About This Career

Operates or tends bonding machines that use adhesives to join items for further processing or to form a completed product. Processes include joining veneer sheets into plywood; gluing paper; or joining rubber and rubberized fabric parts, plastic, simulated leather, or other materials.

This career is part of the Manufacturing cluster Production pathway.

A person in this career:

• Aligns and positions materials being joined to ensure accurate application of adhesive or heat sealing.
• Adjusts machine components according to specifications such as widths, lengths, and thickness of materials and amounts of glue, cement, or adhesive required.
• Monitors machine operations to detect malfunctions and reports or resolves problems.
• Starts machines, and turns valves or moves controls to feed, admit, apply, or transfer materials and adhesives, and to adjust temperature, pressure, and time settings.
• Fills machines with glue, cement, or adhesives.
• Performs test production runs and makes adjustments as necessary to ensure that completed products meet standards and specifications.
• Examines and measures completed materials or products to verify conformance to specifications, using measuring devices such as tape measures, gauges, or calipers.
• Reads work orders and communicates with coworkers to determine machine and equipment settings and adjustments and supply and product specifications.
• Removes and stacks completed materials or products, and restocks materials to be joined.
• Maintains production records such as quantities, dimensions, and thicknesses of materials processed.

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

People who do this job report that:

• You would often handle loads up to 10 lbs., sometimes up to 20 lbs. You might do a lot of walking or standing, or you might sit but use your arms and legs to control machines, equipment or tools.
• Work in this occupation involves use of protective items such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hearing protection, a hard hat, or personal flotation devices
• Exposure to pollutants, gases, dust, fumes, odors, poor ventilation, etc.
• Work in this occupation involves using your hands to hold, control, and feel objects more than one-third of the time
• Exposed to hazardous equipment such as saws, machinery, or vehicular traffic more than once a month
• Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
• Sound and noise levels are loud and distracting
• Work in this occupation involves making repetitive motions more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation involves standing more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation involves walking or running more than one-third of the time

Working in this career involves (physical activities):

• Picking out a particular sound in the presence of other sounds
• Judging how far away an object is, or which of several objects is closer or farther away
• Using muscles repeatedly or over time without tiring
• Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching
• Seeing clearly up close
• Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
• Identifying and understanding the speech of another person
• Exerting oneself physically over long periods of time without getting out of breath
• Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying objects
• Using abdominal and lower back muscles repeatedly or over time without tiring

Work Hours and Travel

• Rotating shift work