Seattle Machinists Apprenticeships Trains Next Generation of Windmill Workers

Apollo News Service

Journeyman machinists are retiring at a rapid pace throughout greater Seattle. To offset the dwindling workforce, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 160 is teaming up with area companies to offer a multi-year apprentice program that brings fresh hands into the industry.

The Seattle Machinists Apprentice program, which has existed since 1941 but seen a recent surge in popularity, currently boasts 34 participants. The program graduates four to eight apprentices every year.

“Journeymen are retiring and this is viewed as a dying trade,” said Kristin Nottingham, an organizer with IAM District Lodge 160. “Most people don’t think of taking classes to become machinists. But this is a great way to break into the industry.”

Most companies involved in the program are union shops, and employers cover all costs for schooling or supplemental instruction, usually at nearby Renton Technical College, which offers training for careers in assembly, gear, maintenance and marine machining, soft tooling, and tool-and-die making.

Applicants must have graduated high school or hold the equivalent of a GED, be at least 18 years old, and be physically able to perform the trade. Potential apprentices apply directly to employers that are pre-approved by the union’s apprenticeship committee. The union itself neither teaches nor trains apprentices, nor does it act as a referral. But the committee does evaluate each applicant’s prior experience and work history in order to place the trainee in the appropriate program. The apprenticeship committee also ensures that employers comply with the Washington State Apprenticeship and Training Council’s rules, including the rule that companies employ at least one journeyman-level worker for every apprentice.

The machinist apprenticeships typically require nearly 8,000 hours of training over a four-year period. Apprentices are paid 68 percent of the journeyman rate to start and receive four-percent raises every 900-1,000 hours worked until their pay reaches a journeyman’s salary.

The program recently added a 7,424-hour gear machinist apprenticeship, specifically for a local gear manufacturing and repair company called Gearworks. Considered a model employer for the apprenticeship program, Gearworks currently employs nine apprentices who are learning to make and maintain gears for wind turbines.

Wind now represents 25-30 percent of Gearworks’ business. The company was founded in 1946 and is now one of the largest gear manufacturers in North America, but it didn’t branch into the booming wind energy sector until 12 years ago, when it began redesigning wind turbine gearboxes for California-based EnXco.

“In five years, we expect to be doing 30 to 40 percent of our business in wind, or more,” said shop superintendent Mike Robison.

The Gearworks apprenticeship program requires between 160 and 1,000 hours honing the following skills: engine lathe, milling machine, drill press, tool & cutter grinding, keyset and spline broaching, small gear hobbing, small fellows gear shapers, thread milling, large gear hobbing, large fellows gear shapers, maag gear shapers, bevel gear generators, CNC gear hobbing, gear grinding, and gear measurement and inspection. Though the program includes supplemental instruction at Renton Technical College, the vast majority consists of on-the-job training.

Once hired full-time, Gearworks machinists make a journeyman’s rate of approximately $26 per hour with handsome retirement benefits.

Thirty-year-old apprentice Michael Bowman made $15 an hour as a cook before joining Gearworks three years ago. He enjoyed working with his hands, and machinery work was in his bloodline — his great grandfather was a mechanical engineer with the German navy. Bowman also knew that he’d reached the apex of his career as a line chef and that the booming wind sector offered far more room for professional growth.

“It’s nice to know that we’re part of the future, pushing toward more green energy,” said Bowman.

Gearworks currently employs 100 workers, nine of whom are apprentices. The program may soon expand to keep pace with graduating apprentices and retiring workers. The average age of a Gearworks employee is 40 years.

“The most important skills are learning how to work with the equipment,” said vice president of marketing, Jerry Magnuson. “Anyone can crunch numbers and formulas on paper, but doing it with the machinery requires a very skilled employee. A wind turbine gear is a special gear, maybe one of most accurate gears made in the world.

“If [entry-level employees] express interest and have a good work ethic and aptitude, we encourage them to take basic classes at a local community college. If we have an opening for an apprenticeship, we hire them.”

Twenty-seven-year-old Aaron Grieler has completely nearly three years of his four-year apprenticeship. Grieler came to the job with prior experience. He took machining classes for two years in high school and subsequently worked in a tool and die shop. He worked in construction before landing at Gearworks.

“This job fits my mechanical aptitude,” said Grieler. “I grew up working on cars, and I’ve always been fascinated with mechanical devices. Wind turbines are unique in their own way. Every gearbox manufacturer has their own special technique.”

Last year, Gearworks posted sales of $25 million — its fifth straight year of record revenues. The economic recession has thrown a wrench into the company’s plans, however, and management has reduced the workweek to 32 hours for 60 percent of its employees. But Magnuson believes that 2009 will prove to be a temporary setback, given wind energy’s bright future.

The local Apollo Alliance in Washington State is working hard to continue driving investment and quality job creation in the clean energy economy. After spearheading the Climate Action and Green Jobs bill and other policies to create good green jobs over the past several years, Washington Apollo Alliance is currently discussing with key stakeholders how to promote in-state manufacturing of the rolling stock needed for the growing mass transit system. When successful, this effort would create greater demand for trained machinists, steelworkers, metal fabricators, and many other skilled workers.

Gearworks also builds gears for the mining and aerospace industries, works with marine propulsion and gas compressors, and even contracts with the Department of Defense. But wind, which could generate 40 percent of the company’s revenues by 2014, is Gearworks’ fastest-growing sector.

Gearworks made its foray into wind energy when it began retrofitting 300-kilowatt machines for EnXco. “The number of wind turbines being installed is growing every year, so business for us has naturally increased,” said Magnuson. “We expect that to continue.”

The company’s longest-running project is with FPL Energy, a leading U.S. wind energy developer. Since 2000, Gearworks has rebuilt approximately 300 gearboxes for FPL’s wind farm of 250-kilowatt turbines in California. Rebuilding the gearbox costs approximately $40,000 per wind turbine.

Magnuson explains that each gearbox for a 1.5-megawatt wind turbine weighs 35,000 to 40,000 pounds and requires a 2,000 horsepower load test to make sure it performs properly. Building the infrastructure and equipment for testing gearboxes will cost an estimated $3 million, Magnuson believes. The company plans to seek approximately $5 million in federal stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to build a large gearbox test facility at its Seattle plant, which would employee 30 to 40 more workers.