FlightWay / Careers / Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Skilled Trades

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.

Sector: Skilled Trades
Preparation: Zone 2 — some preparation needed
O*NET code: 51-4193.00

What you'll actually do

The activities O*NET rates highest for this occupation, most important first. Numbers are out of 100.

Handling and Moving Objects

a major part of the work — rated 83/100 for importance.
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates

a major part of the work — rated 80/100 for importance.
Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings

a major part of the work — rated 78/100 for importance.
Making Decisions and Solving Problems

a major part of the work — rated 77/100 for importance.
Controlling Machines and Processes

a major part of the work — rated 76/100 for importance.
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events

a major part of the work — rated 76/100 for importance.

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.

What it takes

Two numbers per line: the level the work expects, and how important it is to doing the job well. Both are O*NET ratings, already on a 0–100 scale.

Skills

Operations Monitoring

Needed at a basic working level (45/100), and rated 56/100 for importance.
Active Listening

Needed at a basic working level (43/100), and rated 53/100 for importance.
Monitoring

Needed at a basic working level (43/100), and rated 53/100 for importance.
Operation and Control

Needed at a basic working level (43/100), and rated 53/100 for importance.
Reading Comprehension

Needed at a basic working level (41/100), and rated 53/100 for importance.

Knowledge

Production and Processing

Needed at a high level (72/100), and rated 79/100 for importance.
Mathematics

Needed at a solid working level (52/100), and rated 63/100 for importance.
Chemistry

Needed at a solid working level (48/100), and rated 61/100 for importance.
English Language

Needed at a basic working level (44/100), and rated 60/100 for importance.

Abilities

Near Vision

Needed at a solid working level (48/100), and rated 60/100 for importance.
Control Precision

Needed at a solid working level (46/100), and rated 60/100 for importance.
Oral Comprehension

Needed at a solid working level (54/100), and rated 56/100 for importance.
Manual Dexterity

Needed at a solid working level (46/100), and rated 56/100 for importance.

How people get in

O*NET places this occupation in Zone 2 — some preparation needed. That is a statement about what employers typically require, not a rule about you.

Education

A high-school diploma is the usual starting point.

Experience

Some prior work experience helps but is rarely required.

Training

Expect a few months to a year of on-the-job training.

How the work tends to run

Each line below is read off a single O*NET activity rating for this occupation — named, so you can disagree with it.

The work is physical — you are on your feet and handling things, not sitting still.From “Performing General Physical Activities”
You run equipment, and running it well is a skill in itself.From “Controlling Machines and Processes”

How FlightWay scores your fit against this

No black box. Here is the whole method, factor by factor.

1. You answer a short quiz: Your answers build a profile across the same 161 O*NET dimensions this page is describing — skills, knowledge, abilities and work activities. Same axes, so the comparison is like-for-like.
2. We correlate the two profiles: Fit is a mean-centered cosine — a correlation between the SHAPE of your profile and the shape of Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic. Centering matters: raw similarity between any two occupations sits at 0.70–0.85 because all work shares a common profile, so without it every career would look like a match.
3. The number you see is personality fit only: "Would I want this work" and "am I ready for this work" are different questions, and averaging them answers neither. So readiness — what your résumé, coursework and projects prove — is scored separately and shown next to fit, never blended into it.
4. Every factor is visible: You can open any match and see which dimensions pushed it up and which pulled it down. If you disagree with the number, you can see exactly where it came from.

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See your fit for Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Ten questions, about 90 seconds. You get your match against Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic and 782+ other real careers — with the reasoning shown.

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Occupational data on this page comes from the O*NET 30.3 Database, published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). O*NET is a registered trademark of USDOL/ETA. FlightWay is not endorsed by, and USDOL/ETA is not responsible for, anything built on that data — see our terms. What is ours is the comparison, the score and the plan.