Details for Conveyor Operators and Tenders
Description
Control or tend conveyors or conveyor systems that move materials or products to and from stockpiles, processing stations, departments, or vehicles. May control speed and routing of materials or products.
Tasks
- Position deflector bars, gates, chutes, or spouts to divert flow of materials from one conveyor onto another conveyor.
- Weigh or measure materials and products, using scales or other measuring instruments, or read scales on conveyors that continually weigh products, to verify specified tonnages and prevent overloads.
- Manipulate controls, levers, and valves to start pumps, auxiliary equipment, or conveyors, and to adjust equipment positions, speeds, timing, and material flows.
- Record production data such as weights, types, quantities, and storage locations of materials, as well as equipment performance problems and downtime.
- Inform supervisors of equipment malfunctions that need to be addressed.
- Clean, sterilize, and maintain equipment, machinery, and work stations, using hand tools, shovels, brooms, chemicals, hoses, and lubricants.
- Observe conveyor operations and monitor lights, dials, and gauges to maintain specified operating levels and to detect equipment malfunctions.
- Operate elevator systems in conjunction with conveyor systems.
- Read production and delivery schedules, and confer with supervisors, to determine sorting and transfer procedures, arrangement of packages on pallets, and destinations of loaded pallets.
- Repair or replace equipment components or parts such as blades, rolls, and pumps.
- Contact workers in work stations or other departments to request movement of materials, products, or machinery, or to notify them of incoming shipments and their estimated delivery times.
- Stop equipment or machinery and clear jams, using poles, bars, and hand tools, or remove damaged materials from conveyors.
- Collect samples of materials or products, checking them to ensure conformance to specifications or sending them to laboratories for analysis.
- Load, unload, or adjust materials or products on conveyors by hand, by using lifts, hoists, and scoops, or by opening gates, chutes, or hoppers.
- Operate consoles to control automatic palletizing equipment.
- Affix identifying information to materials or products, using hand tools.
- Distribute materials, supplies, and equipment to work stations, using lifts and trucks.
- Move, assemble, and connect hoses or nozzles to material hoppers, storage tanks, conveyor sections or chutes, and pumps.
- Measure dimensions of bundles, using rulers, and cut battens to required sizes, using power saws.
- Press console buttons to deflect packages to predetermined accumulators or reject lines.
- Join sections of conveyor frames at temporary working areas, and connect power units.
- Thread strapping through strapping tools and secure battens with strapping to form protective pallets around extrusions.
- Observe packages moving along conveyors to identify packages, detect defective packaging, and perform quality control.
Interests
- Realistic - Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.
Education, training, experience
- Education - Some of these occupations may require a high school diploma or GED certificate.
- Training - Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few days to a few months of training. Usually, an experienced worker could show you how to do the job.
- Experience - Little or no previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, a person can become a waiter or waitress even if he/she has never worked before.
Knowledge
- English Language -Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Skills
- Operation Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
Related careers
- Bindery Workers
- Coil Winders, Tapers, and Finishers
- Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fibers
- Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Printing Machine Operators
- Semiconductor Processors
- Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
