TalentForce

For decades, competitive advantage in corrosion management meant better coatings, stronger standards, and improved inspection technologies.

Today, a defining differentiator is workforce capability.

• Skill depth is resilience.
• Knowledge transfer is risk mitigation.
• Career pathways are capacity.

TalentForce exists to make workforce development a strategic function—embedded, measurable and built for scale.

The future of corrosion protection is technical and human.

Learn more at www.talentforce.org. The future builds here.

Structured growth turns a job into a career.

In corrosion and materials protection, people stay when they can see a clear path forward—and employers benefit from stronger, more consistent teams.

Retention comes from:

• Clear advancement paths
• Verified, portable credentials
• Defined growth milestones
• Skill-based mobility

TalentForce supports both entry and long-term career growth—helping professionals build momentum and employers retain skilled talent.

🎥 Watch how TalentForce supports workforce retention.

Learn more at www.talentforce.org.

There are more jobs than trained professionals in corrosion and materials protection.

Strong pay. Clear advancement. No four-year degree required to start.

Many roles allow you to earn while you learn and build portable credentials tied to real industry standards.

But too many people have never heard of this field.

TalentForce is making career pathways visible and real — from entry-level roles to leadership.

🎥 Watch how people are entering the industry and building lasting careers.

Explore career ladders at www.talentforce.org.

TalentForce has officially launched to address the systemic workforce challenges facing corrosion and materials protection.

The need is urgent. The opportunity is massive. TalentForce is the answer.

Read the full announcement here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260317392283/en/AMPP-Launches-TalentForce-to-Address-Corrosion-Industry-Talent-Crisis-Threatening-Critical-Infrastructure

Yesterday, at the Association for Materials Protection and Performance Annual Conference, TalentForce launched.

For 150 years, AMPP has helped protect the world’s most critical infrastructure.

But the challenge has changed.

Demand is rising. Experience is retiring. The work is getting more technical.

No single employer can solve this alone. TalentForce was created to coordinate the response at scale.

Grounded by four interconnected pillars, TalentForce is built around:

1. Purpose — Making high-value careers visible and accessible.
2. Pathways — DOL-registered apprenticeships and structured growth.
3. Partnerships — Aligning employers, educators and policymakers.
4. People+ — Preparing the workforce for the technology-driven future ahead.

AMPP sustains the world’s most critical assets. TalentForce will sustain the builders who protect them.

🎥 Watch the launch video and learn more at www.talentforce.org

Force 3: The work is getting more technical

The science behind materials protection has never been stronger, which means the work continues to get more sophisticated.

Think: Digital inspection tools. Robotics. Drone-assisted imaging. Risk-based inspection frameworks. Advanced materials science.

Modern corrosion work demands skills that didn’t exist when many senior professionals were trained.

That means two things at once: 1) We need to train new people. And 2) we need to upskill and reskill the existing workforce for a more technical future.

But training takes time and experience cannot be compressed without increasing risk — especially in sectors where corrosion contributes to more than 20% of major pipeline incidents.

The bar is rising. The workforce must rise with it.

The solution will be announced on Monday. 📍 AMPP | Houston | March 15–19

Force 2: The workforce is shrinking

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 1.7 million infrastructure worker shortfall by 2031, and employers say the shortage is already affecting project timelines, increasing costs and creating growing maintenance backlogs.

At the same time, the workforce trained to fight corrosion is aging out, with roughly 40% of professionals expected to reach retirement eligibility within the next decade.

Not to mention, too few new people are entering the field. Many simply don’t know these careers exist — and you can’t enter a profession you’ve never heard of.

Strong pay. High demand. Real mobility. Yet the pipeline still isn’t filling.

This isn’t something any one employer can solve alone. The challenge is systemic, demographic and structural — and it requires a coordinated response that matches the scale of the problem.

More about what that response looks like during Association for Materials Protection and Performance Annual Conference + Expo in Houston this week. Stay tuned.

Force 1: Demand is rising

The United States is entering one of the largest infrastructure investment cycles in generations. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act alone authorized roughly $1.2 trillion to rebuild bridges, pipelines, energy systems, transportation networks and the power grid.

But the workforce needed to do that work is shrinking.

Demand shows no signs of slowing down — and the industry’s workforce shortage won’t resolve on its own.

A solution is on the way. Stay tuned for something big.
📍 AMPP | Houston | March 15–19

Something structural is happening in corrosion and materials protection. It didn't start overnight, and it won't resolve on its own.

Three forces are reshaping the industry simultaneously:

Force 1: Demand is rising.
Force 2: The workforce is shrinking.
Force 3: The work itself is getting more technical.

Individually, each would be manageable.

Together, they change the equation.