Representatives from contractors across Western Pennsylvania talk with potential candidates at an open house held Saturday at the Steamfitters Local 449 Technology Center in Jackson Township.

JACKSON TWP — Call it a crisis if you want, but the local union working to help fill a growing demand for HVAC technicians sees an industry prediction that it will need tens of thousands of new hires over the next decade as an opportunity, not a problem.

Steamfitters Local 449 on Saturday held its second open house in two months, showcasing a new technology and training center in the township and an industry that both union members and the HVAC-R companies for which they work say is a hotbed of demand and opportunity.

“You can't deal without heat, air conditioning and refrigeration. They're essentials, and there's a void with not enough people to do it,” said Kenny J. Broadbent, the union's business manager.

On Saturday, Broadbent and other union members and officers were shepherding visitors through the group's new facility on Wise Road, showing off the training spaces and equipment they believe will make the Technology Center “the (Carnegie Mellon University) of steamfitting.”

With dozens of people gathered in the center's shop area, eating lunch or touring the facility, Broadbent said he wants the union to adopt a slow-and-steady approach to the training need. The goal for Saturday was to get 100 or 150 students through a mechanical aptitude test and, eventually, signed up for a 5-year-old apprenticeship program.

“Out of that, I'll get maybe 20 or 30 (dedicated) people,” he said. “What you want is motivated, determined people. You have to be the best: motivated and productive.”

Steamfitters, who specialize in piping systems that carry high-pressure steam, water, and other elements, are unique in that they deal with both commercial and industrial work across a broad spectrum of clients and job sites. HVAC-R technicians within the steamfitters deal with appliance-based applications like heaters, refrigerators, air conditions and process piping. And the local Steamfitters union, Local 449, represents workers from across Western Pennsylvania.

A full story will appear in the Butler Eagle.