Starting with iron and forge welding, the welding industry has come a long way and matured itself with wars and globalization.
With a 6% year over year growth, A greater part of the goods and products sold in America requires welding in some way or another.
Having such an impact in the past and current world. Does welding really have a future? YES!
With robotic welding and other similar practices taking over, welders are in a panic around the world.
In this post we are going to look at the current welding industry, the advancement in welding machines and some must see welding industry statistics.
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Automotive
The automotive welding industry stands number one having the most number of welders employed, however, has declined trend with automation taking over slowly.
An average car requires more than two thousand welds and thus would require welding as an important part of the automotive manufacturer as far as I can see.
Majorly MIG(metal inert gas) welding and RSW(resistance spot welding) are used for automotive manufacturing. These processes deliver the ideal solution and the strong bonds between the metal parts remain intact for a long time.
A branch of the automotive welding industry is frame welding, it includes those welding processes which are used to fix the outer frame of the car, which comes close to lines of illegal work in some parts of America.
Construction
The increasing requirements for more building and housing complexes put the construction welding industry in the second position after the automotive industry.
This industry has huge openings for new and upcoming welders not only in America but old overseas due to the shortage of skilled welders worldwide leaving huge money-making options.
Mainly used for steel and aluminum, this industry emphasizes wire feed welding and plasma arc welding.
The Construction welding industry is however not limited to infrastructure alone, it also includes fixing damaged machines and other restoration purposes.
Manufacturing
With the high efficiency of welding and other metalworking processes, the manufacturing industry particularly the electronics industry excelled.
More and more demands in the mass productions of computing devices were made which were successfully fulfilled with the inclusion of welding into the manufacturing industry.
From MIG welding to TIG welding, every welding process was incorporated depending upon the needs. And from sanitary welding to micro welding, the manufacturing industry was known to surely have welding somewhere in the production of an item.
In fact, two-third(Over 300,000) of all welders right now are employed in the manufacturing welding industry.
Railroads
Welding has always been a critical process in the railroad welding industry, which was from the start one of the most used transporting methods.
Now with several welding methods such as aluminothermic, puddle arc welding, etc rail welding has come a long way which started from the mere joining of steel rails.
Shipping
The shipping industry is huge ranging from small cargo carriers to humongous cruises to airplane carriers.
Welding is irreplaceable in the ships where any small damages have to be fixed quickly, this also led to a boom in the high paying, high-risk welding job i.e underwater welding.
During the wars of the 20th century, ships were extensively used in battle and for carrying cargo which led to the growth of the shipping welding industry.
Oil and Gas
Energy-based industries such as oil and gas will always be the backbone of every other industry out there and so are the jobs related to them such as pipe welding, etc.
We just can’t survive without them for example pipe, pipeline welders would be in demand as long as there is a demand for gas and other fuels. As matter of fact, any other industry out there depends upon this industry for their vital supply i.e fuel.
Welding Trade
With new emerging technologies in the field of welding, companies wanting the latest products to cut the cost and increasing production ultimately gave birth to the welding trade industry.
Welders with skill in marketing and sales were quick to move into this field of wholesale trade in which they pitched new cutting-edge welding tools and equipment such as new welding machines, welding booths, tents,etc to both individual clients who worked on their hobby welding projects and commercial clients.
However, a solid base of welding and ins & outs of the welding machine is very crucial.
Welding Machines: Basics for Wholesale Trade
There are many kinds of welding machines from different brands on the modern market, some of which are designed for heavy-duty commercial use and others which are suitable for home handymen as well as professional users.
A welding machine is a device that allows the user to fuse two or more pieces of metal into a single, solid continuum, giving the whole piece more strength and durability than would be the case were it simply bolted together.
Welding allows the combination of several pieces of metal into a single, continuous complex shape that could not otherwise be molded or machined, and makes metal objects and structures less likely to break or fall apart while being used.
Many of the most effective welding machines are arc welders, which make use of a combination of electricity, an inert gas shield, and often, some kind of filler metal to fuse pieces of metal into a whole.
Manual metal arc welding (MMA), metal inert gas welding (MIG), and tungsten inert gas welding (TIG) are all examples of arc welding types that are offered by various welding machines.
It varies in size, including fixed installations in factories, large-wheeled models that are too heavy to be practically carried and must be used at places where they can be wheeled to, and smaller compact models that are man-portable with a shoulder strap and can be carried to any place that a human can walk, climb, or crawl.
Even the smallest modern models offer many features and settings, such as digital controls to maintain a stable arc, wide volt ranges and a good duty cycle so that they can be used effectively on different projects and materials and a large array of safety features.
Why is Acetylene Such An Important Chemical For The Welding Industry?
There are only a few materials that are irreplaceable in any welding industry. One such compound is Acetylene.
Welding requires very high temperatures to melt the metals, and all the gases are NOT effective enough to produce such high temperatures. Acetylene on the other hand is known for producing the hottest flames which can easily melt the metals and hence give the best results when used for welding.