Sheet Metal Institute

Featured Partner: Thompson Metal Fab

We’re proud to recognize Thompson Metal Fab as a featured partner of the Sheet Metal Institute.

Founded in 1937, Thompson Metal Fab is a veteran-owned company based in Vancouver, Washington, known for heavy metal fabrication, precision craftsmanship, and large-scale infrastructure work.

From marine and bridge projects to hydro, structural, modular, tanks and vessels, renewables, and oil and gas, their work helps support the backbone of American infrastructure.

Their partnership helps strengthen the future of the sheet metal trade by supporting skilled training, hands-on learning, and the next generation of union sheet metal professionals.

Together, we are building more than careers. We are building the future of our industry.

Designers. Craftspeople. Problem Solvers

Sheet metal detailers turn architectural and engineering designs into precise plans for fabrication and installation. Using CAD and 3D modeling, they coordinate building systems, solve problems, adapt to project changes, and help ensure work is completed accurately in the field. Career paths include detailer, estimator, database administrator, and BIM manager.

Learn more about the diverse career opportunities in sheet metal on our website: https://f.mtr.cool/zyfbkqokre

Built Together. Bonded for Life.

You come to an apprenticeship to learn a trade. Along the way, you find something just as valuable: people who understand the work, the pressure, the long days, and the pride that comes with earning your place.

Your classmates become your crew. Your support system. The people who push you, challenge you, and stand beside you as you build a future together.

The skills will shape your career. The friendships can last a lifetime.

Spread the word. This is a great company and one of our signatory contractors!

Build your future with TMF. We're hiring hardworking people who take pride in what they do. If you're ready to be part of a team that builds projects that matter, we'd love to hear from you.

Apply today:
https://thompsonmetalfabinc-hff.viewpointforcloud.com/careers/browsejobs

Contractors please take a look!

SMACNA and Dodge Partnering on New Survey Industry-wide exercise is designed to benchmark and improve performance in the design and construction industry.

Photographers love it when the fire comes out.

Welding. Soldering. Brazing. If there is a flame, sparks, or smoke in the shop, the camera is close behind.

Can you blame them?

Fire changes everything. The light gets dramatic. The metal begins to glow. For a few seconds, the work looks as cool and badass as it really is.

These moments are not staged.

They are real apprentices learning to control heat, fire, and metal with skill, focus, and a steady hand.

The camera captures the fire.

The trade brings the heat.

The People Make the Trade

A career in sheet metal is about more than learning how to fabricate, weld, and install.

It is also about the people beside you.

The instructor who stays late to explain a difficult layout.
The journeyman who shows you a better way to approach the work.
The classmate who becomes a trusted partner on the job.
The crew that expects your best and helps you get there.

Apprenticeship builds skill, but it also builds relationships. You learn from people who have spent years in the trade, and one day, you become the person passing that knowledge forward.

That is how the trade grows stronger.

One person teaches.
Another learns.
Then the cycle continues.

Learn more about apprenticeship and careers in sheet metal on our website: https://f.mtr.cool/hraslovnof

Behind every comfortable, efficient building is a team that made sure the systems were dialed in perfectly. That's the MacDonald-Miller TAB team!

And the team is hiring! Check out the job opening for a Test & Balance Foreman: https://bit.ly/4vi5jwf.

Safety Goes Beyond the Jobsite

Learning the trade means learning how to protect yourself and the people working beside you.

Sheet Metal Occupational Health Institute Trust (SMOHIT) provides SMART members and their families with resources supporting physical safety, mental wellness and recovery. Members can access safety education, OSHA Outreach courses, SMART MAP programs and Peer-to-Peer training designed to help participants recognize when someone may be struggling and connect them with the right resources.

Support is also available through the confidential SMOHIT Helpline, 24 hours a day. You do not have to wait until a situation becomes a crisis to call.

A strong sheet metal worker knows the work. A strong union member also knows when to reach out, listen and stand beside someone who needs help.

SMOHIT Helpline: (877) 884-6227
Explore available resources and training at https://www.smohit.org/