Occupation Profile for Plating and Coating Machine Operators
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. Includes electrolytic processes.
Signficant Points
- Manufacturing industries employ more than 90 percent of workers.
- A few weeks of on-the-job training is sufficient for most workers to learn basic machine operations, but a year or more is required to become a highly skilled operator or setter.
- Overall employment of machine setters, operators, and tenders is projected to decline rapidly over the 2006-16 period as a result of productivity improvements and competition for jobs from abroad.
- Those who can operate multiple machines will have the best opportunities for advancement and for gaining jobs with more long-term potential.
Earnings
Earnings for machine operators can vary by size of the company, union status, industry, and skill level and experience of the operator. Also, temporary employees, who are being hired in greater numbers, usually get paid less than permanently employed workers. The median hourly earnings in May 2006 for a variety of machine setters, operators, and tenders—metal and plastic were:
| Model makers, metal and plastic | $20.22 |
| Patternmakers, metal and plastic | 17.01 |
| Lay-out workers, metal and plastic | 16.15 |
| Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders | 15.69 |
| Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic | 15.46 |
| Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic | 15.18 |
| Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic | 14.93 |
| Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic | 14.83 |
| Tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners | 14.73 |
| Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic | 14.68 |
| Drilling and boring machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic | 14.36 |
| Pourers and casters, metal | 14.22 |
| Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic | 13.94 |
| Foundry mold and coremakers | 13.82 |
| Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic | 13.58 |
| Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic | 13.50 |
| Plating and coating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic | 13.21 |
| Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic | 12.66 |
| Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic | 12.29 |
| Metal workers and plastic workers, all other | 16.69 |
Job Outlook
Overall employment in the various machine setter, operator, and tender occupations is expected to decline rapidly during the projection period. Those who can operate multiple machines will have the best opportunities for advancement and for gaining jobs with more long-term potential.
Employment change. Overall employment in the various machine setter, operator, and tender occupations is expected to decline rapidly by 15 percent from 2006 to 2016. In general, employment growth of these workers will be affected by technological advances, changing demand for the goods they produce, foreign competition, and the reorganization of production processes.
One of the most important factors influencing employment change in this occupation is the implementation of labor-saving machinery. Many firms are adopting new technologies, such as computer-controlled machine tools and robots in order to improve quality, lower production costs, and remain competitive. Computer-controlled equipment allows operators to tend a greater number of machines simultaneously and often makes setup easier, thereby reducing the amount of time setup workers spend on each machine. Robots are being used to load and unload parts from machines. The lower-skilled manual machine tool operators and tenders jobs are more likely to be eliminated by these new technologies, because the functions they perform are more easily automated.
The demand for machine setters, operators, and tenders—metal and plastic largely mirrors the demand for the parts they produce. The consumption of plastic products has grown as they have been substituted for metal goods in many products in recent years. The process is likely to continue and should result in stronger demand for machine operators in plastics than in metal.
Both the plastics and metal industries, however, face stiff foreign competition that is limiting the demand for domestically produced parts. One way in which larger U.S. producers have responded to this competition is by moving production operations to other countries where labor costs are lower. These moves are likely to continue and will further reduce employment growth for machine operators, setters, and tenders—metal and plastic in the United States. Another way domestic manufacturers compete with low-wage foreign competition is by increasing their use of automated systems, which can make manufacturing establishments more competitive by improving their productivity. However, increased automation also limits employment growth.
Job prospects. Despite the overall rapid employment decline, a large number of machine setter, operator, and tender jobs will become available because of an expected surge in retirements, primarily baby boomers, by the end of the decade. Workers with a thorough background in machine operations, certifications from industry associations, exposure to a variety of machines, and a good working knowledge of the properties of metals and plastics will be better able to adjust to the changing environment. In addition, new shop-floor arrangements will reward workers with good basic mathematics and reading skills, good communication skills, and the ability and willingness to learn new tasks. As workers adapt to team-oriented production methods, those who can operate multiple machines will have the best opportunities for advancement and for gaining jobs with more long-term potential.
Employment
Machine setters, operators, and tenders—metal and plastic held about 1.1 million jobs in 2006. More than 90 percent of jobs were found in manufacturing, primarily in fabricated metal product manufacturing, plastics and rubber products manufacturing, primary metal manufacturing, machinery manufacturing, and motor vehicle parts manufacturing.