How To Become A Finishing Machine Operator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a finishing machine operator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a finishing machine operator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $16.95 an hour? That's $35,259 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -6% and produce -114,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreFinishing Machine OperatorUS Average

Salary

2.8

Avg. Salary $35,259

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.4

Growth rate -6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.21%

Asian 7.49%

Black or African American 11.61%

Hispanic or Latino 16.15%

Unknown 3.41%

White 60.13%

Gender

female 20.87%

male 79.13%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress level

4.4

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity level

5.6

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.8

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a finishing machine operator

Explore finishing machine operator education requirements

Most common finishing machine operator degrees

High School Diploma

50.6 %

Associate

21.0 %

Bachelor's

11.7 %

Start to develop specific finishing machine operator skills

Skills	Percentages
Hand Tools	20.75%
CNC	17.66%
Basic Math	15.48%
Quality Checks	13.54%
Lean Manufacturing	8.87%

Complete relevant finishing machine operator training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New finishing machine operators learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a finishing machine operator based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real finishing machine operator resumes.

Research finishing machine operator duties and responsibilities

Control & troubleshoot automate extrusion line adjusting speed & feed, monitoring temperature, & finish material specification per customers order.
Record statistics on ISO documentation, and coordinate with machine technicians and electrical technicians to keep machines operating at maximum efficiency.

Prepare your finishing machine operator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your finishing machine operator resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a finishing machine operator resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable finishing machine operator resume templates

Build a professional finishing machine operator resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your finishing machine operator resume.