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Youth Channel Reach ProgramWelding Instructors

May 2013

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• Welder Employment Trends

• Youth Channel Targets

• MATHESON Youth Channel Reach Program

• Welding Instructors

• Program Materials

• Summary

Agenda

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• Welding is a skilled occupation – requires training

• Welding industry continues to face a difficult challenge in securing a supply of skilled welders

• Average welder is in their mid-fifties and nearing retirement

• Youth channel development is critical to sustainability of welding industry

Welder Employment Trends

We need to reach future welders early in their education

We need to reach future welders early in their education

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• Focus on secondary and post-secondary learning institutions with an established welding curriculum

– Career Technical Centers

– Community Colleges

• Target welding instructors and students

– Instructors purchase welding equipment and consumables for classroom use

– Students purchase their own apparel and gear

• Welding helmet, welding jacket, gloves, safety glasses, welding beanie

• Chipping hammer, tape measure, tip cleaner, soapstone holder, flint striker

• Target learning institutions within a 20 mile radius of MATHESON retail stores

Youth Channel Targets

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• Get MATHESON brand recognition in career technical centers and community colleges

• Opportunity to increase MATHESON’s educational market penetration

– Instructors: Gas & equipment sales

– Students: Apparel and gear sales

• Drive student traffic into local retail stores

• Students familiar with MATHESON brand more likely to continue purchasing MATHESON products throughout their welding careers

• MATHESON Select custom welding helmet great pull for youth appeal – unique design, cool factor

MATHESON Youth Channel Reach Program Goals

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Welding Instructors

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• What’s our goal?– To develop a partnership with welding instructors

• How do we develop a partnership? – Through ‘value added’ programs and offers

• What are your first steps – OSR role? – Target local learning institutions with an established

welding curriculum

• The attached Zip file provides welding school target lists and welding instructor contacts by state

• Use the target lists to identify potential customers in your territory

• Zip file posted on Welding Sales Resource Center

– Make an appointment to meet with the school’s welding program instructor(s)

• Introduce them to MATHESON

• Explain our ‘value added’ programs and offers – let’s go through them

Welding Instructors

Welding Schools

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• What are MATHESON’s ‘value added’ programs and offers? – Local presence – retail stores within close proximity

– Local customer service and supply

• Knowledgeable staff ready to assist welding instructors and students with their gases and hard goods selection

– Welding Instructor Kit

• Useful information for a welding instructor to access grant funding, prepare their students for a welding career, and more

• Includes information on our Student Discount Program

– The more gear and hard goods students purchase from MATHESON, the more free supplies the instructor can receive for their classroom

» Instructor rewards are at the discretion of the Region

• Let’s review the materials in the Welding Instructor Kit

Welding Instructors

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Welding Instructor Kit Materials List

• Pre-packaged Envelope

• Introductory Letter

• Safe Handling of Compressed Gases in the Laboratory and Plant Pamphlet

• Welding Safety Poster

• Grant Funding Flyer

• Welding Starter Kits Flyer

• Student Discount Flyer

• Retail Location Guide

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Welding Instructor Kit Pre-packaged Envelope

• Welding Instructor Kit comes in a professional looking, pre-packaged envelope

• Provides room for you to personalize the envelope with the name of the instructor and the school

• Special tag line developed in support of our welding partners

MATHESON supports welders

… in the classroom

… in the shop

… in the field

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Welding Instructor Kit Introductory Letter

• Introductory letter explains the Kit contents

– When speaking with an instructor use the letter content as ‘talking points’ to guide you through the Kit materials

• Instructor acknowledgement and invitation to stop by one of our retail stores also noted

– “Thank you for your dedication to our future welders!”

– “We invite you and your students to stop by one of our retail stores.”

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Welding Instructor Kit Safety Materials

• Included is a copy of the Safe Handling of Compressed Gases in the Laboratory and Plant pamphlet

– Valuable reference guide for the instructor to share with their students

– In case the instructor wants a few more Safe Handling pamphlets for their classroom, bring extra copies with you

Safety First!

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Welding Instructor Kit Safety Materials

Safety First!

• We also created a new Welding Safety Poster for the classroom

– Good safety tips to follow when you weld

– Suggest the instructor hang the poster in their classroom or lab

• Good visual to emphasize the importance of safety

• MATHESON brand recognition

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Welding Instructor Kit Grant Funding

• The Federal Government allocates billions of dollars in grants for career technical education

• Welding instructors may qualify for a variety of education grants, but many do not know how to access the available funding

• How can we help them?

• We developed a ‘Do You Qualify for Grant Funding’ flyer to help point instructors in the right direction

• Use grant funding as a lead-in to schedule a face-to-face meeting with an instructor

Front ViewFront View

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Welding Instructor Kit Grant Funding

• Grant monies can be used to purchase new classroom equipment and materials as well as welding lab supplies

• Help instructors improve academic outcomes by making new, modern equipment available to students

• Grants are distributed and managed by each State

– Website links are listed (on page two) for the states with MATHESON retail locations

• Email a PDF copy of the flyer to the instructor – allows them to click on their state’s website link

Back ViewBack View

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Welding Instructor Kit Welding Starter Kits Flyer

• We developed three ‘specially-priced’ student Welding Starter Kits

– Pro Kit

– Intermediate Kit

– Basic Kit

• Each kit comes with the starter gear and hard goods a student needs for their welding curriculum

• When speaking to the instructor emphasize:

– Our local presence

– Knowledgeable staff ready to assist students with their gear and hard goods selection

– Great prices for students!

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Welding Instructor Kit Welding Starter Kits Flyer

• Our kits DO NOT come pre-packaged

• Benefits to students:

– We assist them in making the right material selection for their welding curriculum

– We customize the kit to fit their individual size (welding jacket)

• Benefits to MATHESON:

– Provides the opportunity to interact with our future welders

– Reduces our inventory – we don’t have to carry pre-packaged kits for every welding jacket size

– Provides up-sell opportunities

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Welding Instructor Kit Student Discount Flyer

• Get instructors motivated to send students into our stores to BUY!

• How is this a WIN-WIN?

• We offer students a Discount Card for welding classroom supplies – WIN

– The % discount offered is at the discretion of each Region; check with your RGM

– Students must present their discount card at time of purchase

– Students must fill in the instructor information on back of card

– Retail store personnel collect the student discount cards to award instructors with FREE classroom supplies at a later date

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Welding Instructor Kit Student Discount Flyer

• We give instructors FREE classroom supplies – WIN

• Award of classroom supplies is based on the number of student discount cards collected

– Materials awarded to an instructor are at the discretion of the Region – check with your RGM

• When you show this flyer to the instructor, ask for the opportunity to give a 15-20 minute presentation to their students to explain our Student Discount Program

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Welding Instructor Kit Retail Location Guide

• The last component of the Welding Instructor Kit is the MATHESON Retail Location Guide

– Point out the local retail store address & phone number

– Point out the company line card

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Welding Instructors Program Materials

• Youth Channel Reach program materials are posted on the Welding Sales Resource Center

http://mtgsharepoint.matheson-trigas.com/Sales/WRC/default.aspx

• To order Welding Instructor Kits, use our online Literature Fulfillment Procedure

– Welding Instructor Kit Package (WIKP)

– Use WIKP for easy look-up

– Remember, Welding Instructor Kits come pre-packaged!

Online Literature Procedure

Order your Welding Instructor Kits now for the upcoming semester!

Order your Welding Instructor Kits now for the upcoming semester!

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Welding Instructors Summary

• Our goal is to develop a partnership with welding instructors through ‘value added’ programs and offers

• Target local learning institutions with an established welding curriculum

• Get an appointment with the school’s welding program instructor(s)

– Use grant funding as a lead-in to schedule a face-to-face meeting with an instructor

– Give them a ‘Welding Instructor Kit’ – walk them through the materials

– Ask for the opportunity to give a 15-20 minute presentation to their students to explain our Welding Starter Kits and our Student Discount Program