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codylabs · 2 years ago

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Chapter 1.5

This part is 1.5 because it really should have gone between the first two chapters. I don't know how I forgot to include it in the first place, because this is the most important part, which is where I do nothing but spend an inordinate amount of time describing the SPACESHIP!

Whoever had cleared Marshal's team for docking obviously hadn't been coordinating very closely with the yardmen, who took this moment to turn away from their welders and mecha controls to shake their fists and yell into their radios and explain in no unclear terms how they were still tensioning the cables, so could you please back off, I said off, get out of drive range, right now, even further, yeah okay, there's good.

5 Skips, with Briggs following in a little rented shuttle full of their stuff, settled into formation about two kilometers off the bow, to wait and watch as the workers made the AS3756 Puyallup ready to sail.

She didn't look very much like a ship, at least not in the traditional sense of ships that were designed to be ships; she had been assembled here in orbit over the course of a year or two, out of pieces and scrap. The war's feast had left many bones, but there were clever and resourceful men available to hire who knew how to make use of those bones, of which efforts the Puyallup was perhaps typical.

Her habitation area was a tiny patched-up O'Neil Cylinder, left in a parking orbit after refugees had abandoned it for solid ground. The hull had seen its share of abuse over the years, but the main chamber was still spun and scrubbed, and a little maintenance would keep it that way. Its previous tenants had turned off the a-sun when they'd left, so the plants were all dead, but enough remained of a little improvised city to give the present passengers some comforts, and those who couldn't find a hut or a shack in there could find a room in the two belowaround decks. Some rooms in the outermost deck even got a window, on the floor or a sloped wall.

The Puyallup's gravity drive was an engine block from one of the G-tugs that used to shunt the armada's cargo vessels into and out of orbit. A kinetic strike had gutted the tug itself, but its drive had escaped the worst of it. The battered thing had only fetched half price at auction, but the bonemaster had seen that somewhere beneath the dented cryostat, the coils were still good.

Her fusion plant was one of those wide-bore gravity-confinement models, that the Salvation Army had flooded the colonies with during the war. It was a grossly inefficient design from a fuel usage standpoint, but had a confinement field so strong that you could feed it basically anything; it was advertised as being able to burn raw water in a pinch. Such a model was well-suited for keeping lonely stations warm during winters and outages, but was quite out of its element here, with an entire ship in front of it, and its tanks topped off with proper deuterium. It would run hot like this, much too hot, and the ship's most striking feature was the oversized wreath of mismatched radiators they'd bolted down to cool it.

The plant and its graphite mane had been mounted far astern at the end of a long truss, to keep the radiation away from the passengers. The O-neil cylinder and a dorsal cargo spine balanced it out fore, since the gravity drive had to mount center-of-mass. And with the exception of an unfathomable number of wires and welds and an instrument or two, that was the sum total of the entire ship. It had no hull or plating, its colors were as numerous and contradictory as its faded emblems, and it had no complexity or secrets to its workings. None, at least, beyond the underdrive, but that was a secret all starships shared.

As they watched, the yardmen brought the Puyallup's final, largest, most crucial component down to sit like a life preserver around her midsection: the underdrive tug.

U-tugs were named and registered as ships in their own right, even if they didn't usually have any crew or cockpit or engines of their own. It was a tradition leftover from ages long past, from back when any FTL system was worth its weight in plutonium, before the industries of science found new ways to crank them out. The Puyallup's U-tug, the AS3756, had never known such glory days; no name besides a factory number, no shine besides cheap alloys, and though she wasn't yet three decades old, her olive-green paint was already starting to peel, and she was trying to live down a nasty rumor about a potentially-serious exotics leak, which nobody on this side of the galaxy knew how to fix.

She was an old warhorse, and this would be her last mission too.

All told, the Puyallup wouldn't be the most ugly, hacked-together jank-pot-pie Marshal had ever served aboard. And even if it was, there were far worse rumors to hear about ships than leaks and dents and overclocked reactors: rumors like planned obsolescence, like corporations of thieves and liars, like lazy crews and greedy captains, albatrosses and Jonahs and vampires... Ships like the Puyallup may not be able to exist in a perfect world, but neither could they exist in a world that was all bad, for this one had been engineered by a bonemaster of some repute, had a captain and crew that ran her legitimately, and a one-way mission that nobody could profit from besides those who chained themselves to her.

The yardmen finally finished tensioning the last of the guy wires holding the U-tug down, and the foreman gave Marshal and his team the go-ahead to approach.

The hangar was small, but they would fit.

Afterland

Chapter 1

It was on the morning of the forty-first of February, year fifty-three hundred and three, (Gladius Major 2 standard calendar,) when I first thought to think that the war was over.

“So I talked with Katie the other day.” Dunkalk broke the silence rather suddenly.

“Oh yeah?” I drug my eyes away from the deep layers of whirling abyss I’d been admiring in my coffee, and glanced up at my friend. “That’s cool. You two getting back together or what?”

“Huh? Oh, no, no, no. No.” He shook his head, and his eyes wandered out the window. “Y’know. Just catching up. Work, bills, the like. She’s a clerk at the naval office now. Nice salary… And besides, I mean, she’s gone and found another man. They’re engaged now. Wedding’s in June or something. Happy couple.”

“Ah.” I tried to offer my consolation. “That’s too bad.”

“Ha ha, yeah, you’d think so, but I’m not twisted up over it though.” Dunkalk wasn’t actually talking to me, and I didn’t know who he was talking to. Maybe the rising sun out the window. Maybe the buildings. Maybe his reflection. “I mean, I’m glad for her. It never really would’ve worked out between us, and… Hmm. You shoulda heard the way she talked about him… Happy couple.”

“Hmm.” I nodded wisely.

“And it’s not like she just found another jock with a taller shell than me, either.” Dunkalk waved a claw dismissively. “He’s another human. They’re fixing on starting a family.”

“Hmm.” I nodded wisely. The information finally worked its way from my ears to my brain, and I perked up with a frown. “Really? Katie? She never struck me as the homemaking type.”

“Yeah, well. You never knew her as anything beside a pilot.” Dunkalk scoffed.

“And you did?”

“No. That’s the funny part.” He plucked whimsically at a loose pebble of exoskeleton on his chin. “And maybe that’s why I’m not sad. Because she’s not a pilot anymore. She can… Be who she is. Be who she was. I don’t know. She’s got a life of her own now.”

“Huh.” My eyes drifted back down toward my coffee. It was very dark, deep down in the depths of that drink. Black like the void of outer space, but shiny, and the sun shone off my coffee just as it had shown off the canopy of my fighter. And there were bubbles in the coffee, faint and tiny bubbles around the edges like drones popping to life on my HUD, dodging around and peeling in closer, loosing flares and bullets and whatever other tools they had in their bellies, fighting for their lives just as desperately as I fought for mine, but I knew them better than they knew me, and my fighter was just a touch quicker, my aim a touch truer.

The bubbles popped.

“Yeah.” I agreed.

The war really was over.

“Eh.” Dunkalk shrugged. “Anyway, speaking of women, how’s Authia been doing?”

“Good.” I nodded. “She’s getting her numbers up in the simulator. But she needs a lot more cockpit time than she’s been getting.”

“Yep. Ain’t no substitute for experience.”

“Nope. Actually, we were gonna take the Skips up later today, as a matter of fact.”

“Cool.”

“You wanna come?”

“Naw. Tom and I were gonna hit the fair later. Blow some cash on the races.”

“Oh. Well that’s cool. Tell him I said to suck the lemon.”

“Copy.” Dunkalk downed the rest of his drink in a single swallow, rolled to his feet, and made for the door. “But uuhhh, hey Marshal, do we really have the money to spend on flight time? Deuterium prices being what they are, and the jobs ain’t coming.”

“They’ll come.” I finished my drink, and followed him. The air outside the diner was crisp and fresh, and smelled faintly of cherry blossoms and rocket exhaust. And compared to a year ago, the former was now much stronger, and the latter much fainter. “They’ll come.”

~~~~~~~~~~

A Series-82 GDRL Combat Skip handles a lot differently than a single-engine propeller-driven crop duster. It had been invented several thousand years later, for that matter. But the machine war had been so large, and so long, and had taken so many things from so many people, that on a few of the poorer frontier planets, folks could still be found flying single-engine propeller-driven crop dusters, for lack of anything else with which to fight.

That was all she'd had to fight with, at least, when the machines first came. That little plane had carried her to safety when the deforestation units leveled her planet's western hemisphere. It had later carried a machine gun between its wheels when she'd tried to dent the endless lines of dust-belching excavators. It had protected her from that dust for years, as she patrolled between the lookout posts on the border. She'd been flying it when she first heard news of planetary liberation: the burning streaks and sonic booms of the Grand Liberation Armada reentering. She'd been flying it when she first saw a Skip in action. She'd been flying it when she first met Marshal.

She'd flown that same plane into enemy territory under the dust,carrying missiles to the auto-factories while Marshal and his team distracted the machines in the upper atmosphere. She'd ducked beneath that plane's canopy to shield her eyes from the blasts. She'd glided it home on fumes, landed it on a beach just short. She'd flown that plane until it was so old it was falling apart beneath her. She'd flown it right up until the day that the GLA was ready to move on, and Marshal got up the guts to ask her whether she wanted to join the team and go with them, and then, she left that little old plane back on her homeworld, and never saw it again.

Now here she was three years later, wearing a space age flight suit, holding a EM-shielded pressure helmet, looking out her apartment window toward the Series-82 Gravity-Drive-Rocket-Lift Combat Skipper parked outside the hangar, wondering if she could ever possibly master it in time to make herself useful in the war... At least, that's what she used to wonder. Before the war ended.

There was a clattering of straps and pressure seals coming down the hallway, which stopped outside her door and knocked. "Hey Authia, you all dressed up?" Marshal asked.

"Yep! Yep." She buckled the last few latches on her space suit, stood up from bed, and stepped out the door. "All ready?"

"I'm ready." He gave his helmet a little toss. "I had Briggs run the coolant already, so we should be good to launch as soon as we get the fields charged."

"Sweet. Charging to 30% today, right?"

"Right. And how much altitude is that?"

"Eight point four kilometers. You know I know the math."

"Yeah, I know."

It was a short walk from the apartments to the hangar, then a far longer walk to make it across the width of the hangar itself. Theirs weren't the only craft here, there were countless others: retired spacers kept little fusion dinghies here, civilian hobbyists with planes, loggers and teamsters with cargo helicopters, even a few other mercenaries stored Skips like theirs. But there weren't that many fighters out in the open anymore; they'd all been mothballed by now, wings folded, fields depleted and coolant drained, hoisted onto racks on the wall and wrapped in tarps, waiting for something; waiting for what? Waiting for another job? Waiting for the airshow? Waiting for another war? Or waiting for this last war to be covered over by enough years of nostalgia that the dated tech could be sold to collectors?

Most days, today being no exception, her own team's Skips were the only starfighters to be seen. And that was just as well to her, for they stood out. They gleamed. To her, they were the most beautiful machines on the world. A proud row of four stubby, angular knife-shapes, propped up on narrow landing legs, shining like shards of mirrors in the sunlight; the shape was for radar stealth, the shine for warding off lasers. The skips' g-drives were all completely internal, so the only openings on their surfaces were the cockpit canopy, the fusion-powered thermal rocket on the back, and the barrels of weapons. The light glinted slightly differently off the fins, flaps, and the texture of the reentry tiling on the belly, but the seams between were invisible.

Beautiful machines. Proud, sharp, polished, deadly; begging and pleading to be deadly again.

Briggs intercepted them about halfway across the tarmac."G'morning kids." She croaked, at which point she reached her limit for the number of polite things she could say per day, which was one. "You both reek." Smell was about the only one of her senses that battle and age hadn't damaged in some way, but as the ancient stories say, she'd been just as grumpy young.

"Morning Briggs!" Marshal smiled at her, as if by enough years of so doing he might change her. "How's it going?"

She ground her mandibles together with a truly awful noise. "Oh, I'm having the time of my life." She spat, which was her way of saying she was perfectly miserable, which was her way of saying that everything was going fine and normal. She fished a claw around in her bag and pulled out a pair of clipboards that she tossed toward the pilots. "Alright, same thing every week, same for both Skips. All 7 preflight safety pins have been removed and stowed for both craft, cryostats holding pressure at ten hundred, supercon stable, deuterium level ninety-five hundred, propellant flatzero so keep the intakes open and don't break atmo, fins locked in atmospheric position, G-fields charged along the laterals to 30%, launch brackets linked to pilot release, base power connected, inbound and outbound paths already cleared with the tower. All systems green, I hope you both crash and die."

"Copy that." Marshal glanced down the checklist and handed it back. "Did you replace that compressor bearing from last time?"

"Of course I did."

"You're awesome, Briggs."

"I know." She stated matter-of-factly, hefted her bags over her shoulder, and walked off to let them get on with their preflight. Authia had just begun checking pipes and running down a checklist of her own when she heard Briggs call over her shoulder. "Same time next week?"

Authia caught a hint of uncertainty in the question and glanced at Marshal, suddenly unsure how many 'next weeks' there would be.

"Eh." He closed an access panel and gave it a little pat, with no idea either. "One day at a time, how 'bout?"

"I tell myself the same thing." Briggs grumbled. "So am I gonna miss my show again next week or not?"

Marshal hoped so. He glanced at Authia. She hoped so too.

"Let's plan on it." He nodded.

Briggs slouched back to wherever she lived, while the pilots ran through their preflight, and birds sang over the empty runway.

~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn't a big place, this town. A shallow valleyon the outskirts of a larger city's wreckage, little hills and little buildings around a little river, dangerously overpopulated by refugees from every land. A few years ago the valley had been half crime-ridden ghetto and half barb-wired staging grounds for the armada, but Marshal had seen it transform into quiet suburbs and golden farmland, as the apartments had grown and the law had come and the armada had left, when the war had ended. He and Authia's Skips hardly had time to raise gear before the place disappeared into the distance behind them, and all they could see now were the blooming wildflowers on the concrete shores of the crater lakes, where the bigger city used to stand. The control tower told them they were clear to begin maneuvers.

"North Heston" had been the name of the city. "Strawberry Bend" was the town that remained. Neither had ever felt much like home to Marshal, or to Authia, or maybe to any of them. Places of dust and scars and memories, weren't they? The war may have died, but it had bled and spat and urinated itself across all this land before it had, and the smell would remain. Strawberry Bend would not, could not forget anything in this lifetime, nor could any town on this planet, nor could countless other planets besides, nor for many lifetimes more.

The Skips had been running on their thermal rockets until now, with their noses angled steeply upward to let their little wings catch the air. Now that they'd reached a safe distance, Marshal signaled to Authia to spread out to 300 meters, so they could activate their gravity drives.

Ordinary gravity-powered vehicles, like shuttles and tugs and those little floating baseballs that kids have, need their drive coils to be continuously supplied with power from an onboard reactor or battery or something, then have the whole engine on a gimbal for steering. Fighters, however, don't have the luxury of extra weight for a reactor or a battery, and couldn't risk anything as complicated and fragile as a gimballed drive. So the Skips' cores were closed systems; no electricity in, no electricity out, no moving parts. They were built as a tangled mass of magnetic coils and bottles of exotics facing every which direction, each wired into each other in a way that allowed the pilot to shunt energy from one to the other. Also unlike most commercial g-drives, which are only designed to expend energy by pushing off of nearby matter, the Skip's were designed to rapidly swap to and from a reverse mode as well, where they recycle energy by 'braking'.

Marshal eased off the throttle on the thermal rocket, thumbed on the g-drive, and pulled his joystick upwards. Briggs had charged the lateral coils up to 30%, so that the drive had essentially been trying to pull him both left and right at the same time for this entire flight. As he touched the joystick, the engine dumped all the power from both into the upward coils. The ship's invisible 200-meter-wide gravity field finally decided on a direction, grabbed all the air around the ship, and forced it straight downwards, propelling the Skip straight upwards, at more than 40 Gs. A set of reverse-wired coils in the core acted enough like a compensator to keep him alive; he only felt about 2-3 Gs of it.

It carried him upwards about eight point four kilometers, at which point it ran out of energy, and he slowed to a hover. On his left, a half second behind, Authia bobbed up level, and fell in. They punched the rocket throttles and bore back downwards now, letting the movement of masses of air through the fields charged the cores back up.

At a kilometer altitude he hit the G-drive again, instantly slowing his descent and peeling off to the right, with her just behind him. From the ground, it would have looked like both of their ships hit an invisible midair wall, and rebounded like billiard balls.He turned the sticks this way and that now, and his Skip bounced around the sky chaotically, while the gravity fields climbed and kicked and churned up great currents of air, filling the sky with a thunderous 'whumping' noise whenever they collided. Authia matching him movement for movement, step for step, move for move, but always maybe just a touch slower, maybe at a slightly wrong angle. She finally slipped up and fell out of sync entirely, and careened off East, back toward a nearby crater.

Two bounces and a second laterand he was right behind her again. He thumbed the radio to tease her or offer some advice (he hadn't decided which by the time he opened his mouth,) but then realized too late that she'd been baiting him, as she bounced straight backwards. She passed below him within about 50 meters, close enough for her drive field to encompass not only a lot of air, but his Skip as well. With the enormous traction that offered, she shot off to the North at more than 60 Gs, propelling Marshal at about 20 Gs south.

...Back overland.

"Alright, alright. Nice one. Didn't see that coming." He steered himself back toward the 2-kilometer-wide crater lake, where she was currently hovering still.

It was a game the team played over the craters, something between dogfighting and sumo wrestling, trying to throw one another out of the 'ring'. She liked it better than maneuvers or actual combat sim because she was willy enough to win almost half the time. He'd been trying to ween her off it since it didn't teach actual useful skills and largely just wasted fuel and encouraged them toward increasingly risky almost-collisions. But how could he bring himself to say no, when it was really so fun, and he liked seeing her win as much as she did... And so what if her combat skills stayed a little dull?

Wasn't the war over?

He dived his Skip down close to the water's surface, so close that his drive grabbed traction on the liquid itself, and jerked him forward, left, and up behind her at 90 Gs. The airframe shuttered in the turbulence, and by the time he should have been in range of her, she had anticipated him, dived down and south toward the water, baiting him again. He bounced after her, taking the bait willingly, thinking about how he would bounce down at the last second, bouncing her up and breaking her traction with the water, then... Well, what if she tried the same thing? What if they both grabbed each other and the water and launched themselves downward to their dooms? Would they be able to realize before impact? What if only one of them realized it? Which would? And then what?

It was a dangerous game with no reward. He hesitated.

The hesitation was his loss, as he found himself thrown out of the ring again before he could even react, and heard her laughing over the radio.

He glanced down at the water and the hard ground. "Alright, no more games." He wondering how close he'd been to death, or whether he would ever know. "You need to practice your maneuvers."

"Aww." Her Skip turned in a lazy little roll. "Well can we buzz Glasstop Island along the way?"

"...Oh alright." He relented. "Fall in."

Their maneuvers took them away from the craters and the city, past the machine's old landing units and a few of the auto-factories that had been destroyed mid-assembly. Past the dead husks of fallen ships, friend and foe, finally down dozens of kilometers of coastline, past the mountains and the poisoned reefs, far and away until a parting in the clouds allowed them to see Glasstop Island, the city-sized potato-shaped rock floating in the sky. Well, not floating, exactly. More like it had been undergoing the slowest reentry in history, and had been doing so for two years now. Thirteen gravity tugs sat anchored comfortably to its bottom side, converting the massive energy of the asteroid's slow descent into electricity, enough to feed the industry of half the continent. Every hour, on the hour, the tugs would drop a full battery into the ocean below for recovery, and every day, high at noon, massive winches would lift a couple dozens batteries back up.

Glasstop Island currently floated 27 kilometers up, in the upper reaches of the mesosphere. That was no problem for the gentle, thousand-kilometer-wide fields of the tugs' drives, but the Skips' short-range G-drives couldn't get enough traction on the thin air to climb that high. And since their thermal engines were intaking air for propellant too, they just had no way up.

None, of course, besides the batteries.

It was almost the hour.

Authia hit the throttle and went vertical, and Marshal behind her. The rushing air charged their G-drive laterals up to 100%, but they didn't use them yet. Instead they kept the thermal rockets floored, as the air grew thinner and their hull temperature began to climb from the friction. At hypersonic speeds the air intakes began having problems, but by that point the rockets were beginning to overheat anyway, so they cut out the engines and drifted as high as they could. Their altitude read 19 Kilometers, still 8 short of Glasstop, when high above, they saw the battery release.

Their fingers twitched on their G-drive controls for a few minutes of anticipation, as the battery plummeted slowly down toward them. The pumps in their thermal engines sucked in a little air, enough for a quick burst, and that was all. As soon as they got a good estimate of the falling mass's trajectory, they fired that burst and coasted toward it. Marshal had gotten used to how big things could be in space, but Authia never had, and it always took her off-guard to see these things up close. Just this one battery was taller and wider than any of the apartment buildings in Strawberry Bend, bigger than some of the armada's ships, impossible to really conceive of, and seeing her Skip's shadow for scale didn't help.

They passed within spitting distance of the battery's underside, close enough for nearly the entirety of its dense material to be inside their fields. Soon as they reckoned it was, they fired their G-drives and bounced away from it at more than 120 Gs, nearly quenched their drive coils, straight upward toward Glasstop. The battery was falling a fraction of a percent faster below, while above, they'd achieved hypersonic speeds again all of a sudden. Their ships shuddered and almost glowed in the heat, but this time, they didn't slow to a stop until they were up past 27 kilometers, close enough to get traction on Glasstop itself.

They kept it slow now that they were here, and not by choice; their G-drives didn't have any energy besides what they got from their tiny braking approach of the island. So they bounced lazily around the island's underside, past the tugs and their huge domed drive cores, past the massive nets and pitons used to hold the island together, past the strange pairs of walking arms in charge of shuffling around the batteries, past the island's jagged skirt of rocky spires.

Then across the top, so smooth and shining after having been melted to glass by the asteroid's first few aerobraking passes. There were buildings up here under construction, apartments and houses and roads, fancy and exotic land already bought and paid for, by investors and benefactors anticipating the day when the island would finally be set down in the ocean. Ordinary folks like Marshal and Authia would never be allowed on this land when it finally did; there would be rich people living here then, in their mansions carved of glass, playing golf on smooth translucent hills, and drinking Champaign from goblets of stone just for the irony, but for now, Glasstop Island was still technically in space, and space was free.

They dropped gear and set down on the roof of some pretentious villa, and sat still for a moment in the silence, for no reason but to see the bizarre and breathtaking sight again: this flying crystal city luxuriating above the sky, resting on the backs of a baker's dozen steel Atlases whose grip was failing slowly enough to bless the world beneath with thunder, while all around, a green and gold horizon tinted by peaceful blue stretched out in an endless curve.

And from up here, it was hard to believe there had ever been war.

Marshal glanced over at Authia. Saw sunshine lighting her helmet yellow from behind, planetshine blue from the front, and saw her eyes and her mask and her hair beneath it. And he wondered if whether or not, even after all this time, he had ever known her as anything besides a pilot. And he wondered who she was, and who he was, and whether she ever wondered the same.

He saw her eyes wander across the horizon, saw her catch herself, and return her attention to her cockpit. "Alright." She radioed over. "Glasstop Island reached. What's the next waypoint?" And he knew this was correct of her to say, for she truly was a pilot, and so was he.

A forbidden hurt lingered always in his chest, a thing he could never say and never admit, even to himself, for it was too horrible: it was a longing for the war to return. Oh, how he missed the war, the action, the excitement, yes even the pain, because back then he knew who he was, and had friends who knew the same. "Let's take a dive through Philippian Gorge, then two laps around Springland Peak." He answered her, as he raised gear and bounced back over the edge of Glasstop, down toward the planet again. "And no daredevil moves this time, alright? You gotta be a precise. Gotta be 5 moves ahead. Like a computer. You got me?"

"I got you." She stopped her antics and went serious as she followed, for she really did want to be a pilot, and for the rest of the flight, she really did try.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Marshal! Hey yo Marshal come in, would you pick up already!"

Marshal thumbed the radio over to isolate the ground frequencies. "Copy that Dunkalk, you're coming through loud and clear, over."

"Awesome, hey yeah, listen, Tom and I are at the fair, right, and we were in the livestock section, because, well I guess it doesn't matter why, but we were looking at the pigs, and there was this guy there who was selling these long little brown little piglets and he was selling them real cheap because he was tryin'a get rid of 'em because he signed on as a colonist but anyway we got talking and anyway we might have a JOB!"

"A job doing what, selling long brown piglets...?" Marshal frowned, with his attention momentarily split between Philipian Gorge and this nonsense gossip.

"Oh lick a battery Marshal, I mean it's a pilot job! Escort!" He could hear Dunkalk's mandibles clattering excitedly as he tried to string words together as fast as possible. "And boy are you gonna hate it, but you gotta answer fast though, like, you gotta give me an answer in like 100 seconds because he's literally on the phone with the colonial office right now to delay them making it public because then everybody and their mom is gonna be applying, so-"

"Wai-whoa hold on okay slow down!" He pulled the Skip hard back to a standstill hover, dumping all its momentum into the laterals. The cockpit became suddenly silent. "What's the job?!?". Authia's Skip circled his and jerked to a stop as well as she listened in. "Why will I hate it? What's the job?"

"Escort...! As... I said!" Dunkalk made a distinctly audible effort to make the words come out slower. "So! They're fixing to launch a colony toward one of the wiped worlds, it's like, 50,000 passengers, right? Tom, what did he say the pa-...? Yeah, 50,000. Fifty-grand folks signed up for this, and they launch in 9 days. They've got a colony together, habitats, fusion plant, underdrive tug, they even got authorization for a nuclear arsenal for O-prop and/or pirate-be-gone, all they need now is a couple mercs to run patrol, in case they run into any leftover machine nests. 8 month journey, 206lightyears, it's food, lodging, air included in the contract, it's a good deal. Easy money. Ee-saaayyy mon-naaayyy-"

"Yeah, okay, okay, but why would I hate it? You said I would hate it, this sounds great."

"You'll hate it, because the underdrive tug they're using is one of those military surplus type-35s. Nowadays they're so cheap that the whole thing costs less on resale than the fuel needed to make the return journey... So they're gassing it up for one-way. We ain't coming back, Marshal. We'd be colonists."

"Oh." He let go the controls and just sat and blinked, in stunned silence.

"But like, we're down to like 50 seconds to make a decision though man, like seriously right now right now this could be the deal of a lifetime, we'll retire as I dunno farmers or something, you down? I'm down."

"You're asking me to just leave my whole life behind in the next 50 second?!?" He frowned hard at the comm as if this would somehow impress Dunkalk with the seriousness of the matter.

"45, but yeah."

"You talk to Briggs and Poppa about this yet? If we don't got the whole team I-"

"Briggs'll do what whatever we tell her and Tom's on the phone with Poppa now uh- hey gimme that Tom." He heard the sound of Dunkalk snatching Tom's phone, and the speakers and earpieces of both phones being pressed together.

"Heeeey there Maaaarshal." Came the elderly, drawling voice of Poppa. "Saaaay did you hear about the little ol' gig Dunkalk just drummed up for us, hmmmm?"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard, what do you think about it? No take-backs on this one."

"Weeeell I think I need to finish this game..." The clack of a checker tile. "Then yeaaaah I'll be right there, gimme uhhhh five minutes I'm still in my pajamas I gotta find my flight suit..."

"But you think it's a good idea? You wouldn't mind a new world?"

"Listen sonny boy, if you think Ima chicken out a' this one you can come bite my aaaaaaaaaaa-"

Marshal flipped the comms off for just a moment to make a brave, if futile, attempt to think this through.He'd just started to try to start to get used to starting a civilian life, and now here it all was being uprooted again and lobbed onto some other planet he'd never heard of. Forever. He glanced out the cockpit at Authia, and thought what a tough place she'd been in without them here, but what if she didn't want to go?? And it occurred to him that perhaps the years had run him dry of things to tie him down, until now there was only her. "What do you think?" He mimed at her though the glass.

She looked around, contemplating. Then held up a thumb and nodded happily. It hadn't been a hard decision for her. He flipped the comms back on.

"Poppa, let's do it. Dunkalk, you there?"

"Yep, here!"

"We'll take the job. Tell the guy yes. We'll own this."

There were some scratching noises and some excited talking on the other end that he couldn't make out, then Dunkalk hollered "We got the job!"

#afterland #scifi #spaceship #this story needs illustrations so bad

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weldingjobstoday · 4 years ago

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Now Hiring Pipe Fitters & Combo Welders

Immediate Needs for Pipe Fitters, Top Helpers, and Pipe Welders!

Seeking Pipe Fitters and Welders to work on a pharmaceutical site in RTP-Durham area. Individuals will be working with High Purity Stainless Steel 316L Tubing and Stainless Steel 316 Schedule 10 Pipe.

Full time

Steady 40 hours + OT

Weekly pay

Benefits offered

Industrial – indoors

Job Requirements but not limited too: Stainless steel and carbon steel welding experience

TIG Root and 7018 filler and cap

Stainless steel root and cap

Orbital welding set-up not mandatory but a plus

Stainless Steel tube experience

Pipe fitting / rigging

Self-motivated and able to work alone and in small teams

3 Year’s experience, minimum

Professional communication skills and ability to work with others

Proficient in reading blueprints

Must have experience in TIG/STICK welding

Flexible pay depending on experience!

No per diem offered – seeking local candidates only

About Aerotek: Your success starts with the right career opportunity. Aerotek uses a people-focused approach to connect job seekers to incredible opportunities with leading organizations. Established in 1983, we’ve grown to become a consistent Best of Staffing® winner for talent satisfaction because of our dedication to exceptional service. Serving over 300,000 contract workers every year, we specialize in placing workers with engineering, scientific, professional and industrial skill sets. Aerotek is proud to offer competitive benefits, including contributory medical, dental and vision insurance, weekly pay, discounts on consumer goods and services and more.

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un-enfant-immature · 5 years ago

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Elon Musk promotes Texas ‘career day’ as SpaceX files paperwork for Starship flight as early as March

SpaceX’s next-generation spacecraft is already well into development, but company CEO and founder Elon Musk clearly would like things to be developing at an even faster rate: he tweeted early Tuesday morning that SpaceX would be hosting a “Starship career day” at the company’s Stargate building in Boca Chica, Texas, where it’s currently working on producing the next Starship testing prototype. Seperately, SpaceX also filed paperwork with the FCC seeking permission for communications for a 20km (65,000 foot) test flight with a start date beginning as early as March.

Musk added that the purpose of the hiring fair would be specifically to bring on new people to staff four full production shifts to allow production around the clock for “24/7 operations” at the Texas facility. He did add that SpaceX would also be looking for “engineers, supervisors & support personnel,” but it’s clearly the call is primarily to build out the production crews that assemble the Starship prototypes, which likely includes welders and others with experience in fabrication.

This is mainly for staffing up 4 production shifts for 24/7 operations, but engineers, supervisors & support personnel are certainly needed too. A super hardcore work ethic, talent for building things, common sense & trustworthiness are required, the rest we can train.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 4, 2020

The latest Starship prototype is currently under construction in Boca Chica, and testing of some of its future components is preceding. This Starship, which SpaceX refers to as ‘SN1,’ is intended to be the first orbital prototype of the rocket, designed for high altitude flight testing. SpaceX previously constructed a sub-scale demonstrator called the ‘Starhopper’ for testing Starship’s engines, and then a ‘Mk1’ prototype which it originally said was planned for flight testing, but which ended up suffering a failure during pressure testing that resulted in SpaceX moving forward with an entirely new vehicle rather than trying to refurbish that one.

Earlier in Starship’s development, SpaceX had been simultaneously developing prototypes at both its Cape Canaveral, Florida facility as well as at Boca Chica, but more recently it shifted its focus entirely to Texas. That means Musk’s previously discussed plans of rapid iteration thanks to building two generations of vehicles at once across both facilities are no longer in effect, which is likely a contributing factor in why he and the company are so keen on increasing the rate of production at Boca Chica.

The stated goal for SpaceX by Musk to fly Starship SN1 sometime early this year, in as few as “2 to 3 months” from the end of 2019. These new FCC documents fall just inside of the window at the outside edge of the span they seek permission for the communications related to their flight – they list an operation date range of between March 16 and September 16, 2020.

Elon Musk shares details about SpaceX’s Starship, including estimated 20 to 30-year service life

#TechCrunch

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reddarcwelders · 5 years ago

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6 Ways Welding Factors Into Successful Plant Shutdowns

Whether you belong in the petrochemical, manufacturing or pipeline industry, plant shutdowns are inevitable. Plant maintenance is vital to optimizing peak performance of a facility for increased profits, safety upgrades and regulatory compliance.

From a routine plant shutdown and maintenance period, metrics such as quality, schedule and cost can be measured and planned in advance. However, exceptions such as the global outbreak of COVID-19 global pandemic can pave the way for unexpected maintenance opportunities. In a move to contain the virus spread, companies close up shop temporarily to follow government mandates, protect their employees and take advantage of the opportunity to perform deep-cleaning routines using technologies like dry ice blasting on their factories simultaneously.

Due to decreased market demand and socio-economic factors, ramping up production won’t make sense in this time of crisis. Economically, increased future profits from plant maintenance might outweigh the revenue loss from operations and expenditures from the plant shutdown once all capital assets are calibrated to perform optimally. In this article we discuss the crucial steps on how to manage a successful plant turnaround with welding factored in.

Planning and Scope Management

Plant shutdown or turnaround can fall under project management. Managing complex layers of plant maintenance which revolve around three crucial standpoints of cost, time and quality can make or break the plant turnaround performance.

Stakeholder involvement also plays a part in setting the scope of work for the plant shutdown. Success should be measured from the business, operation, execution and organizational perspectives. Hiring plant turnaround service providers can be beneficial in terms of shutdown expertise, while in-house skilled staff can provide the essential historical data from previous plant shutdowns to set the baseline metrics and benchmarks. These can include:

Calculation of labor hours and rates

Initial work packages

Equipment data records

One example of this client-contractor integration would be a defective pipeline weld requiring repair every few weeks. While a short-term solution by the client would be to weld over the cracks, in due time it will cost more in the long run if failure analysis is not performed by a competent welding engineer. It could be as simple as identifying the root cause, or as complex as examining fractured surfaces under an electron microscope and performing metallurgical tests.

Cost Management

Plant shutdowns can be very expensive, as any profits spread over the years can be slashed in a span of weeks to a few months’ time. Whether on a full-scale or segment basis, you need to factor in two direct costs on your estimates: maintenance fees from execution and profit loss.

As plant maintenance incur costs, scheduled stoppage for plants are often moved from annual to 3-5 years due to upfront investment on quality machinery. However, any lack of routine maintenance on aging equipment can impede the productivity of a plant. Industries who rely heavily on welding can cause major headaches once welding equipment breaks down.

In three words, here’s one way where you can save up on costs: Preventable Cost Efficiency (PCE). Put actual numbers to the problem by dividing cost of service per hour and cost of production maintenance per hour. If a plant turnaround service provider charges $50/hour and downtime costs $500/hour, then PCE is 10%. You could pay $10 now for preventative maintenance of your welding equipment or pay $55 later for repair of hard or soft failures.

Schedule Management

Since plant shutdowns have a direct cost-to-schedule ratio, there’s an enormous pressure to finish the turnaround early or on time for potential savings. This requires efficient resource management: planning for risk mitigation, expert plant turnaround services, lead times on material and equipment procurement, labor availability and duration of work packages. Maintenance systems are grouped into:

Routine

Predictive

Breakdown

Preventive

Turnaround managers schedule the scope of work on a critical path method (CPM) – achieving essential objectives in the shortest amount of time. Red-D-Arc provides two value-based solutions to this time-deficit problem: orbital welders produce quality pipe welds and minimize weld time by utilizing a gear-driven track ring system, while multi-process welders combine 4-in-1 solutions (TIG, MIG, flux core and stick welding) providing a flexible versatile welding solution.

Inspection and Execution

For heavy-impact industries reliant on welding, inspection for plant shutdown should be done in an agile process with control points. Prior to procurement, welding engineers should perform material inspection alongside planning phase to determine in a priority basis what needs removal, replacement, repair or alteration.

To repair weld, knowing the material specification can’t be overstated. Welding engineers or turnaround managers should cross-reference construction drawings with the maintenance handbook and identify any grade markings that require regulatory compliance such as ASTM and AISI/SAE. Welding aluminum and steel on building structures require different welding procedures under AWS D1.2 and AWS D1.1, respectively.

Even far stricter under ASME B31 Code for Pressure Piping are boilers, vessels and tanks with ASME marking stamped on nameplates. Stringent regulations impose that only contractors with “R” stamp issued by National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors are qualified to perform welding on these components.

For accuracy, cut the weld material for laboratory analysis and identify minimum requirements below:

Welding process used

Welding electrodes or filler metals to be used

Preheating and post-weld heat treating requirements

Heat input control

Defect removal

Final inspection and non-destructive testing (NDT)

Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/QC) and Safety

Once plant shutdown is underway, perform safety regulations on-site for welded components per ANSI Z49.1 Safety in Cutting, Welding and Allied Processes. Anytime a welder enters a confined space for repair, local exhaust ventilation measures such as downdraft bench and movable hood should be employed.

Existing building steel have external structural loads to be removed before weld repairs so consult AWS D1.7 Guide for Strengthening and Repairing Existing Structures. To minimize hydrogen-induced cracking and restore ductility, induction heaters can be employed for pre-heating and post-weld heat treatment, resulting in efficient weld quality of high-strength and low-alloy steels.

Restart

Plant shutdowns won’t be complete without final inspection for testing and commissioning. Once all systems are up and running with normal or improved performance levels, regulatory agencies will give you a green light for startup. Final report will serve as a baseline data for future plant turnarounds.

The post 6 Ways Welding Factors Into Successful Plant Shutdowns appeared first on Red-D-Arc Welderentals.

#Welders #Welder rental #welder equipment #welding automation

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chriscellman · 7 years ago

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TAB Industries Names Lead Welder, Fabricator

New Hires to Meet Demand for TAB Wrapper Tornado Orbital Wrapper Reading, PA - Metalworking manufacturer TAB Industries, LLC, Reading, Pa. (www.tabwrapper.com), has named Logan McCoy lead welder and Carl Weikel fabricator. As lead welder, McCoy is responsible for on-time, on-spec production of the company's patent-pending TAB Wrapper Tornado orbital wrapper machinery including manufacturing, assembly and preparation for delivery. McCoy brings previous experience as a welder at a metal... from HVAC /companystory/tab-industries-names-lead-welder-fabricator-40009376 via http://www.rssmix.com/

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tradesman-staffing-solution · 18 days ago

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Things to Know Before Hiring Orbital Welders on a Contract Basis

Orbital welding has revolutionized the welding industry by providing a more efficient, precise, and automated solution for joining pipes and tubes, particularly in industries like aerospace, pharmaceuticals, power generation, and food processing. This advanced welding technique not only improves the quality and consistency of welds but also plays a significant role in simplifying and accelerating the training of welders. By leveraging technology, orbital welding addresses traditional training challenges and prepares welders for the demands of modern industries. This article outlines the key things to know before hiring orbital welders on a contract basis.

What is Orbital Welding?

Orbital welding is an automated welding process where the welding torch moves in a circular (orbital) path around a stationary workpiece, typically a pipe or tube. This process often employs Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding, renowned for its clean and high-quality welds. The orbital welding system comprises programmable controllers, automated power supplies, and a mechanized torch.

Automation is the cornerstone of orbital welding, making it ideal for applications requiring repeatable and precise welds. It reduces the variability introduced by human factors, which is critical in industries with stringent quality standards.

The Challenges of Traditional Welder Training

Conventional welder training involves a steep learning curve. Mastering manual welding requires extensive practice, in-depth knowledge of metallurgy, and precise hand-eye coordination. Aspiring welders need to spend months, if not years, to achieve the skill levels required for producing high-quality welds consistently. This can lead to several challenges:

Skill Gap: A global shortage of skilled welders exists due to the demanding nature of the training process.

Inconsistencies: Human welders often produce variable results, particularly when working in challenging positions or environments.

Time-Intensive Learning: Developing proficiency in techniques like TIG welding can take significant time, delaying the entry of new welders into the workforce.

Orbital welding technology mitigates these challenges by simplifying the process and reducing dependency on individual skill levels.

Simplifying Welder Training with Orbital Welding

Orbital welding facilitates the training process by introducing automation, precision, and technology-driven solutions that reduce the burden on trainees. Below are the key ways orbital welding accelerates and enhances welder training:

1. Understand Your Project Requirements

Before hiring, clearly define your project requirements. This ensures you find contractors whose skills and experience align with your needs.

Material Types: Orbital welding is commonly used for stainless steel, titanium, and other high-grade materials. Ensure the contractor has experience with the specific materials used in your project.

Pipe/Tubing Specifications: Define the sizes, thicknesses, and configurations of pipes or tubes involved.

Industry Standards: Each industry has unique welding codes and standards (e.g., ASME, AWS, or ISO). Ensure the contractor is familiar with the relevant certifications for your industry.

Project Timeline: Communicate deadlines clearly to ensure contractors can meet your scheduling demands.

2. Evaluate Their Expertise in Orbital Welding

Orbital welding requires a specialized skill set, and not all welders are proficient in this technique. Ensure the contractors possess the necessary qualifications and experience.

Certification and Training: Verify if the welders have completed formal training in orbital welding and hold certifications relevant to your industry.

Experience: Ask for details about previous projects involving orbital welding. Contractors with a track record of working on similar applications are more likely to deliver quality work.

Technical Knowledge: Ensure the welder is adept at setting up and operating orbital welding equipment, as well as programming the necessary parameters.

3. Inspect Their Equipment

The quality of orbital welding depends heavily on the equipment used. Hiring contractors with well-maintained and modern equipment ensures efficiency and reliability.

Equipment Type: Confirm they have access to the appropriate orbital welding machines for your project. For instance, closed-head welding machines are ideal for sanitary environments.

Maintenance Records: Ask for documentation showing regular maintenance of their equipment. Poorly maintained machines can lead to defects and downtime.

Compatibility: Ensure their equipment is compatible with your project’s material specifications and industry standards.

4. Assess Their Commitment to Quality Assurance

Quality assurance is critical in orbital welding, especially for industries like pharmaceuticals or aerospace, where precision and cleanliness are paramount.

Welding Procedures: Check if the contractors follow documented welding procedures (e.g., WPS — Welding Procedure Specification).

Testing and Inspection: Inquire about their process for quality control, such as non-destructive testing (NDT), X-ray inspections, or visual checks.

Compliance with Standards: Confirm their adherence to quality standards and regulations, such as ASME Section IX or ISO 9001.

5. Evaluate Their Flexibility and Scalability

When hiring contractors, flexibility is key to accommodating changing project demands.

Adaptability: Assess whether the contractor can handle adjustments to the project scope, materials, or timelines.

Team Size: If your project requires multiple welders, check if the contractor can provide additional skilled workers as needed.

Short-Term vs. Long-Term: Determine if the contractor is comfortable with the duration of the contract and can extend services if required.

6. Review Safety Practices

Safety is a top priority in any welding project. Ensure contractors follow best practices to maintain a safe work environment.

Safety Certifications: Verify that contractors have certifications for occupational safety, such as OSHA training or equivalent.

Safety Protocols: Ensure they follow protocols to minimize risks like burns, equipment failures, or exposure to harmful fumes.

Insurance: Confirm that the contractor has liability insurance to cover accidents or damages that may occur during the project.

7. Verify Their Communication and Reporting Skills

Effective communication and reporting are essential for a seamless collaboration.

Clear Documentation: Contractors should provide detailed reports, including weld logs, inspection results, and quality control documentation.

Communication Channels: Establish clear communication channels for real-time updates on project progress or issues.

Problem-Solving Approach: Assess their ability to handle unexpected challenges and propose timely solutions.

8. Negotiate a Fair and Transparent Contract

The contract is the foundation of your working relationship. Ensure it covers all essential terms and conditions.

Scope of Work: Clearly define the tasks, deliverables, and timeline for the project.

Pricing Structure: Negotiate a fair pricing model, whether hourly, per weld, or project-based. Avoid hidden fees by discussing all potential costs upfront.

Warranty and Liability: Include clauses for warranty on weld quality and liability coverage for errors or delays.

9. Seek References and Reviews

A contractor’s reputation speaks volumes about their reliability and performance.

References: Request contact information for past clients and inquire about their experiences.

Online Reviews: Look for reviews or testimonials online to gauge the contractor’s track record.

Site Visits: If possible, visit a site where they are currently working to see their performance firsthand.

10. Plan for Onboarding and Collaboration

Ensure a smooth integration of contractors into your workflow by planning the onboarding process.

Orientation: Provide an overview of your project’s goals, safety requirements, and quality standards.

Team Coordination: Facilitate collaboration between contractors and your in-house team to streamline workflows.

Progress Monitoring: Implement regular check-ins to monitor progress and address any concerns promptly.

Conclusion

Hiring orbital welders on a contract basis can significantly enhance your project’s efficiency and quality, provided you take the necessary steps to vet contractors thoroughly. By understanding your project needs, evaluating contractors’ expertise and equipment, and ensuring clear communication, you can secure skilled professionals who deliver high-quality results. With the right preparation and due diligence, contracting orbital welders can be a cost-effective and reliable solution for achieving your welding goals.

#orbital welders hire #hiring orbital welders

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tradesman-staffing-solution · 13 days ago

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Advantages of Hiring Certified Orbital Welders for Semiconductor Projects

The semiconductor industry is a cornerstone of modern technology, with its products powering everything from smartphones to supercomputers. Precision and quality are non-negotiable in this high-stakes sector, particularly in the construction and maintenance of semiconductor manufacturing facilities. Certified orbital welders play a critical role in ensuring these stringent standards are met. Here’s why hiring certified orbital welders is essential for the semiconductor industry.

The Role of Welding in the Semiconductor Industry

Semiconductor fabrication facilities, often referred to as fabs, require highly controlled environments. These facilities include extensive piping systems for the transport of ultra-pure gases, chemicals, and water. Welding is a key process in constructing these systems, where even minor imperfections can lead to contamination, inefficiencies, or costly failures.

Orbital welding, an automated welding technique, is the preferred method for creating leak-proof and contamination-free welds in semiconductor fabs. Certified orbital welders are trained to operate the specialized equipment and adhere to the industry’s exacting standards.

The Importance of Certification in Orbital Welding

Hiring certified orbital welders ensures that your project benefits from their specialized training, experience, and adherence to industry standards. Certification typically involves rigorous training programs, testing, and validation of skills in orbital welding techniques. Certified professionals bring:

Expertise in Industry Standards: Certification ensures welders are familiar with specific standards and requirements, such as those set by the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) organization.

Proven Competence: Certification guarantees that the welder has undergone testing to demonstrate their ability to produce high-quality welds consistently.

Knowledge of Materials: Certified welders are trained to handle the exotic materials often used in semiconductor piping, such as stainless steel and Hastelloy, which require specialized techniques.

Safety Compliance: Certified professionals understand and adhere to safety protocols, reducing risks during construction or maintenance.

Why Hire Certified Orbital Welders for Semiconductor Projects?

Ensuring High-Quality Welds In semiconductor facilities, even the smallest defect in a weld can compromise the purity of gases and liquids flowing through the system, leading to contamination. Certified orbital welders have the training and experience to deliver welds with exceptional precision, ensuring the integrity of the piping system.

Adherence to Ultra-Clean Standards Semiconductor manufacturing demands ultra-clean environments to prevent particulate contamination. Orbital welding, performed by certified professionals, minimizes impurities by using controlled heat input and shielding gases. This level of cleanliness is unattainable with manual welding methods.

Efficiency and Cost-Effectiveness Certified orbital welders bring both speed and accuracy to projects. Their expertise reduces the likelihood of rework and waste, which translates into cost savings. Additionally, orbital welding is faster than manual techniques, ensuring projects stay on schedule.

Adaptability to Complex Systems Semiconductor fabs involve intricate piping layouts with multiple angles, diameters, and fittings. Certified welders are skilled at using orbital welding systems to create seamless joints in these challenging configurations.

Compliance with Industry Regulations The semiconductor industry operates under strict regulatory requirements. Certified orbital welders are well-versed in meeting these standards, ensuring that your project passes inspections and meets legal and industry benchmarks.

Safety and Risk Mitigation Orbital welding involves high temperatures and potentially hazardous materials. Certified welders are trained in proper safety protocols, reducing the risk of accidents and ensuring a secure working environment.

Longevity and Reliability of Systems The welds in semiconductor piping systems must withstand extreme conditions, including high pressures and corrosive chemicals. Certified welders ensure that each joint is robust and durable, reducing maintenance needs and extending the lifespan of the system.

Applications of Orbital Welding in Semiconductor Manufacturing

Certified orbital welders are essential for several critical tasks in semiconductor fabs, including:

Gas Distribution Systems: Welding ultra-pure gas pipelines that feed the fabrication equipment.

Chemical Delivery Systems: Constructing and maintaining pipes that transport process chemicals.

Vacuum Systems: Creating leak-proof joints in vacuum lines critical for cleanroom operations.

Water Cooling Systems: Building reliable water distribution networks to manage equipment heat.

The Consequences of Skipping Certification

Hiring non-certified welders for semiconductor projects can result in:

Weld Defects: Increased likelihood of porosity, cracking, or other imperfections.

System Contamination: Impurities from poorly executed welds can compromise the entire production process.

Non-Compliance: Failure to meet regulatory standards can lead to project delays and fines.

Increased Costs: More frequent repairs and maintenance due to poor-quality welds.

Conclusion

Certified orbital welders are indispensable for the semiconductor industry. Their expertise ensures high-quality, precise, and clean welds, which are critical for maintaining the ultra-pure environments required in semiconductor manufacturing. By hiring certified professionals, you not only ensure compliance with industry standards but also gain cost-effective, reliable, and long-lasting solutions for your project.

Investing in certified orbital welders is an investment in the success of your semiconductor facility, safeguarding your operations against costly failures and inefficiencies. When it comes to critical systems, there’s no substitute for the expertise and precision that certified orbital welders bring to the table.

#orbital welders #certified orbital welders #semiconductor

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tradesman-staffing-solution · 28 days ago

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Why Hiring the Best Tradesman Staffing Agency is Essential for Your Next Industrial Project

In today’s dynamic industrial landscape, project success often hinges on having the right workforce in place at the right time. From large-scale construction to specialized manufacturing projects, hiring skilled tradespeople can be both a challenge and an opportunity. This is where partnering with a top-tier tradesman staffing agency can make a transformative difference. Here’s an in-depth look at why choosing the best tradesman staffing agency is crucial for your next industrial project.

1. Access to a Skilled Workforce

The best staffing agencies maintain a curated pool of highly skilled tradespeople who are pre-screened and qualified for industrial projects. This ensures that businesses have access to a diverse talent base, including welders, electricians, pipefitters, machine operators, and more. By working with an experienced agency, you gain access to professionals who not only meet technical standards but also have relevant experience in industrial environments. This eliminates the guesswork from hiring and guarantees that you’re bringing the right expertise to your project.

2. Flexibility for Dynamic Project Needs

Industrial projects often face shifting demands, whether due to project scope changes, tight deadlines, or unforeseen challenges. A reputable staffing agency offers the flexibility to quickly scale your workforce up or down based on these needs. Whether it’s a short-term project requiring temporary tradespeople or a long-term initiative needing sustained workforce support, an agency can provide tailored solutions to match your exact requirements.

3. Reduced Hiring Burden

Recruiting skilled tradespeople can be a time-consuming and resource-intensive process. From advertising job openings to screening candidates and conducting interviews, the process can divert significant time and energy from your core operations. A staffing agency takes on this burden, managing the entire recruitment process on your behalf. They handle everything from background checks to verifying certifications, saving you valuable time and ensuring you hire top talent efficiently.

4. Cost-Effective Staffing Solutions

Cost control is a critical factor in any industrial project. Hiring full-time employees for temporary or project-based needs can lead to unnecessary expenses, including benefits, training, and administrative costs. With a staffing agency, you pay only for the tradespeople you need, when you need them. This eliminates the overhead of maintaining a permanent workforce during downtime, making staffing agencies a cost-effective solution for project-based work.

5. Focus on Project Deadlines

Meeting deadlines is non-negotiable in the industrial sector, as delays can lead to financial losses, reputational damage, and disrupted supply chains. Staffing agencies ensure that you have the right number of workers with the right skills to keep your project on track. Their quick response to staffing needs helps avoid delays caused by manpower shortages, ensuring smooth progress from start to finish.

6. Improved Quality and Compliance

A professional staffing agency doesn’t just supply tradespeople; they ensure quality. The best agencies have rigorous screening processes to verify the skills, certifications, and safety compliance of their workforce. This guarantees that the tradespeople you hire are not only skilled but also adhere to industry standards and regulations. With compliance assured, you can focus on delivering a high-quality project without worrying about potential legal or safety issues.

7. Access to Specialized Expertise

Certain industrial projects require niche skills or specialized tradespeople, which can be difficult to find through traditional hiring channels. Top staffing agencies excel in sourcing tradespeople with specialized expertise, whether it’s orbital welding, heavy machinery operation, or high-precision fabrication. This access to specialized talent ensures your project benefits from the highest levels of craftsmanship and technical know-how.

8. Simplified Workforce Management

Managing a large, diverse workforce can be a logistical challenge. Staffing agencies streamline workforce management by handling payroll, scheduling, and administrative tasks. This reduces the strain on your in-house HR team and ensures seamless workforce operations. Additionally, agencies often provide support for resolving workforce-related issues, giving you peace of mind throughout the project.

9. Mitigating Risk

Industrial projects come with inherent risks, including workforce turnover, skill gaps, and compliance challenges. Staffing agencies help mitigate these risks by maintaining a steady pipeline of qualified candidates. If a tradesperson becomes unavailable, the agency can quickly provide a replacement, minimizing disruption to your project. Their expertise in workforce management also reduces the risk of hiring unqualified or incompatible workers.

10. Long-Term Partnership Opportunities

Building a relationship with a top tradesman staffing agency can have long-term benefits for your business. As the agency gains a deeper understanding of your needs, they can provide increasingly tailored workforce solutions for future projects. This partnership ensures that you always have a reliable staffing resource to turn to, simplifying workforce planning and enabling you to focus on growing your business.

11. Enhanced Productivity

When your workforce is skilled, experienced, and the right fit for the job, productivity naturally improves. A staffing agency ensures you have tradespeople who can hit the ground running, reducing ramp-up time and enhancing overall project efficiency. This contributes to meeting goals on time and within budget, which is essential for industrial success.

12. Supporting Business Growth

By outsourcing your staffing needs to a professional agency, you free up internal resources to focus on strategic priorities. Whether it’s expanding your operations, exploring new markets, or innovating within your industry, having a trusted staffing partner allows you to direct your attention to areas that drive growth.

Conclusion

Hiring the best tradesman staffing agency is not just a convenience — it’s a strategic decision that can significantly impact the success of your industrial projects. From providing skilled talent and ensuring flexibility to reducing costs and improving productivity, a top-tier agency acts as an invaluable partner in navigating the complexities of workforce management.

Whether your next project is a short-term task or a long-term initiative, partnering with a professional staffing agency ensures you have the right people, at the right time, with the right skills to drive your project to success. Make the smart choice for your industrial project — partner with the best tradesman staffing agency and experience the difference.

#skilled trades #recruitment #tradesman #tradesman staffing

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