Sheet metal: a dying art

[lpbrian]

Who is going to to do sheet metal work or composite work on next gen a/c? I view sheet metal as a dying art. Airlines are all about outsourcing such work, but who can do it? Airlines are more interested in grooming bean counters than sheetmetalists.

 

[787nightmare]

You bring up a good point. It absolutely is an art, and a GOOD structures guy is hard to find. Kind of like a good troubleshooter/avionics guy. If it wasn't for the massive outsourcing going on in this nation to foreign repair facilities, the shortage of-qualified-(not people that just got out of some a/p sch)AMTs would've already hit this industry HARD.
It's starting to show itself, but at a slower rate. I've seen it at Boeing over the years I've been up here. But another factor is the ever increasing addition of composite sub assemblies.
THAT is the area I'd migrate over to! ;-)

 

[Buck]

A sad part of the AMTO or OSM on the aircraft was that some really good sheet metal mechanics were "rifted" for a really stupid reason. No one says that these guys not good in the Wheel and Brake shop...

 

[Frank Szabo]

"Trashing the Trades" has been standard practice at AA TULE (all I can speak for) for quite some time before I retired. It got old quickly.

 

[lpbrian]

I know TUL has some of the best sheet metalists in the world. UA DL WN have their own crack team field teams. Who is going to replace them when (not if) they retire? Oh, I forgot, they are having a sheetmetalists conference in Cambridge Mass. Ivy League law students are welcomed to attend.

 

[lpbrian]

Centerport is hiring.

 

[bob@las-AA]

Yes it is, right along with gothic stone carvings. Embrace the future or die with it.