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.

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MAY 2025 · OCCUPATIONAL WAGES

A wage reference for United States.

Published wage percentiles describe a distribution within the source occupation group. They provide context for a career decision; employer packages and job offers have their own terms.

Source wage group: Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

This wage group may include multiple detailed occupations. The figures are for the source group, which may be broader than Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic. They are not an exact-title, employer, experience or seniority match.

May 2025 · USD · United States. Annual and hourly figures are shown only when the source publishes them; neither is calculated from the other.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage data, distributed through the O*NET® OnLine service.

Median annual wage$43,960USD per year · Published 50th percentile

Median hourly wage$21.14USD per hour · Published 50th percentile

Annual wage thresholds

USD per year

Hourly wage thresholds

USD per hour

Published occupational wage percentiles · United States · May 2025
Percentile	Annual wage (USD/year)	Hourly wage (USD/hour)
10th	$33,790	$16.25
25th	$37,260	$17.91
50th · Median	$43,960	$21.14
75th	$49,600	$23.85
90th	$60,370	$29.02

“≥” means at least the published amount; “≤” means at most that amount. These are bounds, not exact values. “Not published” means the source did not provide that figure. Occupational wages follow the source definition and do not establish an employer’s base salary, equity or total compensation.

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THE WORK BEHIND THE TITLE

What this career involves.

Occupation definitions describe common work. Responsibilities and requirements vary by employer and specific job.

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Typical 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.
Remove objects from solutions at periodic intervals and observe objects to verify conformance to specifications.

Expand more tasks (27)

Maintain production records.
Remove excess materials or impurities from objects, using air hoses or grinding machines.
Examine completed objects to determine thicknesses of metal deposits, or measure thicknesses by using instruments such as micrometers.
Rinse coated objects in cleansing liquids and dry them with cloths, centrifugal driers, or by tumbling in sawdust-filled barrels.
Determine sizes and compositions of objects to be plated, and amounts of electrical current and time required.
Test machinery to ensure that it is operating properly.
Measure or weigh materials, using rulers, calculators, and scales.
Measure, mark, and mask areas to be excluded from plating.
Immerse objects to be coated or plated into cleaning solutions, or spray objects with conductive solutions to prepare them for plating.
Read production schedules to determine setups of equipment and machines.
Suspend objects, such as parts or molds from cathode rods, or negative terminals, and immerse objects in plating solutions.
Suspend sticks or pieces of plating metal from anodes, or positive terminals, and immerse metal in plating solutions.
Adjust controls to set temperatures of coating substances and speeds of machines and equipment.
Monitor and measure thicknesses of electroplating on component parts to verify conformance to specifications, using micrometers.
Operate hoists to place workpieces onto machine feed carriages or spindles.
Position and feed materials into processing machines, by hand or by using automated equipment.
Position objects to be plated in frames, or suspend them from positive or negative terminals of power supplies.
Operate sandblasting equipment to roughen and clean surfaces of workpieces.
Clean and maintain equipment, using water hoses and scrapers.
Clean workpieces, using wire brushes.
Mix and test solutions, and turn valves to fill tanks with solutions.
Replace worn parts and adjust equipment components, using hand tools.
Place plated or coated materials on racks and transfer them to ovens to dry for specified periods of time.
Measure and set stops, rolls, brushes, and guides on automatic feeders and conveying equipment or coating machines, using micrometers, rules, and hand tools.
Position containers to receive parts, and load or unload materials in containers, using dollies or handtrucks.
Perform equipment maintenance, such as cleaning tanks and lubricating moving parts of conveyors.
Preheat workpieces in ovens.

Skills used in this work

Operations Monitoring: Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Operation and Control: Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Coordination: Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.

Expand more skills (29)

Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Quality Control Analysis: Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Time Management: Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Equipment Maintenance: Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
Negotiation: Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
Persuasion: Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Troubleshooting: Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
Instructing: Teaching others how to do something.
Learning Strategies: Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
Repairing: Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Equipment Selection: Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
Management of Personnel Resources: Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
Mathematics: Using mathematics to solve problems.
Science: Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
Systems Analysis: Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
Systems Evaluation: Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
Management of Material Resources: Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
Operations Analysis: Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
Management of Financial Resources: Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
Technology Design: Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
Installation: Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or programs to meet specifications.
Programming: Writing computer programs for various purposes.

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