Production employees work in various fields. Any organization or company that produces a product needs production employees. As a production employee, you join a team responsible for the production and assembly of a product as you operate and maintain the production machinery.
Some of the duties and responsibilities that you take on as a production employee to meet production targets include maintaining the production line, assembling the products and its component parts, and following product guidelines provided by the company. You learn and follow various health and safety guidelines and report issues that might occur during production to a supervisor. Essential skills needed to successfully execute these tasks are basic mathematics skills, physical stamina, communication, and teamwork.
No formal educational requirements exist for this position, but a high school diploma or a GED may prove beneficial to a job candidate. Previous experience working in a factory or a similar production line will offer an edge. The average hourly pay for this position is $11.97, which amounts to more than $24,000 annually.
What is a Production Employee?
What Does a Production Employee Do
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a production employee, we found that a lot of resumes listed 25.4% of production employees included production floor, while 16.0% of resumes included quality standards, and 12.9% of resumes included safety standards. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
How To Become a Production Employee
If you're interested in becoming a production employee, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 29.9% of production employees have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.8% of production employees have master's degrees. Even though some production employees have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Production Employee Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of machine operator you might progress to a role such as technician eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title operations manager.
Average Salary for a Production Employee
What Am I Worth?
Roles and Types of Production Employee
The role of a production employee includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general production employee responsibilities:
- Retrieve & load pre-assembled raw materials & liquids, as specified on the batch ticket, into mixing equipment or letdown tanks. Perform required process checks on batches as specified on the batch ticket. May manage hazardous waste as part of daily activities. Ensure communication of problems / issues to supervision, maintenance,
- Assembling product shipping productwe're looking for someone who has: ability to organize
- Inspects parts for potential quality problems such as burns, blisters, dirty mold, etc. Sorts
There are several types of production employee, including:
Production Worker
Role:
If you want to get acquainted with the universe of mass production in factories, a Production Worker position is a great place to start. Production workers assist in the manufacturing of goods, typically at an assembly line or by carrying out various tasks in a warehouse. Working this job, you will feed materials into machines, assemble parts of products by hand at a production line, and monitor the equipment to guarantee the products are up to speed with the required quality standards.
You might be responsible for preparing and loading products for shipment, and you will have to make sure the production machinery is well maintained, your working area is clean, and everything is according to safety guidelines.
You have to be mechanically inclined to make the most of this job. You should be a team player and have excellent communication skills because, at the end of the day, it is the people who run the machines.
- Average Salary: $30,847
- Degree: High School Diploma
Production Operator
Role:
Have you ever wondered what is the official job role for those people in charge of work, like assembling parts in a factory? Well, I certainly have. I never used to think too much and assumed those people magically appeared as part of the factory. But they are actually called production operators and you can apply for this role, too, with little experience. This role is fun and exposes you to the way different things connect together, but it requires physical stamina and high concentration levels.
Daily, a production operator is involved in activities such as undertaking product assembly, performing product packaging, maintaining the production line machinery, and achieving production line targets. Besides that, they also need to clean the production floor and comply with health and safety guidelines.
Employers require production operators to have a minimum of a high school diploma and have the stamina to stand on their feet during work operations. This role earns, on average, $14 per hour and suits individuals passionate about understanding assembly lines.
- Average Salary: $35,185
- Degree: High School Diploma
Production Technician
Role:
Production technicians work in factories and manufacturing sites, assembling products and checking their quality and functionality before marketing them or setting them for use. They work in teams, and they closely collaborate with other personnel on the site, such as assembly workers or quality assurance staff.
Production technicians set up and adjust equipment. They run tests and do maintenance work to make sure the machinery is safe to use and produces according to standards. They troubleshoot errors or inefficiencies and inspect products, primarily before mass production begins.
If you want to work this job, you need to be an analytical thinker, attentive to detail, and a reliable and creative problem solver. You have to be able to stick to a schedule and follow instructions, and you need to be blessed with finely tuned motor skills.
- Average Salary: $37,550
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
States With The Most Production Employee Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active production employee jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where production employees earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Number Of Production Employee Jobs By State
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 3,512 | $33,936 |
| 2 | Ohio | 2,184 | $38,737 |
| 3 | Pennsylvania | 1,897 | $28,527 |
| 4 | Texas | 1,871 | $28,177 |
| 5 | Illinois | 1,775 | $34,413 |
| 6 | Florida | 1,523 | $25,287 |
| 7 | Wisconsin | 1,490 | $33,301 |
| 8 | Minnesota | 1,421 | $41,443 |
| 9 | Georgia | 1,402 | $27,217 |
| 10 | Indiana | 1,401 | $35,277 |
| 11 | North Carolina | 1,336 | $27,696 |
| 12 | New York | 1,199 | $35,282 |
| 13 | Michigan | 1,198 | $27,760 |
| 14 | Massachusetts | 1,076 | $34,130 |
| 15 | Tennessee | 949 | $26,192 |
| 16 | Missouri | 847 | $35,738 |
| 17 | Iowa | 816 | $34,171 |
| 18 | Kentucky | 766 | $26,982 |
| 19 | Virginia | 750 | $25,061 |
| 20 | Washington | 693 | $38,935 |
| 21 | New Jersey | 683 | $31,689 |
| 22 | Arizona | 667 | $31,666 |
| 23 | Maryland | 662 | $35,335 |
| 24 | South Carolina | 625 | $26,701 |
| 25 | Oregon | 557 | $34,284 |
| 26 | Colorado | 507 | $34,657 |
| 27 | Alabama | 477 | $22,091 |
| 28 | Utah | 429 | $33,315 |
| 29 | Kansas | 423 | $30,121 |
| 30 | Connecticut | 421 | $36,436 |
| 31 | New Hampshire | 419 | $36,867 |
| 32 | Nebraska | 359 | $32,499 |
| 33 | Mississippi | 297 | $30,981 |
| 34 | Oklahoma | 289 | $30,300 |
| 35 | Nevada | 236 | $35,323 |
| 36 | Arkansas | 224 | $24,168 |
| 37 | Maine | 216 | $33,305 |
| 38 | Louisiana | 211 | $32,201 |
| 39 | Idaho | 156 | $31,672 |
| 40 | Rhode Island | 148 | $31,826 |
| 41 | Vermont | 144 | $35,821 |
| 42 | South Dakota | 133 | $33,977 |
| 43 | West Virginia | 124 | $28,484 |
| 44 | New Mexico | 116 | $33,834 |
| 45 | Delaware | 103 | $29,831 |
| 46 | North Dakota | 96 | $36,884 |
| 47 | Montana | 82 | $36,335 |
| 48 | Alaska | 40 | $34,057 |
| 49 | Wyoming | 30 | $32,940 |
| 50 | Hawaii | 24 | $32,897 |
Choose From 10+ Customizable Production Employee Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Production Employee templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Production Employee resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Production Employee diversity
Production Employee Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among production employees, 30.4% of them are women, while 69.6% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among production employees is White, which makes up 60.6% of all production employees.
- The most common foreign language among production employees is Spanish at 60.0%.
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Best States For a Production Employee
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a production employee. The best states for people in this position are Minnesota, Washington, Ohio, and North Dakota. Production employees make the most in Minnesota with an average salary of $41,443. Whereas in Washington and Ohio, they would average $38,935 and $38,737, respectively. While production employees would only make an average of $36,884 in North Dakota, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Minnesota
$41,443
Avg. Salary
2. Ohio
$38,737
Avg. Salary
3. New Hampshire
$36,867
Avg. Salary
How Do Production Employees Rate Their Jobs?
Top Production Employee Employers
Most Common Employers For Production Employee
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steel Dynamics | $44,267 | $21.28 | 5 |
| 2 | Valspar | $42,670 | $20.51 | 5 |
| 3 | Cargill | $41,297 | $19.85 | 6 |
| 4 | General Electric | $41,115 | $19.77 | 5 |
| 5 | International Paper | $38,936 | $18.72 | 15 |
| 6 | Kellogg | $37,913 | $18.23 | 8 |
| 7 | Autocar Truck | $37,417 | $17.99 | 4 |
| 8 | Tyson Foods | $37,372 | $17.97 | 8 |
| 9 | The Coca-Cola Company | $36,895 | $17.74 | 6 |
| 10 | Donaldson | $36,755 | $17.67 | 5 |