The Next Generation of Meyer Tool Welders
Building the impossible since 1969 has helped us develop design and fabrication skills not many can rival. However, being in business for 50 years comes with challenges you can’t solve with a torch such as: generational transitions and the transfer of tribal knowledge. To continue to service our unique customer base of national labs and research universities, we must continuously learn and grow as an organization. Luckily for Meyer Tool, our weld shop supervisor and a 3rd generation leader, Eric Cunningham, is dedicated to Meyer Tool’s long-term success.
With over a decade of experience at Meyer Tool, Eric is uniquely skilled with his repertoire of personally experienced, tribal knowledge. He’s been fully exposed to the wide breadth of welding processes, exotic metals, and the diverse positions we are called upon to execute in our shop. With all his real-world training, we knew we could count on Eric to play a pivotal role in passing this knowledge down to our new generation of Meyer Tool welders
Not only is Eric now a long-term, hands-on expert in what we do, Eric has pursued excellence in his career outside of Meyer Tool to complement his internal contributions. He passed the Certified Weld Inspector (CWI) exam in 2019 and currently serves on the American Welding Society (AWS) Board of Directors. Coupling this external exposure with the customer relationships he’s collaborated with through the years, Eric has developed a broad network of welding experts.
With over a decade of experience at Meyer Tool, Eric is uniquely skilled with his repertoire of personally experienced, tribal knowledge. He’s been fully exposed to the wide breadth of welding processes, exotic metals, and the diverse positions we are called upon to execute in our shop. With all his real-world training, we knew we could count on Eric to play a pivotal role in passing this knowledge down to our new generation of Meyer Tool welders
Not only is Eric now a long-term, hands-on expert in what we do, Eric has pursued excellence in his career outside of Meyer Tool to complement his internal contributions. He passed the Certified Weld Inspector (CWI) exam in 2019 and currently serves on the American Welding Society (AWS) Board of Directors. Coupling this external exposure with the customer relationships he’s collaborated with through the years, Eric has developed a broad network of welding experts.
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To help shorten the new employee learning curve, Eric took full advantage of his network, securing the services of renowned CWI Jim Greer to supplement the on-the-job training Eric provides our team. Jim Greer is the head of Moraine Valley Community College’s (MVCC) welding program and has over 30 years of experience in the industry. MVCC boasts a strong welding curriculum that offers welding classes with training from certified welding inspectors who are industry professionals. Students are trained in the current industry standards for structural steel, pipe, and pressure. Several of Meyer Tool welders have benefitted from the MVCC welding program, including Eric. It made sense for Eric to reach out to Jim to lead hands-on training classes for newer welders on-site at Meyer Tool. An unexpected benefit was discovered when Meyer Tool welders attended MVCC classes to further enhance their skills. Jim was able to use his first-hand exposure to our products and welding challenges to tailor some MVCC training to be directly applicable to our floor. With the help of Jim and Eric, we’ve re-developed and re-trained best practices for a wide range of our welding processes, while documenting them in more detail than we had in the past.
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Meyer Tool Having an Inhouse Visit from Casey, a Miller Welding Expert, To Train Our Staff on New Machines
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Welding on components for a Particle Accelerator for one of the Many National Lab Customers
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Our partnership with MVCC also created a pipeline for talented welders to join the Meyer Tool Family. With Jim and his team’s first-hand knowledge of our unique projects, the quality required, and the broad range of our welding applications, they were able to recommend the best fit welding professionals from their network. Thanks to our MVCC partnership, along with Meyer Tool’s extraordinary team culture and drive for excellence, we were able to secure talented welders with diverse specialties, in various stages of development, meeting our goal to have experienced, mid-level, and trainee welders in our shop, with complementary skill sets, helping each other grow.
All our welders go through rigorous testing to ensure they can perform to Meyer Tool’s stringent standards, achieving ASME code certifications prior to working on customer projects. Every welder must consistently pass the 6G pipe test, which is regarded as the toughest weld test in the world. The 6G pipe test requires welders to fuse 2 pipes at a 45-degree angle with full penetration welds. It tests a welder’s skill in all positions of pipe welding, including overhead, vertical, and horizontal. Welders ultimately must be able to complete this test in both aluminum and stainless, ensuring they can tackle any unique project that comes through our doors. Not only is our staff certified to ASME Section IX in GTAW and GMAW, but we are certified in brazing too! We regularly see projects requiring copper to copper and copper to stainless brazing. While most projects we see consist of either aluminum or stainless-steel welding, the Meyer Tool staff is well versed in exotic metals, such as Inconel, Monel, and even Hastelloy and Invar. |
Today our team is comprised of 6 ASME Section IX welders with cumulatively over 62 years of weld-industry experience! We’ve improved our internal training and codified tribal knowledge to shorten the learning curve for new welders joining our team in the future. With a full complementary set of welding capabilities and CWI on staff, Meyer Tool is ready to tackle the toughest projects the world has to offer. Now, more than ever, we possess the capacity to continue building the impossible, this generation and beyond!
The Meyer Tool Weld Shop
