Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

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Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Careers / Metal and Plastic Machine Workers

Table of Contents

1.	Significant Points

2.	Nature of the Work

3.	Working Conditions

4.	Employment

5.	Training & Qualifications

6.	Job Outlook

7.	Earnings

8.	Additional Sources of Information

Metal and Plastic Machine Workers

Working Conditions

Metal and plastic machine workers held about 1 million jobs in 2014. Nearly all worked in manufacturing industries.

Employment in the detailed occupations that make up this group was distributed as follows in 2014:

Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	192,200
Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic	148,800
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	129,500
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	99,800
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	73,400
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	71,400
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	59,500
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	42,900
Plating and coating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	36,100
Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	33,700
Computer numerically controlled machine tool programmers, metal and plastic	25,100
Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	22,400
Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	21,600
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	21,300
Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders	21,200
Drilling and boring machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	17,800
Foundry mold and coremakers	12,000
Pourers and casters, metal	9,800
Model makers, metal and plastic	6,200
Patternmakers, metal and plastic	3,800

Metal and plastic machine workers are employed mostly in factories.

These workers often operate powerful, high-speed machines that can be dangerous, so they must observe safety rules. Operators usually wear protective equipment, such as safety glasses, earplugs, and steel-toed boots to protect them from flying particles of metal or plastic, machine noise, and heavy objects, respectively.

Other required safety equipment varies by work setting and machine. For example, respirators are common for those in the plastics industry who work near materials that emit dangerous fumes or dust.

Work Schedules

Most metal and plastic machine workers are employed full time. Overtime is common, and because many manufacturers run their machinery for extended periods, evening and weekend work is also common.

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Interesting Fact

The U.S. industry expected to experience the greatest decline between 2002 and 2012 is Apparel Manufacturing.

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