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Metal Plate Workers, Smiths, Moulders and Related Occupations

Metal plate workers, smiths, moulders and related occupations mark off, drill, shape, position, rivet and seal metal plates and girders to form structures and frameworks operate power hammers and presses to shape heated metal to requirements and to make and repair a variety of metal articles and make moulds and cores for casting metal and pour or inject molten metal into dies.

Wages

New workers
AVERAGE
Experienced
£20,687
£30,761
£46,923

New workers start around £20,687. Normal pay is £30,761 per year.
Highly experienced workers can earn up to £46,923.

Available jobs

In the past year there were 8,303 vacancies for this type of job

4.01%

Projected job growth over the next 8 years

Related courses

People work towards these careers by taking these courses at college and uni.

What they do most days?

  • Scoops molten metal from furnace into die or die casting machine.

  • Fits and secures horses shoes.

  • Tempers and hardens forged pieces, as required, by quenching in oil or water.

  • Uses forging tools to shape and cut metal and bends or shapes metal by hand forging methods using hammers, punches, drifts and other hand tools.

  • Operates press or hammer and repositions workpiece between strokes.

  • Heats metal for forging and positions heated metal on anvil or other work surface.

  • Seals seams with caulking compound, smooths welds, fixes metal doors, metal collars, portholes, tank and hatch covers and performs other metal plate finishing tasks using a variety of hand and power tools.

  • Creates mould units out of sand, loam or plaster by hand or machine and fits cores into mould to form hollow parts in casting.

  • Uses hydraulic jacks to position and align metal platework or frame for welding and bolting and rivets together metal plate and girders.

  • Uses machine tools to bend, curve, punch, drill and straighten metal plate as required.

  • Marks out metal plate with guidelines and reference points and cuts metal plate using hand or machine tools.

  • Examines drawings and specifications to determine operational requirements.

Hard Skills

Hard skills are specific, learnable, measurable, often industry or occupation-specific abilities related to a position.

Skills are ranked based on the number of job adverts that list them as required skills.

  • Press Brake

  • Machinery

  • Injection Molding

  • Engineering Drawings

  • Tooling

  • Sheet Metal

  • Technical Drawing

  • Housekeeping

  • Moulding

  • Brake (Sheet Metal Bending)

Soft Skills

Soft skills can be self-taught and usually do not necessitate a certain completed level of education.

Skills are ranked based on the number of job adverts that list them as required skills.

  • Detail Oriented

  • Communication

  • Problem Solving

  • Operations

  • Troubleshooting (Problem Solving)

  • Management

  • Quality Control

  • Loading And Unloading

  • Customer Service

  • Teamwork

How do I get a job like this?

People in these types of job started their career paths after studying courses like the ones below.