Fabrication. An area that we believe offers an incredible opportunity to learn various new skills, test your creativity, and put your meticulous persona to the test.
However, we’re also acutely aware that unemployment levels have risen in recent months across all industry sectors, with manufacturing and engineering no exception.
But, if working with metal, designing, creating, and producing must-have products, the final part of a finished product, or steel sculptures that draw in visitors from around the world is your dream job, then becoming a specialist in welding, drilling, powder coating, or CAD designs could be for you.
But where do you start?
Do you know what skills are required? Or the various types of jobs available in fabrication?
Let us help.
We’ve pulled together some information below to help you get started on your journey into the fabrication industry.
Outlook for the sector
The manufacturing sector has seen an incredibly turbulent three years, with finding skilled employment remaining one of the main challenges.
In fact, recent reports into labour shortages show that around 80% of UK businesses continue to struggle to fill vacancies because of a lack of skills. According to ManPowerGroup’s research, these shortages mark a 17-year high.
But it’s not all doom and gloom, and the good news is that due to the range of processes involved in fabrication, and the range of jobs and job availability, the opportunities are plentiful.
In addition, due to skill shortages, many fabrication businesses are now looking at upskilling and developing their in-house teams. Ensuring high staff retention, fulfilment of specific roles, and that you continue to meet business and customer needs.
Working in fabrication
Fabricators work within the manufacturing field, ultimately meeting customer requirements with metal!
What’s interesting to note is that soft skills, such as interpersonal and communication skills, time management, problem-solving, and leadership, are found to be the key qualities that support business growth, making them just as important if you want to produce high-quality work, meet production schedules, and have the flexibility to adapt to the ever-changing customer demands and specifications.
When we delve further into the various roles within fabrication, other personal skills required include precision and coordination, as, trust us, the work that is involved is often very precise. Fabricators must be very meticulous and particular, with the ability to apply specific technical and engineering skills to reading blueprints as well as carrying out the actual work.
Specific hard skills required can also include:
- An excellent eye for detail
- Good organisational skills
- Engineering skills to support specific areas such as welding and drilling
- Experience, knowledge in metalwork, crafts
- CAD or product design software skills and experience.
The different roles within fabrication include:
- Drilling
- Welding
- Design and engineering
- Project management
- Forming
- CNC profiling
- And more.
What to look for in a good fabricator
When it comes to finding a good fabricator, you need to look for someone you can trust. An individual who wants to learn, develop their skills, and support the business and the customer.
Ultimately you want employees to be engaged, who have the capacity to learn, show proactive leadership, adaptability, and the ability to communicate – all essential skills in modern-day metal fabrication operations.
For the team at Morfabrication, we look for those who are the right fit for the team. Those who get satisfaction in producing a tangible result are friendly and have a sense of humour!
Due to the range of processes involved in fabrication and the opportunity to work on a vast range of products and various industries, there is no one day the same in fabrication, which means you’ll most certainly never be bored.
So, if you’re thinking about changing career direction, or maybe you’re just starting out on your career journey, why not think about a job in manufacturing and engineering with a specific focus on areas within the fabrication sector?
About Morfabrication
Morfabrication is a family-run business proud to offer our customers a personal service. We like to think we bring creativity to metal fabrication, designing and developing high-quality projects that deliver results.
There are numerous opportunities in fabrication, and we have been fortunate to work on some incredible projects for some great clients.
To find out more about our work, check out our case studies and follow us on Facebook to stay up to date.