Plate maker vs preflight technician

The differences between plate makers and preflight technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a plate maker and a preflight technician. Additionally, a preflight technician has an average salary of $50,553, which is higher than the $40,483 average annual salary of a plate maker.

The top three skills for a plate maker include creo, flexo and quality plates. The most important skills for a preflight technician are troubleshoot, customer service, and adobe photoshop.

Plate maker vs preflight technician overview

	Plate Maker	Preflight Technician
Yearly salary	$40,483	$50,553
Hourly rate	$19.46	$24.30
Growth rate	-	3%
Number of jobs	7,031	5,361
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 39%	Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	4	4

Plate maker vs preflight technician salary

Plate makers and preflight technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Plate Maker	Preflight Technician
Average salary	$40,483	$50,553
Salary range	Between $22,000 And $72,000	Between $35,000 And $71,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between plate maker and preflight technician education

There are a few differences between a plate maker and a preflight technician in terms of educational background:

	Plate Maker	Preflight Technician
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 39%	Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Most common major	Graphic Design	Graphic Design
Most common college	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	University of Texas at Austin

Plate maker vs preflight technician demographics

Here are the differences between plate makers' and preflight technicians' demographics:

	Plate Maker	Preflight Technician
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 76.8% Female, 23.2%	Male, 75.0% Female, 25.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.0% Unknown, 3.2% Hispanic or Latino, 19.3% Asian, 7.6% White, 61.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 9.0% Unknown, 3.4% Hispanic or Latino, 18.4% Asian, 6.8% White, 61.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	13%	13%

Differences between plate maker and preflight technician duties and responsibilities

Plate maker example responsibilities.

Operate and maintain laser plate-making equipment such as Creo Trendsetters and Kodak Magnus VLF.
Retain records for ISO audit.
Retrieve files from CTP server.
Set up jobs and run jobs on Autologic platemaker.
Monitor completion of plates for quality control distribution to the pressroom.
Pack lids on production line and make plates on plate-maker for flexo printing.

Preflight technician example responsibilities.

Supervise modernization of prepress department from letterpress to fully electronic and train incoming staff in typesetting and electronic prepress.
Implement pre-flight procedures that eliminate costly re-prints and increase production speed and accuracy.

Plate maker vs preflight technician skills

Common plate maker skills

Creo, 15%
Flexo, 9%
Quality Plates, 9%
Plate Material, 8%
ISO, 7%
Routine Maintenance, 6%

Common preflight technician skills

Troubleshoot, 21%
Customer Service, 19%
Adobe Photoshop, 17%
Mac, 13%
FTP, 11%
Adobe Creative Suite, 10%