Spring 2020 Valparaiso Magazine

Building A
STRONG
By Amanda Wilson
NORTHWEST INDIANA’S SKILLED TRADE WORKERS
ARE GOOD FOR BUSINESS AND THE COMMUNITY
ou can’t properly support the future if there aren’t enough qualified
people to help build it. Skilled trade workers, from carpenters
to construction workers and electricians to millwrights, are the
ones who quite literally build and maintain the foundation of our
region. A perfect storm of retiring Baby Boomers, current overall
low unemployment, and younger generations largely steered to
exclusively white-collar professions have led to a critical shortage of
skilled trade workers nationwide and in the region.
“It’s important to have skilled trade workers because we, as a society,
need to be able to make and assemble things,” observes John Walsh,
president of Heat Wagon, 342 N 400 E, Valparaiso. Heat Wagon, which
Walsh purchased from the company founders in 1996, manufactures
and distributes portable construction heaters and accessories. The
company sells wholesale to rental stores and equipment houses across
the country, partners with suppliers outside of the U.S., and provides
tech support and training through Heat Wagon Tech Service Schools.
“We can’t just be a service economy. We need to be able to repair and
10 VALPARAISO MAGAZINE | SPRING 2020