North Scottish Branch with Highlands & Islands Branch Annual General Meeting (2026) (Online only) and
Technical Presentation "Two Steps Forward and One Backward" - Reflections on 40 years of Welding & Fabrication
The Welding Institute North Scottish Branch with Highlands & Islands Branch invite you to their AGM:
The AGM will take place on 29 January 2026 at 5.30pm (Online only). Following on from the AGM there will be a technical presentation on "Two Steps Forward and One Backward" - Reflections on 40 years of Welding & Fabrication
What will the event cover?
There have been many changes and improvements in welding and fabrication over the past 40 years. However, much of that is incremental, and a modern fabrication shop doesn’t look all that different to one from the 1980s. It seems that most of the innovation has been in the area of mass-production, where robots have taken over the welding, or welding itself has been replaced by adhesives and alternative joining techniques.
What will you learn?
The proportion of automatic and semi-automatic welding has steadily increased compared to manual techniques (particularly at the expense of MMA electrodes), although manual TIG continues to dominate single sided root runs.
The use of computerised material handling and weld history systems has been well-established for at least 20 years, but documentation handover is still largely by PDFs in Manufacturing Record Books, though sometimes supplemented by separate data transfers.
The use of digital devices on the shop floor continues to increase, but incorporating the data from them is significantly more difficult today than it was 25 years ago, mainly due to the higher level of control required by IT departments to ensure security and data safety. Development of computerised management systems usually takes much more time than it would have done at the turn of the century, despite the availability of better tools and development platforms. Will AI help?
In some areas, we seem to have slid backwards rather than moving forward, but these problems can be solved by innovation and good management.
Our industry expert:
Kevin Millican - Senior Consultant Materials Engineer at Genesis Oil & Gas Ltd
Meet the speaker:
Kevin Millican CEng, BSc, FWeldI is an Engineering Metallurgist with over 40 years of experience in the Oil & Gas and Wind Energy sectors. Having graduated in engineering metallurgy in 1984, he began work as a Metallurgist in a mechanical test laboratory (OIS) before joining SLP as a Materials/Welding engineer in 1989 and was responsible for the welding on over 60 offshore platforms, mostly in the North Sea, along with a few wind energy projects. In 2011 he joined Shell as a Senior Materials & Corrosion Engineer, and was the Materials technical authority for several gas platforms, wind farms, and other new energy projects including hydrogen generation and geothermal. He has been involved with EEMUA MTC, IOGP JIP33, and BSI WEE/36 committees. Kevin officially retired from Shell in 2023, but continues to support Shell and Adura as a consultant through Genesis Oil & Gas Ltd.
Benefits from attending the AGM:
- Have your say in the running of the Branch
- To offer ideas and support
- Help shape the future of branch events and activities
- Ensure the continued success of the branch
- Attendance of this event qualifies for CPD
Benefits from attending the event:
- Information transfer from experts
- Discussion, questions and answers on the specific topics
- A broader understanding of the extent of standards in the industry
- Attendance of this event qualifies for CPD
Continuing Professional Development (CPD):
The Welding Institute awards points towards CPD for delegates attending this webinar. Every hour attendance of an event will earn 2 points towards your continuing professional development.
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