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Description
Wind wire coils used in electrical components, such as resistors and transformers, and in electrical equipment and instruments, such as field cores, bobbins, armature cores, electrical motors, generators, and control equipment.
Job Outlook
Employment of assemblers and fabricators is expected to grow more slowly than average through the year 2014, reflecting growth in mainly nonmanufacturing industries. The largest increase in the number of assemblers and fabricators is projected to be in the employment services industry, which supplies temporary workers to the various industries. Temporary workers are gaining in importance in the manufacturing sector and elsewhere as companies strive for a more flexible workforce to meet the fluctuations in the market. There will also be more jobs for assemblers and fabricators in the wholesale and retail sectors of the economy. As more goods come unassembled from foreign countries to save on shipping costs, it is increasingly up to wholesalers and retailers to provide assembly of products to their customers. Within the manufacturing sector, employment of assemblers and fabricators is expected to grow mainly in motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts manufacturing, furniture manufacturing, and food processing due to increasing sales of these products. In many other manufacturing industries, assemblers and fabricators have been negatively affected by increasing automation, improving productivity, and the shift of assembly to countries with lower labor costs. In addition to new jobs stemming from growth in this occupation, many job openings will result from the need to replace workers leaving this large occupational group. The effects of automation will be felt more among some types of assemblers and fabricators than among others. Automated manufacturing systems are expensive, and a large volume of repetitive work is required to justify their purchase. Also, where the assembly parts involved are irregular in size or location, new technology only now is beginning to make inroads. For example, much assembly in the aerospace industry is done in hard-to-reach locations, inside airplane fuselages or gear boxes, for example, which are unsuited to robots; as a result, aircraft assemblers will not be easily replaced by automated processes. The use of team production techniques has been a success in the manufacturing sector, boosting productivity and improving the quality of goods. Workers collaborate to decide how to best perform assembly tasks. Team assemblers are often consulted during the design phase of production, to make sure that the product is easy to assemble. Through continued efforts to improve the assembly process, most manufacturing companies have significantly reduced the amount of labor needed to assemble a product. By boosting productivity, companies are better able to compete with low wage companies. Thus, while the number of assemblers overall will decline in manufacturing, the number of team assemblers will remain stable. Many producers have sent their assembly functions to countries where labor costs are lower. Decisions by American corporations to move assembly to other nations should limit employment growth for assemblers in some industries, but a free trade environment also may lead to growth in the export of goods assembled in the United States.
Job Nature
Assemblers and fabricators play an important role in the manufacturing process. They are responsible for putting together finished and semifinished goods, assembling the pieces of components of a product and then joining the components into a whole product. The products they produce range from entire airplanes to intricate timing devices. They fabricate and assemble household appliances, automobiles and automobile engines and parts, as well as computers and other electronic devices. assemblers begin by reading detailed schematics or blue prints that show how to assemble complex machines. After determining how parts should connect, they often need to use hand or power tools to trim, shim, cut, and make other adjustments to make components fit together and align properly. Once the parts are properly aligned, they connect parts with bolts and screws or by welding or soldering pieces together. Careful quality control is important throughout the assembly process, so assemblers look for both mistakes in the assembly process and faulty components. They try to help fix problems before more defective products are produced. Changes in technology have transformed the manufacturing and assembly process. Automated manufacturing systems now use robots, computers, programmable motion control devices, and various sensing technologies. These systems change the way in which goods are made and affect the jobs of those who make them. The more advanced assemblers must be able to work with these new technologies and be comfortable using them to produce goods. Manufacturing techniques are evolving away from traditional assembly line systems towards "lean" manufacturing systems, which is causing the nature of assemblers' work to change. Lean manufacturing involves using teams of workers within "cells" to produce entire products or components. Team assemblers perform all of the assembly tasks assigned to their teams, rotating through the different tasks, rather than specializing in a single task as would be done on an assembly line. The team also may decide how the work is to be assigned and how different tasks are to be performed. This worker flexibility helps companies to cover for absent workers, improves productivity, and increases their ability to respond to changes in demand by shifting labor from one product line to another. For example, if demand for a product drops, companies may reduce the number of workers involved, while individual workers perform more stages of the assembly process. Some aspects of lean production, such as rotating tasks and seeking worker input on improving the assembly process, are common to all assembly and fabrication occupations. Although more than half of all assemblers and fabricators are classified as "team assemblers," others specialize in producing one type of product or perform the same or similar functions throughout the assembly process. These workers are classified according to the type of products they assemble or produce. Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers build products such as electric motors, batteries, computers, electronic control devices and sensing equipment. Electromechanical equipment assemblers assemble and modify electromechanical devices such as household appliances, dynamometers, actuators, or vending machines. Coil winders, tapers, and finishers wind wire coil used in resistors, transformers, generators, and electric motors. Engine and other machine assemblers construct, assemble, or rebuild engines and turbines, and machines used in almost all manufacturing industries, including agriculture, construction, mining, rolling mills, and textile, paper, and food processing. Aircraft structure, surfaces, rigging, and systems assemblers assemble, fit, fasten and install parts of airplanes, space vehicles, or missiles, such as the tails and wings, landing gear, and heating and ventilation systems. Structural metal fabricators and fitters cut, align, and fit together structural metal parts according to detailed specifications prior to welding or riveting. Fiberglass laminators and fabricators create products made of fiberglass, mainly boat decks and hulls and automobile body parts. Timing device assemblers, adjusters, and calibrators perform precision assembling or adjusting of timing devices within very narrow tolerances. Involving assemblers and fabricators in product development has become more common. Designers and engineers consult manufacturing workers during the design stage to improve product reliability and manufacturing efficiency. For example, an assembler may tell a designer that the dash of a new car design will be too difficult to install quickly and consistently. The designer could then redesign the dash to make it easier to install. Some experienced assemblers work with designers and engineers to build prototypes or test products. These assemblers read and interpret complex engineering specifications from text, drawings, and computer-aided drafting systems. They also may use a variety of tools and precision measuring instruments.
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Schools Offering Degrees for
Coil Winders, Tapers, and Finishers |
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Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and PlasticGrinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and PlasticMolding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and PlasticWelding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and TendersPrepress Technicians and WorkersPrinting Machine OperatorsExtruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass FibersPaper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
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Career
Assessment
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