Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
US occupation · SOC 51-4021
Job titles people report: Equipment Technician (Equipment Tech), Extruder Operator, Extrusion Line Operator, Extrusion Operator, Extrusion Press Operator, Machine Operator, Metal Inspector, Setup Operator, Wire Mill Operator, Wire Mill Rover
Pay and outlook
- Median annual wage, May 2025
- $47,720
- Half earn more, half earn less
- Middle half earn
- $40,450 – $56,840
- 25th to 75th percentile
- People employed, May 2025
- 60,840
- Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
- Projected change, 2025–35
- +0.7%
- Growing slower than all jobs (0% to under 3.5%)
- Openings a year (projected)
- 5,400
- New jobs plus replacing people who leave
- Typical education to enter
- High school diploma or equivalent
- BLS
- All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
- Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
- Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.
What the work involves
Set up, operate, or tend machines to extrude or draw thermoplastic or metal materials into tubes, rods, hoses, wire, bars, or structural shapes.
Main tasks
- Measure and examine extruded products to locate defects and to check for conformance to specifications, adjusting controls as necessary to alter products.
- Start machines and set controls to regulate vacuum, air pressure, sizing rings, and temperature, and to synchronize speed of extrusion.
- Determine setup procedures and select machine dies and parts, according to specifications.
- Troubleshoot, maintain, and make minor repairs to equipment.
- Change dies on extruding machines, according to production line changes.
- Load machine hoppers with mixed materials, using augers, or stuff rolls of plastic dough into machine cylinders.
- Install dies, machine screws, and sizing rings on machines that extrude thermoplastic or metal materials.
- Operate shearing mechanisms to cut rods to specified lengths.
Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.
Getting in
- Typical education to enter (BLS)
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Training once hired: moderate-term on-the-job training
- O*NET Job Zone 1–2
- Little to some preparation
- Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Interests it suits
The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.
- Realistic: hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals
- Conventional: organising information, records and procedures
- Investigative: research, analysis and solving problems with ideas
Fields of study that lead here
From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 1 programme to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.
Fields
Our college matcher doesn't offer this field as a major, so we can't suggest colleges for it here.
Precision Production
- Machine Tool Technology/Machinist
Related careers
Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.
- Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
$46,330 median · -10.5% projected
- Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
$47,180 median · +0.6% projected
- Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
$50,140 median · -8.3% projected
- Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
$49,030 median · -17.2% projected
- Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
$50,620 median · -11.3% projected
- Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
$52,800 median · -13.2% projected
Sources
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0
Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.
Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk