When welders compare air‑ and water‑cooled TIG torches, the conversation usually starts with performance—maximum amperage, duty cycle, and how long a torch can stay cool during continuous welding. Day-to-day productivity, however, is often driven by something less technical: how quickly you can get set up and stay welding. In real‑world welding, a more advanced TIG torch cooling system does not automatically improve productivity. If a setup adds complexity before you ever strike an arc, it can reduce how much welding actually gets done in the end. A more useful question is this: Is your TIG cooling system helping you weld more, or is it getting in the way?

In late April, the MAC Welding & Fabrication Project leadership team - Lindsey Williams, Sarah Patterson, and Ann Avary - traveled to longtime partner Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (MGCCC) for a two-day outreach and benchmarking visit focused on the college’s non-credit and credit-bearing welding programs and their direct alignment with Gulf Coast shipbuilding and industrial workforce demand. We owe the entire team at MGCCC a huge debt of gratitude. They gave us two full days of their time, opened doors to industry partners, and gave us a front row seat to what high-functioning, industry-aligned welding workforce development actually looks like in practice.

The Department of the Navy has released its shipbuilding plan for fiscal year 2027 and beyond, with Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao outlining long-term plans for what the Trump administration is calling the Navy’s “Golden Fleet.” “The United States is at a strategic inflection point, and rebuilding American maritime dominance requires urgency, accountability, and sustained commitment,” Cao said. “This shipbuilding plan provides a roadmap for the Golden Fleet, to grow a larger, more capable fleet while revitalizing the industrial base, strengthening our workforce, and ensuring our sailors and marines have the platforms they need to defeat any adversary for decades to come.” Golden Fleet is an homage to Theodore Roosevelt’s “Great White Fleet,” 16 white-painted battleships deployed in 1907 for a 14-month circumnavigation to project American naval strength.

HD Hyundai Robotics reports that it has secured an order for its ArcLift GO robotic welding solution that will see it supply robotic welding systems for three Chouest Group shipyards in North America and one shipyard in Brazil. ArcLift GO is a robotic welding solution designed to deliver uniform and stable weld quality, significantly reducing dependence on skilled welders. Based on HD Hyundai’s extensive process know-how accumulated through years of shipbuilding experience, the solution adopts a plug and play concept supported by intuitive operating software, enabling flexible responses to diverse geometries and working environments.

In this episode of The Fabricator Podcast, she shares how she built EH Metalworks in Enid, Okla., from scratch, starting at 18 with no formal plan, just a passion for metalworking and lessons from her grandfather’s 50-year career. She breaks down the early projects that shaped her small business, how she taught herself design and plasma cutting, and what it’s like managing employees, quoting work, and leading a modern shop. Hughes also talks candidly about hiring challenges, earning respect as a young owner, and finding work beyond a small local market, plus why mentorship and relationships have been critical to her growth.

In April 2024, a small group of workforce professionals came together around a simple question: What can we build, right now, that strategically responds to workforce demand in rural Washington? We didn’t have to look far for the answer. Welding and fabrication surfaced quickly. Not by accident - by recognition. The need is everywhere. And it cuts across sectors and regions. That’s how the Maritime, Agriculture & Natural Resource, and Construction (MAC) Welding & Fabrication Project got started.

From Lummi waters to ironwork and large-scale steel art, Cyaltsa Finkbonner’s work connects craft, culture, and salmon. On most days, Cyaltsa Finkbonner is under the hood in a Bremerton, Washington, shipyard. She’s a journeyman ironworker by trade with decades of experience behind her. But there’s another place you’ll find her, too—mentally, creatively, and sometimes literally—posted up by the water. For Cyaltsa, welding isn’t just a skill. It’s a language. And the water is where that language starts to flow.