Hermanson’s recent Shop renovations have facilitated major improvements in our Pipe fabrication capabilities. Our amazing and talented Pipe Shop Foreman, Paul McLain, was a key contributor to this process and is leading us to continued growth! Paul is proud to be a fourth generation UA member. He moved here from Maryland as a child and comes from a large family of plumbers, fitters and other trade members. In fact, both of his parents were welder assistants on the Alaskan Pipeline. All together, his family has been in the industry for over 100 years! And very recently Paul’s son, Cameron, became a steam fitter apprentice, putting five generations of the McLain family in the trade. Paul is a Certified Welding Inspector, UA Authorized Testing Rep, and has been a Welding Instructor at Local 32 for the last 16 years. As a welding specialist, Paul’s favorite part of the trade is working on jobs in which welding, heavy rigging, and layout are involved. He finds these aspects of the job the most challenging and therefore, the most rewarding. As Hermanson’s Pipe Shop Foreman, Paul enjoys the diversity of projects he works on. Some of his favorites include fabricating x-ray stainless steel for Air Liquide and fabricating pipes that were 36’ long for Boeing. Paul has also worked on other successful Hermanson projects including pipe fabrication for Block 52 and leading the multi-trade rack fabrication for for recent Swedish Edmonds Ambulatory Care Center project. Paul truly enjoys his job and his advice to his son, Cameron, and to other new apprentices is to “learn a skill that will separate you from the crowd.” Good advice!