Millwrights

Overview

Millwrights has a national median salary of $65,700 per year, with +0.9% projected job growth from 2025–2035. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical education needed to enter this occupation.

Description

Install, dismantle, or move machinery and heavy equipment according to layout plans, blueprints, or other drawings.

Work Values

• Support
• Independence
• Working Conditions

Work Styles

Responsibilities

Tasks

• Replace defective parts of machine, or adjust clearances and alignment of moving parts.
• Align machines or equipment, using hoists, jacks, hand tools, squares, rules, micrometers, lasers, or plumb bobs.
• Insert shims, adjust tension on nuts and bolts, or position parts, using hand tools and measuring instruments, to set specified clearances between moving and stationary parts.
• Signal crane operator to lower basic assembly units to bedplate, and align unit to centerline.
• Conduct preventative maintenance and repair, and lubricate machines and equipment.

Work Activities

• Repairing and Maintaining Mechanical Equipment
• Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials
• Handling and Moving Objects
• Getting Information
• Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
• Performing General Physical Activities
• Making Decisions and Solving Problems
• Controlling Machines and Processes
• Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
• Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards

Detailed Work Activities

• Servicing, repairing, adjusting, and testing machines, devices, moving parts, and equipment that operate primarily on the basis of mechanical (not electronic) principles.
• Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.
• Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
• Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
• Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
• Performing general physical activities includes doing activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling materials.
• Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
• Using either control mechanisms or direct physical activity to operate machines or processes (not including computers or vehicles).
• Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
• Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.

T-A-S-K

Technology, Abilities, Skills & Knowledge

Education

Education Levels of Current Workers

The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical education needed to enter this occupation. The chart below shows the highest level of education held by people already working in this field, ages 25 and older. It includes workers who earned more education than the job requires and workers who entered the field under earlier requirements, so the largest bar is not the entry requirement. For example, if someone finished an associate's degree and then started working in this field, they are counted under “Associate's degree” here, but the job itself typically asks for a high school diploma or equivalent.

Certificates

Certifications applicable to Millwrights:

Video Resources