Outstanding Achievement From Young South African Welder

06 August 2016

Placed second in China’s “Arc Cup” welding competition

Jaco van Deventer, previous winner of the local welding industry’s Young Welder of the Year competition, hosted by the Southern African Institute of Welding (SAIW), has been placed second in the in the Youth Group for the Finished Product Welding category at the Arc Cup hosted by the Chinese Welding Society (CWS) and supported by the International Institute of Welding (IIW).

There were a total of 304 competitors representing 24 countries apart from China. The Chinese contingent included 17 Chinese state-owned large enterprises and 15 Chinese vocational schools.

The Arc Cup, which is regarded as the second most prestigious international welding competition after the international WorldSkills event, was originally the national Chinese national welding competition for the selection of the Chinese WorldSkills participants. It was then opened to international participation in order to expand the opportunity for welders to get used to WorldSkills competition conditions.

“To get second place in this competition is nothing short of amazing,” says the SAIW’s Etienne Nell who was the South African Expert at the competition. “Jaco has proven himself to be one of the best young welders in the world and he deserves every accolade.”

Danie Eksteen, Technical Training Manager at Steinmuller, where Jaco is employed, says he and the entire company are proud of his achievement. “The circumstances under which Jaco had to work in this competition were, to say the least, extremely difficult. He achieved this result through discipline, application and hard work. It was indeed a most courageous effort,” says Eksteen.

Jaco says that he is over the moon with the result. “Sometimes the temperature reached nearly 40degc in the work centre and there was little or no water. It was difficult to concentrate but I knew I just had to persevere,” he says.

He added that he must thank Danie and Etienne for their help and dedication. “Without them I could not have achieved what I did,” he concluded.

Jaco entered the GMAW (135) process and selected to weld a pipe in the 6G position as an elective element of the competition.

SAIW Promoting Welding to the Youth

Meanwhile the well-known Young Welder of the Year competition, will now be called the SAIW Youth Welding Challenge. The change is a result of an overhauling by WorldSkills South Africa of its welding competition from which the winner gets sent to the International WorldSkills event in Abu Dhabi in 2017.

The SAIW Youth Welding Challenge will be held from 21-25 November after a series of regional trials. The WorldSkills SA competition will take place at the ICC in Durban from 16-18 January 2017 and the WorldSkills International competition is in Abu Dhabi from 14-19 October 2017.