Those that hold manufacturing jobs will be the first to talk
about the large amount of responsibilities. Depending on the job, these workers
are all specialized and perform technical tasks.
Manufacturing is defined as the use of machines, tools and
labor to produce goods for use or sale. In industrial production, raw materials
are transformed into finished goods on a large scale. The finished goods are
then used to make other products, such as aircraft, household appliances or
automobiles. Examples of companies that manufacture things in America include
General Motors Corporation, General Electric, and Pfizer. Examples in Europe
include Volkswagen Group, Siemens, and Michelin.
Duties in manufacturing depend on what specialty you are in.
Workers in chemical manufacturing produce basic chemicals, synthetic materials,
agricultural chemicals, paint, coatings, and adhesives, cleaning preparations,
and other chemical products. These include various petrochemicals, gases, dyes,
and pigments. Other products include common plastic materials such as
polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polystyrene and
fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and other agricultural chemicals.
Steel manufacturing workers melt iron ore, scrap metal, and
other additives in furnaces. The molten metal output is then solidified into
semifinished shapes before it is rolled, drawn, cast, and extruded to make
sheet, rod, bar, tubing, beams, and wire.
In the telecommunication industry, electrical devices such
as the telegraph, telephone, and teleprinter as manufactured, as well as fiber
optics and their associated electronics, plus the use of the orbiting
satellites and the Internet. In the pulp and paper industry workers use wood as
raw material and produce pulp, paper, board and other cellulose-based products.
In textile manufacturing workers convert three types of
fibre into yarn, then fabric, then textiles. Cotton is planted from September
to mid November and the crop is harvested between March and May. The cotton
bolls are harvested by stripper harvesters and spindle pickers, that remove the
entire boll from the plant.These are then fabricated into clothes or other
artifacts. Some workers perform processes at the spinning and fabric-forming
stages coupled with the complexities of the finishing and coloration processes
to the production of a wide ranges of products.
In the shipbuilding industry, workers use various materials
to construct floating vessels. They make use of prefabricated sections. Entire
multi-deck segments of the hull or superstructure will be built elsewhere in
the yard, transported to the building dock or slipway, then lifted into place,
a process called block construction.
Tool and die makers are workers in the manufacturing
industry who make jigs, fixtures, dies, molds, machine tools, cutting tools
such as milling cutters and form tools, gauges, and other tools used in
manufacturing processes. Common tools include metal forming rolls, lathe bits,
milling cutters, and form tools. Tool making may also include precision
fixturing or machine tools used to manufacture, hold, or test products during
their fabrication. Die making includes making punches, dies, steel rule dies,
and die sets. Punches and dies must maintain proper clearance to produce parts
accurately. A jig maker needs to know how to use an assortment of machines to
build devices used in automation, robotics, welding, tapping, and mass
production operations.
