The Raymond Corporation is raising the bar for welding standards by recently challenging employees to compete in its first in-house welding competition and contributing to a welding competition at New York State SkillsUSA.

Nearly 30 Raymond welders participated in the company’s welding contest in March. The competition included a written test and a skills test, which required each participant to weld a pressure vessel. The three welders who earned a plaque and cash prize were Mark Hartwig, first place; Justin Davis, second place; and Kyle Baldwin, third place.

“This contest was based on a supplier welding competition that our parent company, Toyota Industries Corporation, holds yearly in Japan,” says Jim Cirigliano, manager of welding operations at The Raymond Corporation. “We studied Toyota’s competition in Japan and turned it into something that we could use at our Greene facility.”

Raymond also reviewed results from the contest to identify ways to continuously improve its welding department.

“Our company has one of the largest welding departments in New York state, which means continuous improvement and skills knowledge are a priority,” says Ruben Sitts, welding manager for The Raymond Corporation. “By taking what we learned from the competition and translating it into actionable items, our employees will continue to create the highest quality products for our customers.”

With lessons learned from its own competition, Raymond helped implement tests at the New York State SkillsUSA welder competition on April 23 in Syracuse, New York. There, student participants completed a written test and a skills test, during which they welded a pressure vessel. They were assessed on teamwork, oral presentation and safety.

Judges for the New York State SkillsUSA welder skills competition included Sitts, who served as chairman of the welding competition; Pat Snyder, manufacturing engineer at Raymond; Don Sulger, engineering technical specialist at Raymond; and Bill Moore, manufacturing technical specialist for Raymond. Raymond, Airgas, Inc., and Miller Electric Mfg. Co. were major sponsors of the competition in Syracuse, New York, and donated more than $25,000 worth of steel, welding equipment and supplies.  

To learn more about The Raymond Corporation, visit www.raymondcorp.com or call 800-235-7200.

About SkillsUSA

SkillsUSA is a national partnership of students, teachers and industry, working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. SkillsUSA chapters help students who are preparing for careers in technical, skilled and service occupations excel. SkillsUSA has more than 300,000 students and instructors as members.

About The Raymond Corporation

The Raymond Corporation, recipient of the 2014 IndustryWeek Best Plant Award and 2015 Manufacturing Leadership Award from Frost & Sullivan, is a global provider of unmatched material handling technology, expertise and support to increase productivity and cost-efficiency. Designed with ecological and economical benefits in mind, Raymond® lift trucks are engineered to achieve higher performance and increase efficiency. Raymond offers a full line of manual and electric lift trucks — including pallet trucks, walkie stackers, counterbalanced trucks, reach trucks, orderpickers and turret trucks — and iWAREHOUSE®, complete with iWAREHOUSE Essential™ and iWAREHOUSE Enterprise™, to manage lift truck fleets, labor efficiencies and warehouses. Additionally, flexible automation solutions and industry-leading consultation from Raymond further enhance warehouse processes and streamline material handling practices. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Elizabeth Buza

Marketing Communications

elizabeth.buza@raymondcorp.com

607-656-2734

Katie Smith

Bader Rutter 

Public Relations

ksmith@bader-rutter.com

262-901-2775