Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Overview

Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic has a national median salary of $47,180 per year, with +0.6% 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

Set up, operate, or tend more than one type of cutting or forming machine tool or robot.

Work Values

• Support
• Relationships
• Working Conditions

Work Styles

Responsibilities

Tasks

• Inspect workpieces for defects, and measure workpieces to determine accuracy of machine operation, using rules, templates, or other measuring instruments.
• Position, adjust, and secure stock material or workpieces against stops, on arbors, or in chucks, fixtures, or automatic feeding mechanisms, manually or using hoists.
• Read blueprints or job orders to determine product specifications and tooling instructions and to plan operational sequences.
• Select, install, and adjust alignment of drills, cutters, dies, guides, and holding devices, using templates, measuring instruments, and hand tools.
• Observe machine operation to detect workpiece defects or machine malfunctions, adjusting machines as necessary.

Work Activities

• Getting Information
• Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
• Controlling Machines and Processes
• Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials
• Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards
• Making Decisions and Solving Problems
• Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings
• Processing Information
• Handling and Moving Objects
• Estimating the Quantifiable Characteristics of Products, Events, or Information

Detailed Work Activities

• Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
• Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
• Using either control mechanisms or direct physical activity to operate machines or processes (not including computers or vehicles).
• Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.
• Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
• Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
• Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
• Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.
• Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
• Estimating sizes, distances, and quantities; or determining time, costs, resources, or materials needed to perform a work activity.

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 Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic:

Video Resources