What exactly does a sheet metal worker do all day? There’s the simple image of shaping ductwork and registers for an HVAC system. But this description fails to capture the wide range of skills and knowledge needed for the job — and while putting the pieces together remains pretty much the same as it always has been, the process behind it is changing all the time.
Hank Artlip, president of Artlip and Sons Inc. in Aurora, Illinois, said the term “sheet metal worker” has always been hard to define. It includes ductwork and register installation, but also installation of wall panels and architectural metalwork like metal roofs. Sheet metal workers also perform equipment installation, plus service and repairs to mechanical systems. They need to know about an array of metals used for different jobs. Many need to learn computer-aided design and building-information modeling.