ProductionFind the work that fits.
Discover manufacturing and production work in machining, assembly, processing, fabrication and quality-related operations.
The occupational wage group is distinct from an employer’s pay grade, shift premium, overtime or production incentive plan. Native units and source groupings remain visible in each profile.
Discover the occupations.
114 careers · Page 4 of 5
Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers
Operate or control petroleum refining or processing units. May specialize in controlling manifold and pumping systems, gauging or testing oil in storage tanks, or regulating the flow of oil into pipelines.
Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators
Perform work involved in developing and processing photographic images from film or digital media. May perform precision tasks such as editing photographic negatives and prints.
Plant and System Operators, All Other
All plant and system operators not listed separately.
Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
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.
Potters, Manufacturing
Operate production machines such as pug mill, jigger machine, or potter's wheel to process clay in manufacture of ceramic, pottery and stoneware products.
Pourers and Casters, Metal
Operate hand-controlled mechanisms to pour and regulate the flow of molten metal into molds to produce castings or ingots.
Power Distributors and Dispatchers
Coordinate, regulate, or distribute electricity or steam.
Power Plant Operators
Control, operate, or maintain machinery to generate electric power. Includes auxiliary equipment operators.
Prepress Technicians and Workers
Format and proof text and images submitted by designers and clients into finished pages that can be printed. Includes digital and photo typesetting. May produce printing plates.
Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials
Press or shape articles by hand or machine.
Print Binding and Finishing Workers
Bind books and other publications or finish printed products by hand or machine. May set up binding and finishing machines.
Printing Press Operators
Set up and operate digital, letterpress, lithographic, flexographic, gravure, or other printing machines. Includes short-run offset printing presses.
Production Workers, All Other
All production workers not listed separately.
Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
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.
Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood
Set up, operate, or tend wood sawing machines. May operate computer numerically controlled (CNC) equipment. Includes lead sawyers.
Semiconductor Processing Technicians
Perform any or all of the following functions in the manufacture of electronic semiconductors: load semiconductor material into furnace; saw formed ingots into segments; load individual segment into crystal growing chamber and monitor controls; locate crystal axis in ingot using x-ray equipment and saw ingots into wafers; and clean, polish, and load wafers into series of special purpose furnaces, chemical baths, and equipment used to form circuitry and change conductive properties.
Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Set up, operate, or tend continuous flow or vat-type equipment; filter presses; shaker screens; centrifuges; condenser tubes; precipitating, fermenting, or evaporating tanks; scrubbing towers; or batch stills. These machines extract, sort, or separate liquids, gases, or solids from other materials to recover a refined product. Includes dairy processing equipment operators.
Sewers, Hand
Sew, join, reinforce, or finish, usually with needle and thread, a variety of manufactured items. Includes weavers and stitchers.
Sewing Machine Operators
Operate or tend sewing machines to join, reinforce, decorate, or perform related sewing operations in the manufacture of garment or nongarment products.
Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders
Operate or tend a variety of machines to join, decorate, reinforce, or finish shoes and shoe parts.
Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers
Construct, decorate, or repair leather and leather-like products, such as luggage, shoes, and saddles. May use hand tools.
Slaughterers and Meat Packers
Perform nonroutine or precision functions involving the preparation of large portions of meat. Work may include specialized slaughtering tasks, cutting standard or premium cuts of meat for marketing, making sausage, or wrapping meats. Work typically occurs in slaughtering, meat packing, or wholesale establishments.
Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators
Operate or maintain stationary engines, boilers, or other mechanical equipment to provide utilities for buildings or industrial processes. Operate equipment such as steam engines, generators, motors, turbines, and steam boilers.
Stone Cutters and Carvers, Manufacturing
Cut or carve stone according to diagrams and patterns.
Start with the occupation. Then choose your place.
Each profile explains the work, typical tasks and source occupation group. Where local wages are available, open the profile’s wage-market directory to explore a retained state, metro or nonmetro reference. Employer salary pages describe their own evidence separately.
Explore pay-planning toolsExplore a family of careers.
Browse related occupations across employer industries, from healthcare and skilled trades to education, production and public service.
Browse all 23 career families
About these career references
Occupation descriptions are adapted from the O*NET® 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), under CC BY 4.0. Wages.fyi organizes the profiles into career-family guides and adds navigation and explanatory context. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Database license and attribution requirements.
Where shown, occupational wages use the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics reference available through official O*NET wage exports. A detailed career may share a broader wage group. Missing values remain unavailable; percentiles are not career levels or starting-salary promises. Read the methodology.