Alex Houtchens Finds His Edge in the Skilled Trades

Alex is a partner at Pro Plastic Welding, a highly specialized fabrication and welding shop in Greeley that solves tough industrial challenges with precision plastic and metalwork. They’ve worked on diverse projects, including everything from water filtration systems and tank repairs to cleanroom hardware, food processing equipment, custom dog kennels and a baptismal font. 

The niche that sets them apart is thermoplastic welding. It’s a process that combines specialized polymers for applications where metal can’t compete, such as corrosive environments, food-grade systems or chemical mixing processes. “We specialize in welding thermoplastic polymers,” Alex said. “We’re one of the few welding shops that do this and probably the largest plastic welding shop in all of Colorado.”

Alex has come a long way since 2007, when he came to Aims to earn his GED after dropping out of high school. “I just decided one day to go in and get my GED,” he said. “I went in and took the test, and passed and got it.” After that, he spent years working labor-heavy jobs, including time in the oil field. The hours were brutal. “After a year of working 80 hours a week. I was done,” he said. “I was not gonna do that.”

In 2014, Alex returned to Aims, not with a perfect plan, but with a willingness to start rebuilding. “I knew that Aims could kind of help me get situated and give me some time to think,” he said.

Because his earlier education had been interrupted, Alex spent four semesters completing the work that many students take for granted, strengthening his math, writing and other fundamentals, until he was ready for college-level coursework. “I spent the next two years catching back up to college level,” he said.

By 2016, Alex had zeroed in on welding. He had already been welding in a shop for a couple of years, but he wanted the technical training and credentials to turn skill into a career. Alex entered the Aims welding program and moved through it quickly. One of the people who made that possible was welding instructor Jeff Klein.

“He is amazing,” Alex said. “Jeff encouraged me and helped me navigate the program in a way that respected my time and skill.” Alex worked full-time while taking classes full-time. 

A key part of making this journey possible was his employer at the time, Eric Fitzsimons, owner of C&E Creative Enterprises, which specializes in the manufacturing of appliances and electronics. As a supporter of Aims, Fitzsimons gave Alex the flexibility to work while attending school full-time. “He basically gave me the space I needed to make money and go to Aims at the same time,” he said.

After graduating, Alex continued welding and, with Fitzsimons’ blessing, launched his first business. “I learned a lot,” he said. “I mainly learned there are a lot of things in the business that I didn’t understand when I was setting it up.” Eventually, he shut down that first business and returned to Fitzsimons with a new proposal, not for employment, but a partnership. 

The origin story of Pro Plastic Welding began with a single job. The team worked on a project for a customer in the water purification industry. The job involved a large plastic funnel. Fitzsimons said they could plastic weld it.

“I just thought it was the coolest thing.” Plastic welding hooked him fast. It was different. It was underdeveloped as a field and it was an opening. “Nobody was doing it,” Alex said.

Over the next few years, he built an expertise that went far beyond what most welders ever touch. Alex pursued specialized training, including visits to elite plastic welding shops in Europe and learned from mentors across the United States. Today, Pro Plastic Welding’s work spans industries across Colorado and beyond, from building prototypes for start-ups to large government infrastructure contracts. 

As his business has grown, Alex has become the kind of employer he needed when he was starting out: someone who hires for potential, trains for excellence, and values honesty about the learning process. He actively mentors other Aims graduates, sharing industry experience to build a supportive community.

Alex is passing on the support that helped launch his own career. “I’m very thankful that Aims gives people the time to figure out what they want,” he said. “And it’s so much cheaper than the traditional path.” If someone is unsure about college or about themselves, his advice is simple. “Take a chance,” he said. “The worst you can do is learn something.”

This mindset of learning, rebuilding, specializing, and mentoring is the through-line from a GED at 16 to leading one of Colorado’s most specialized welding shops. “If you’re living, you’re learning,” he said. “That’s life.”