Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Overview

Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic has a national median salary of $43,960 per year, with -9.7% 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 plating machines to coat metal or plastic products with chromium, zinc, copper, cadmium, nickel, or other metal to protect or decorate surfaces. Typically, the product being coated is immersed in molten metal or an electrolytic solution.

Work Values

• Support
• Relationships
• Working Conditions

Work Styles

Responsibilities

Tasks

• Immerse workpieces in coating solutions or liquid metal or plastic for specified times.
• Adjust dials to regulate flow of current and voltage supplied to terminals to control plating processes.
• Inspect coated or plated areas for defects, such as air bubbles or uneven coverage.
• Set up, operate, or tend plating or coating machines to coat metal or plastic products with chromium, zinc, copper, cadmium, nickel, or other metal to protect or decorate surfaces.
• Observe gauges to ensure that machines are operating properly, making adjustments or stopping machines when problems occur.

Work Activities

• Handling and Moving Objects
• Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
• Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings
• Making Decisions and Solving Problems
• Controlling Machines and Processes
• Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
• Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials
• Judging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or People
• Getting Information
• Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment

Detailed Work Activities

• Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
• Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
• Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
• 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.
• Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.
• Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.
• Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
• Running, maneuvering, navigating, or driving vehicles or mechanized equipment, such as forklifts, passenger vehicles, aircraft, or watercraft.

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 Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic:

Video Resources