From Navy Vet to CWI

A summer job at a friend’s family’s fabrication shop during high school, assisting around the shop and working in the humid Ohio heat, jump started Donald Maatz Jr.’s interest in welding and a career that has now spanned more than 40 years. 

After high school, Maatz joined the Navy, where he followed a progression that might sound familiar to those who served the United States at the time: boot camp, Machinist Mate “A” School, temporary duty on the USS Barney (DDG-6), nuclear power school, time at a nuclear prototype reactor, and finally the Navy’s Submarine Emergency Welding School. Along the way, he learned about welding engineers, and his fate was sealed.

“I was a part of the inaugural crew where I helped commission the USS Pittsburgh (SSN-720) (see the July 2021 Welding Journal to learn more). One day, they had trouble with a weld repeatedly failing inspection. They said they were going to bring down a welding engineer — the first time I ever heard of one — to make sure it was done right. After that event, it was done right, and I was like, oh, you can be a welding engineer, not only a welder,” Maatz said.

After the Navy, he had a brief stint as a road mechanic before attending The Ohio State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in welding engineering. Maatz took a job at Ford Motor Co., where he was selected for a rotational program that taught him about various aspects of manufacturing and numerous welding processes before finding a home at their Ohio Assembly plant, where he primarily focused on resistance welding and began his journey toward becoming a Certified Welding Inspector (CWI).

“From day one, even in the fabrication shop as a teenager, where I knew nothing about a code or a standard, they wanted me to look at the weld. Did you tie in the sides? Do you have any undercut? Do you have enough bead reinforcement? I know these terms now. Back then, I was never welding to a standard. I was just making welds,” he remembered.

In the Navy, things were different, and they were much more stringent when it came to welds. “They were very adamant and exacting, looking back on it. In an emergency, you make a repair weld, but as soon as you pull into the yard, a certified welder is going to replace your weld,” he said.

At Ford, Maatz was exposed to many different types of welding: resistance welding, arc welding, arc repairs, silicon-bronze brazing, and more. However, the majority of his role was focused on resistance spot and projection welding, which he credits with teaching him the importance of evaluation in the field. It taught him about destructive and visual evaluation of welds, leading to what has now become his mantra: make welds that meet engineering intent.

Maatz believes that welds are never defective or bad; instead, they are either acceptable or discrepant to the standard under which the weld was done.

This was the beginning of his understanding of the importance of codes and standards. After Ford, he worked as a laser welding engineer for a year, where the focus was very much on quality, exposing him to standards he’d not previously encountered in his career. Shortly after, he moved into an engineering consultant role before becoming the lab manager, focusing on qualifications, characterizations, and overseeing every process at RoMan Engineering Services. It was during his time at RoMan that he became 
a CWI.

Maatz considers his CWI certification to be almost a golden ticket. “As soon as people hear you have your CWI, it is instant credibility,” he said.

While Maatz does not use his CWI knowledge daily, he still finds it useful to have. In his most recent CWI experience, he served as the third-party auditor ensuring everything was up to standards. He credits it as a great experience, where both he and the clients were able to learn from each other’s capabilities.

“They weren’t really used to an audit process, but I’d been doing it for years. I’d have them with me while providing updates, listening in, and then asking for their feedback and perspective,” he said. This was only part of the highlight of his experience, as he also emphasized the importance of problem-solving and served as a mentor about how to interact with management, which Maatz stated he thoroughly enjoyed.

Maatz has since returned to resistance welding at Milco Manufacturing, a resistance welding gun manufacturer, where he can apply both his applied knowledge and training expertise. This includes continuing to be a mentor through his volunteer work with AWS. Aside from being active within his local Detroit Section, including serving as the former chair, he is on several AWS committees and is heavily involved in the inspection and quality aspects of several resistance welding processes, including serving as an instructor at the RWMA (Resistance Welding Manufacturing Alliance) Emmet A. Craig Resistance Welding School since 2015.

Yet, Maatz does not consider himself a welding expert. “After doing something for 40 years, you ought to be pretty good at it, and I guess I’m getting there,” he said. As an example of his belief that learning never stops, he carries a unique electrode cap in his pocket as a physical reminder to never judge a book by its cover.

RACHEL BHEECHAM (rbheecham@aws.org) is the assistant editor of Inspection Trends.