NILES — A local company and a community college have teamed up to offer future welders the chance to work with some of their visual inspection tools.

Last month, the G.A.L. Gage Company visited Southwestern Michigan College’s Niles campus to demonstrate its product use to future welders who are attending Southwestern Michigan College.

Rachael Storm and Chase Samuelson presented the Bridgecam Gauge and the Pocket Fillet Weld Gauge, and the vital function for weld inspection. Students practiced using the visual inspection tools and gauges for weld measurements.

Dieter Timm, president of the G.A.L. Gage Company, said he hoped the presentation sparked some interest.

“Those who become welders realize quite quickly that this trade is dynamic,” Timm said. “This field includes many facets for them to explore. There will always be a high demand for weld inspectors, one path they can consider. Various industries require an exact skill sets, in particular, nuclear and construction. Weld inspectors are the last line of defense between bridges collapsing, or not, which is exactly why we make the tools that workers need to perform that job.”

Timm said the goal of the presentation was to show students the real-life application of welding skills.    

“For us, it is a connection. A chance to educate and interact with future weld inspectors,” Timm said.

Students as well as instructors Allyson Starret and Feren Sefcsik, received popular gauges curtesy of G.A.L. Gage.

The G.A.L. Gage Company was founded by Goodwin A. Lycan, a weld inspector by trade who worked in the Nuclear Industry. He created a company that would produce high quality, weld gauges that would not only meet the national standards, but would also prove to be adaptable to the various elements of this ever-changing trade.

Lycan also invented the patented GAP-A-LET, which is a contraction ring used to decrease the amount of fit-up time for socket welding. This company was founded in 1975 and is a leader in visual inspection tools for welds. For more information, those interested can visit galgage.com.