-Brownwood, 22 students graduated from the three-semester certificate welding program in the last two school years. This fall, 24 students enrolled in the program, which usually sees four or five new students, said Derek Little, division chairperson for manufacturing and engineering.

During the last two years, 17 people also completed a fast-track program TSTC offered in partnership with the Brownwood Economic Development Corporation and Brownwood-area employers.

"We still have not filled the welder need," said Robert Puls, business development consultant with Workforce Solutions.

The high demand has prompted Lauren Fabricators, a division of Lauren Engineers & Constructors Inc., to start its own welder training program to advance the skills of entry-level welders to journeyman and train employees with no previous welding experience. Lauren also is recruiting new workers who have manufacturing experience in other industries for the program.

The goal is to "improve our current workforce as well as bring up the next generation of craftsmen," said Levi Taylor, project manager for Lauren's training program.

Manufacturing and maintenance in industries related to wind energy, oil and gas production, refineries and other utilities are the primary drivers for local demand.

"The demand for welders should remain strong as our current metal fabrication companies, such as RenTech, Robinson Fan, Peerless Manufacturing and Lauren Engineers & Constructors, continue to grow and new companies, such as Tower Tech, are attracted to Abilene, and West Texas in general," said Richard Burdine, CEO of the DCOA.

Hourly wage for beginning welders in the area generally is $9 to $12, Little said. Puls said state figures indicate an experienced structural welder can earn about $15 an hour. Top-of-the line welders with specialty certifications can earn $20 an hour or more.

Speegle said that about 90 percent of their fast-track graduates remain in the Big Country. Family ties, lower cost of living and milder weather outweigh the lure of higher pay as much as $8 to $10 more an hour on the Gulf Coast and other areas, Puls said.

Some fast track graduates also return to CJC to enroll in the two-semester credit program, which is conducted in the evenings, Speegle said.

Part of the DCOA's $4.7 million incentive package this year to wind turbine manufacturing company Tower Tech Systems is $75,000 for two fast-track welding programs, offered in cooperation with Workforce Solutions and CJC.

The first class of 14 students begins Nov. 3. Workforce Solutions is accepting applications until Dec. 31 for the Jan. 19 class.

Applicants accepted into the program must pass a background check, a pre-program drug screening and a random drug screening during the five weeks of training. Students' training costs are covered by the DCOA grant. Participants are expected to treat the training as a job, showing up on time and applying themselves in the learning process, Puls said.

During the first week, participants undergo 40 hours of employability training, which addresses communication skills, work ethic and other topics. The next four weeks, the participants spend 10 hours a day, Monday through Thursday, at CJC for welding training. On Fridays, the trainees return to Workforce Solutions for resume writing, interviewing and safety training. The program concludes with a graduation and job fair. "We can't guarantee them a job, but we do guarantee them a job interview with Tower Tech," Puls said.

CJC instructors tailor the fast-track curriculum to the production needs of employers.

Since 2006, CJC has trained 110 people in nine fast-track welding classes funded through DCOA and Workforce Solutions grants, Speegle said. Puls said that the majority of participants were in their 30s, with a handful each in the 20s and 40s. Most are looking for a second career, he said.

CJC also trained another 44 students in four additional fast-track classes funded by a $105,869 Texas Workforce Commission grant between August 2007 and August 2008.

In 2007 the Texas Economic Development Council awarded its Workforce Best Practices Award to the City of Abilene for the fast-track welding program.

Lauren representatives are hoping their welder training program becomes a model for other employers to "grow their own" to meet their welder shortages.

Workforce Solutions recently nominated Lauren for the statewide Texas Current Workforce Employer of Excellence Award of the Texas Workforce Commission because of the program.

Lauren employees are paid during training. Half of their 40 hours each week is spent receiving individual instruction in a semi-trailer with eight welding stations originally used to certify welders on a job site. They then are paired on the production line with an experienced journeyman to "learn the tricks of the trade," said Gary Milligan, Lauren Fabrication's general manager.

"We're compacting a two-year program into nine months. We're shaving off teaching the welding processes not used in our industry," Milligan said.

The company needs skilled pipe and vessel welders for the construction of modular components for new plants in the solar, power, polymers, refinery and other industries. The modulars are constructed at the 42-acre fabrication facility off South Treadaway Boulevard and then trucked to job sites throughout the country and overseas to be assembled.

Modular construction allows for assembling pipes in a more controlled environment than possible on a job site. Some pipes require being heated before being welded together and then cooled slowly, Milligan said.

Eleven welders have completed the program since it started in January, and another five currently are enrolled. The company has received a $26,325 Workforce Investment Fund grant from Workforce Solutions for the program and applied for another.

Advanced certification means advanced pay. According to a Lauren news release, average hourly shop wages are $14 for structural welders, $18 for single-process welders and $22 for combination pipe welders. Advances in pay are based on becoming code certified.

Sergio Soriano, a Lauren Fabrication pipe cutter who recently completed the first part of welding training in three weeks, said he is grateful for the opportunity to learn a high-paying trade because it enables him to take better care for his wife and three children ages 11, 8 and 6.

Those involved in the fast track welding program also talk about emotionally moving graduation ceremonies. "Families would come up at graduation and tell us, 'Thank you.' Kids walk up and hug you and say, 'Things are better at home because daddy is getting a job,'" Puls said.