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Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

US occupation · SOC 51-9012

Job titles people report: Blender, Brewer, Cellar Worker, Digester Cook, Machine Tender, Paper Machine Tender, Pasteurizer, Plant Operator, Pulper Operator, Winemaker

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025
$51,610
Half earn more, half earn less
Middle half earn
$44,410 – $63,930
25th to 75th percentile
People employed, May 2025
60,100
Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
Projected change, 2025–35
-5.7%
Shrinking (below 0%)
Openings a year (projected)
5,200
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 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.

Main tasks

  • Monitor material flow or instruments, such as temperature or pressure gauges, indicators, or meters, to ensure optimal processing conditions.
  • Inspect machines or equipment for hazards, operating efficiency, malfunctions, wear, or leaks.
  • Set up or adjust machine controls to regulate conditions such as material flow, temperature, or pressure.
  • Collect samples of materials or products for laboratory analysis.
  • Operate machines to process materials in compliance with applicable safety, energy, or environmental regulations.
  • Test samples to determine viscosity, acidity, specific gravity, or degree of concentration, using test equipment such as viscometers, pH meters, or hydrometers.
  • Maintain logs of instrument readings, test results, or shift production for entry in computer databases.
  • Communicate processing instructions to other workers.

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 3 programmes 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.

Agriculture

  • Brewing Science
  • Viticulture and Enology
  • Zymology/Fermentation Science

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Agriculture at the Major step.

Where many students take agriculture

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Related careers

Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.

← All careers

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