The Navy is completely transforming its nuclear-powered submarine fleet and needs an influx of skilled trades workers to build and maintain its critical undersea advantage.
This requires the addition of 100,000+ skilled workers with the training and commitment to ensure success. Project MFG partners with many groups dedicated to increasing our naval advantage.
Project MFG’s Maritime Welding Competitions focus on industry needs and invites high-school students to participate in welding competitions to prove their skills, help industries identify skilled workers, and expose students to the many job opportunities available to them in the maritime industry.
The Project MFG Maritime Welding Competition is a welding and fabrication skills challenge designed to test a student’s understanding of blueprints, weld procedure sheets, welding techniques, and fabrication skills.
Project MFG Maritime Welding Competitions challenge students to assemble a competition project using current industry requirements and practices. Competitors must follow Project MFG’s supplied technical documents to construct their project within a specified time-frame and to industry standards.
The first-place winners of the individual regional Maritime Welding competitions will be invited to compete in the National Maritime Welding Championship competition that takes place in the Spring of 2025.
Maritime Welding Competition Framework
The Project MFG Maritime Competition is a welding and fabrication skills challenge designed to test a student’s understanding of blueprints, weld procedure sheets, welding techniques, and fabrication skills. Students are challenged in an environment that mimics the expectations of the workforce, enabling them to demonstrate the skills necessary to be successful in industry. Students of all levels of welding and fabrication experience are encouraged to compete in the Maritime Competition.
Students are tested against current industry requirements to assemble a competition project. Competitors must follow Project MFG’s supplied technical documents to construct their project within a specified time-frame and to industry standards.
Winners of the regional Maritime Welding competitions will be invited to compete in the National Maritime “Clash of Trades” competition.
Competitors must adhere to the safety requirements of their respective school or location. A list of the minimum safety requirements is provided below. Should any safety questions arise or issues encountered, stop work and seek further guidance from your instructor, site supervisor, or competition coordinator.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE):
Working Areas:
General Rules:
Competitor Requirements:
Disqualification:
Project MFG reserves final authority for all rulings and rules interpretations.
Project MFG competitions are industry recognized skills assessments. Preparing for and competing in these competitions provide practical experience that help competitors succeed in trade industry jobs.
Scoring Scheme:
The scoring scheme ties the competition project assessment to industry standards. Competitors earn points on their project based on their performance against the project requirements. Each competition round (project) is scored individually.
The scoring scheme will use a 1 to 10 point scale to score each measurable attribute identified in the project.
Competition Scoring:
A panel of judges will evaluate each competitor’s project against the project requirements. Judges are consistent for all teams and/or individuals competing.
Project MFG reserves final authority for all rulings and rules interpretations.