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

Overview

Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic has a national median salary of $50,140 per year, with -8.3% 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 machines to roll steel or plastic forming bends, beads, knurls, rolls, or plate, or to flatten, temper, or reduce gauge of material.

Work Values

• Support
• Relationships
• Working Conditions

Work Styles

Responsibilities

Tasks

• Monitor machine cycles and mill operation to detect jamming and to ensure that products conform to specifications.
• Adjust and correct machine set-ups to reduce thicknesses, reshape products, and eliminate product defects.
• Start operation of rolling and milling machines to flatten, temper, form, and reduce sheet metal sections and to produce steel strips.
• Examine, inspect, and measure raw materials and finished products to verify conformance to specifications.
• Read rolling orders, blueprints, and mill schedules to determine setup specifications, work sequences, product dimensions, and installation procedures.

Work Activities

• Controlling Machines and Processes
• Getting Information
• Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials
• Making Decisions and Solving Problems
• Handling and Moving Objects
• Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment
• Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
• Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
• Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings
• Training and Teaching Others

Detailed Work Activities

• Using either control mechanisms or direct physical activity to operate machines or processes (not including computers or vehicles).
• Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
• Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.
• Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
• Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
• Running, maneuvering, navigating, or driving vehicles or mechanized equipment, such as forklifts, passenger vehicles, aircraft, or watercraft.
• Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
• 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.
• Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others.

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

Video Resources