Bridging skills gaps in metalwork
Development in the manufacturing and construction sectors in Fiji calls for more skilled tradespersons in metalworking.
New construction on high-rise buildings, shipbuilding, bridge construction, transport and boiler construction projects all contribute to rising demand for skilled welders and manufacturers.
New registrations at the National Training and Productivity Centre (NTPC) showed a constant stream of skills training interest in welding jobs.
National Training and Productivity Centre offers different types of welding programs such as aluminium metal inert gas welding, stainless steel metal inert gas welding, mild steel metal inert gas welding, welding of high pressure pipes, engineering drawing, engineering calculation and tungsteno inert gas welding, to name some.
The welding career is best suited for people who want to use their hands to design and build metal structures from engineering requirements and working.
Welding
In 1836, Edmund Davy discovered acetylene.
But it wasn’t until 1881 that true welding was inverted.
It started with August De Meritens, who used arc heat to join lead plates together.
A Russian student of his, named Nikolai Benardos, then patented a method of electric arc welding with carbon rods.
Welding is a manufacturing process that mixes materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the components together and allowing them to cool, which induces fusion.
Welding is distinct from lower metal-joining temperature techniques such as brazing and soldering, which do not melt the base metal (parent metal).
In addition to melting the base metal, a filler material is usually added to join to form a pool of molten material (the weld pool) which cools to form a joint which can be stronger than the base material (parent metal) based on weld configuration.
Pressure can also be used to produce a weld in combination with heat or by itself.
Welding often includes a mask to protect against corrosion or oxidation of the filler metals or molten metals.
It is possible to use many different energy sources for welding, including gas flame (chemical process), electric arc (electric), laser, electron beam, friction, and ultrasonic. Although mostly an industry operation, welding can be carried out in many different settings, including on land, underground and even underwater.
Although welding is a dangerous undertaking process, a proper step, equipment’s and procedures must be considered to prevent burns, electrical shock, vision damage, inhalation of toxic gasses and fumes, and extreme ultra violet exposure. In industries such as gas metal arc welding (GMAW), gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), shearing metal arc welding (SMAW), the flux core arc welding (FCAW), there are different types of welding processes. Manual metal arc welding (MMAW) or stick welding can be cheaper in Fiji compared to other welding processes such as MIG welding or even TIG welding.
Gas metal are welding
Another important feature area of research in gas metal arc welding (GMAW), also known as Inertn Metal Gas or metal inert gas welding.
This can be a semiautomatic or automated operation, using a continues wire feed as an electrode and an inert or semi-inert gas mixture to protect the welding pool against contamination.
The welding speed is greater for GMAW than for SMAW because the electrode is continuous.
A related technique, flux-cored arc welding (FCAW), uses similar equipment, but uses wire composed of a surrounding steel electrode, a power filler material.
This cored wire is costlier than the regular solid wire and can produce fumes or even slag, but allows much greater welding speed and metaln penetration.
Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW), or Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding, is a manual welding techniques, using a non-consumable tungsten electrode, an inert gas or semi-inert gas mixture, and a separate filler material.
This method is especially useful for welding thin materials; it is distinguished by a steady arc of high quality welds, requiring considerable operator skills and can only be carried out at relatively low speeds. Although it is most widely applied to stainless steel and light metals, gas tungsten arc welding can be used on almost all weldable metals. It is also used when quality welds, for example, in aircrafts and hotels, are extremely necessary. Plasma arc welding procedure also uses a tungsten electrode but uses plasma gas to create the arc. The arc is more focused than the gas tungsten arc welding arc, making transverse control more important and limiting technics to a mechanical cycle in general.
The system can be used on a broader variety of material thicknesses than the gas tungsten arc welding process because of it stable current, and is much faster.
It can be applied to all the same materials as gas tungsten arc welding, with the exception of magnesium, and automatic stainless steel welding is an important process application.
Plasma cutting, an important cutting procedure, is a variation of the procedure.
What is the value of learning how to weld to a certificate?
The first step towards landing a highly lucrative job in Fiji or even overseas, is to attend our welding school at the national training and productivity centre, with a view to becoming a qualified welder.
The famous shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) is tested and approved during your career with realistic inspection and skill building ability.
Is a certificate of welding worth it?
Of course, if you’re serious about being more than just a job, but a real career, you’re worried. A welding certification that separate you from other industry sectors are just as much needed asb mechanical or electrical engineers.
What certificates are accepted Oof welders?
Many employers allow certification of the welders and allow the completion of employer-basedb welding test.
Welding apprenticeships also allow welders to learn technics. NTPC is a training provoker for those who are already in the industry, as well as for professionals who want to pursue a career as welders.
Do you receive standard welding training at the National Training and Productivity Centre?
In National Training and Productivity Centre, welding curriculum is designed to prepare each student for a level of welding and manufacturing three and four.
Qualified welder and manufacturer already in the industry may also carry out trade tests given by NTPC trade test department.
Students are also trained in a number of skills like building site protection, design a site plan, metallurgical concepts, construction math and use of welding equipment and set-up.
From the transport sector to the construction infrastructure, professionally trained welders are required all over the world.
This career area offers job seeking to work in one of the fastest growing professionals in the country.