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Craft and related trades workers · code 7213

Sheet-metal workers

AI can turn the blueprint into shop drawings. Forming the metal is still your job.

Planning jobs and turning blueprints into shop drawings are mostly out of AI's reach. Marking out sheet metal and making tanks and boilers it barely touches.

What they actually do (and what else they get called)

Sheet metal workers make, install and repair articles and parts of articles made out of sheet metal such as sheet steel, copper, tin, brass, aluminium, zinc or galvanized iron. Tasks include - (a) marking sheet metal for cutting and shaping; (b) making and repairing household utensils and other articles in tin, copper and light alloys, or ornamental articles and fittings; (c) making and repairing boilers, tanks, vats and similar containers; (d) installing and repairing sheet metal parts of vehicles and aircraft; (e) converting blueprints into shop drawings to be followed in the construction and assembly of sheet metal products; (f) determining project requirements, including scope, assembly sequences and required methods and materials, according to blueprints, drawings and written or verbal instructions; (g) inspecting product quality and installation to ensure conformity with specifications. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Boilersmith - Coppersmith - Panel beater - Tinsmith Notes Installers of metal roofing are classified in Unit Group 7121: Roofers. Installers of metal drains, gutters and ducts are classified in Unit Group 7126: Plumbers and Pipe Fitters. Workers who make sheet metal products for adaptation and installation by roofers and plumbers are classified in Unit Group 7213: Sheet Metal Workers.

  • sheet metal worker
  • container equipment assembler
  • coppersmith
  • boilermaker

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

79 / 100

Mostly holds up against AI

AI can take a few chores off your plate, but most of the day is still yours.

Not the odds you keep your job. It's how much of the everyday work still needs a person, out of 100.

← Robot's turf Human's turf →

The ILO's official verdict: Not Exposed

151 of 427 for holding up against AI

Why this score?

The ILO rated each of this job's 7 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 20.6 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 20.6 = 79.4.

That's the whole sum. No black box, no secret sauce: you can check it against the ILO's study. ILO group “Not Exposed”: None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count.

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Pinch of salt: this number is probably too rosy

It only asks what AI software could do, and this job is 67 out of 100 hands-on. A chatbot can't do that part. A robot might, one day, and nobody measures how close that is.

Man v Bot · compare

Who holds up better?

Sheet-metal workers 79

v

Go on, try your partner's job. Or your sibling's. We won't tell.

Man v Bot

Where the bot helps, and where the human wins

Bot

What AI takes

The routine stuff. You may not miss it.

  • Shop drawings from digital models.
  • CNC cutting and bending.
  • Quality inspection records.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

  • Forming and fitting sheet metal.
  • Repairs on vehicles, aircraft and tanks.
  • Custom and ornamental work.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

  • Ductwork for heat pumps and ventilation.
  • Robotic bending and welding cells.
  • Electric vehicle bodywork repairs.

Written by a human, from the ILO's task ratings below. Yes, we see the irony. Read it as one person's take.

Meet your two rivals

They're not the same machine. AI software can only reach the parts of a job done on a screen or in words. A chatbot can't climb a ladder. A robot might, one day, if it doesn't fall off.

The AI

Lives in a screen. Never had to fix a boiler.

Threat level: Low

23 could do without you

It could take over very little of the work on its own. It could help with 56 of 100.

The robot

The wildcard. Has hands, still working out stairs.

How much it matters here: Higher

67 how hands-on

Most of this job needs hands, a body or turning up. That's robot territory, and nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to give you a number. We won't make one up.

So could a robot do the physical part?

More fine handwork, and more time in cramped or awkward spots, than a typical hands-on job. That is exactly what machines find hardest: they do best in tidy, predictable places.

Robots hate fiddly work in awkward spaces. On that measure, this job scores 46 out of 100. The higher it is, the longer the robot waits.

67 How
hands-on
46 How fiddly
and cramped

Kind of hands-on work Hands-on, fiddly work in tight spaces

The small print

They aren't a robot score, and nothing on this page is. Nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to put a number on it. These are the closest thing we have: how hands-on the job is, and how much fiddly, cramped work it takes, which is what Frey and Osborne found hardest for machines.

From O*NET, averaged across 3 US jobs .

finger skill 44 · hand skill 44 · cramped spaces 50.5 · averaged · rule: hands-on 50+ · fiddly 39.4+

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.8-observed-use measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

The job, task by task

Every job is really a bundle of tasks. Here's this one unpacked, with how much of each AI could do, out of 100. The score is the average, and averages can hide a lot.

AI's favourite task here scores 37, against an average of 21. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.

  1. 37

    Determining project requirements, including scope, assembly sequences, and required methods and materials, according to blueprints, drawings, and written or verbal instructions

    Low
  2. 27

    Converting blueprints into shop drawings to be followed in the construction and assembly of sheet metal products

    Low
  3. 26

    Inspecting product quality and installation to ensure conformance to specifications.

    Low
  4. 14

    Installing and repairing sheet-metal parts of vehicles and aircraft

    Very Low
  5. 14

    Making and repairing household utensils and other articles in tin, copper and light alloys, or ornamental articles and fittings

    Very Low
  6. 14

    Making and repairing boilers, tanks, vats and similar containers

    Very Low
  7. 13

    Marking sheet metal for cutting and shaping

    Very Low

7 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Sidekick or replacement?

A tool that makes you faster is a very different thing from one that does the task while you watch. Jobs and Skills Australia measured the two separately, which is handy.

AI helps you
56
AI does it for you
23

Sidekick wins, by 34 points.

How good a match is this?

7 Australian jobs match this one, and we've simply averaged them. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.8-observed-use matched to Australian jobs 3222, 3223, 3231, 3241, 3242, 3991, 7123

So, should sheet metal workers be worried?

Short answer: not much. Some of the chores will change, and good riddance.

Parts of the planning are changing. Working out requirements, converting blueprints and inspecting quality are the most exposed tasks, all Low; installing, making and repairing rate Very Low. Design software and CNC cutting help; fabrication and fitting stay hands-on.

Worth remembering: we score tasks, not jobs. When AI takes on a task, the job usually reshuffles around it rather than vanishing.

Where this job could lead

None of the new jobs we've written up start from here yet. Could be you're the first. See the jobs AI is creating →

How are the neighbours doing?

There are 65 jobs in the “Craft and related trades workers” family, averaging 84. This one is below the family average.

Pit this against any other job →