In Alberta, welder is a compulsory designated trade with a wire process operator branch available.
Welders and wire process operators join and sever metals in beams, girders, vessels, piping and other metal components, make metal parts used in construction and manufacturing plants, and weld parts, tools, machines and equipment. They fuse metal pieces together with heat using different welding processes. The processes and fillers they choose depends on the type of metal, its size and shape, and requirements for finished product strength.
Welders are certified in all welding processes. For typical welding projects, they:
- Develop patterns or follow directions given in layouts, drawing interpretation and work orders
- Shape component parts, clean, and check for defects
- Weld parts together
Wire process operators work primarily in production and manufacturing plants, joining components and sub-assemblies. They are limited to the following welding processes:
- Gas metal arc welding (GMAW)
- Flux cored arc welding (FCAW)
- Submerged arc welding (SAW)
- Other semiautomatic wire feed welding processes
They may also use cutting torches to separate metals, or build up worn parts by welding layers of high-strength hard-metal alloys onto them. For typical welding projects, wire process operators:
- Follow directions in layouts, drawing interpretation, and work orders
- Join parts together
- Shape component parts, clean welds, and check for defects
