What Do Conveyor Operators Do (including Their Typical Day At Work)

Job Description

Conveyor Operators 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. They also observe packages moving along conveyors to identify packages, detect defective packaging, and perform quality control.

Other tasks include:

• Collect samples of materials or products, checking them to ensure conformance to specifications or sending them to laboratories for analysis.
• Inform supervisors of equipment malfunctions that need to be addressed.
• Position deflector bars, gates, chutes, or spouts to divert flow of materials from one conveyor onto another conveyor.
• Observe conveyor operations and monitor lights, dials, and gauges to maintain specified operating levels and to detect equipment malfunctions.
• Record production data such as weights, types, quantities, and storage locations of materials, as well as equipment performance problems and downtime.
• Repair or replace equipment components or parts such as blades, rolls, and pumps.

We asked Conveyor Operators how satisfied they are with their job. Here is what they said.

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61% of them said they were satisfied with their job and 47% said they find that their job makes the world a better place or helps to make someone else’s life better.

Typical Day At Work

On a daily basis, Conveyor Operators collect samples of materials or products, checking them to ensure conformance to specifications or sending them to laboratories for analysis. They 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.

A typical day for a Conveyor Operator and Tender will also include:

• Operate elevator systems in conjunction with conveyor systems.
• Clean, sterilize, and maintain equipment, machinery, and work stations, using hand tools, shovels, brooms, chemicals, hoses, and lubricants.
• 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.
• Measure dimensions of bundles, using rulers, and cut battens to required sizes, using power saws.
• Affix identifying information to materials or products, using hand tools.

We asked some Conveyor Operators a few questions to find out what else does their work day look like. Here is what we found.

	Do you have telephone conversations everyday in this job?	15% said yes
	How important is it to work in a team in this job?	11% said very important
	Do you have group discussions everyday in this job?	88% said yes
	Do you talk or work with customers everyday in this job?	0% said yes
	Do you have to deal with angry customers everyday in this job?	60% said yes
	Do you have to make decisions everyday in this job?	18% said yes

Other responsibilities

Besides their typical day, Conveyor Operators also inform supervisors of equipment malfunctions that need to be addressed. They may also repair or replace equipment components or parts such as blades, rolls, and pumps.

On a weekly to monthly basis, Conveyor Operators 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. They might also Move, assemble, and connect hoses or nozzles to material hoppers, storage tanks, conveyor sections or chutes, and pumps.

In addition, they Press console buttons to deflect packages to predetermined accumulators or reject lines.

Although specific duties may vary, many of them Thread strapping through strapping tools and secure battens with strapping to form protective pallets around extrusions.

To some Conveyor Operators, it is also their responsibility to Clean, sterilize, and maintain equipment, machinery, and work stations, using hand tools, shovels, brooms, chemicals, hoses, and lubricants.

Working life

More than 40 hours per week

Regular schedule like a 9 to 5

In a typical work week as a Conveyor Operator and Tender, you can expect to work more than 40 hours per week.

Is this right for me

People who are suitable for this job tends to like work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They like working with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery..

They also like following set procedures and routines. They like working with data and details more than with ideas.

You can read more about these career personality types here.

Explore other careers

http://www.bls.gov/OOH/transportation-and-material-moving/material-moving-machine-operators.htm

http://www.werc.org/

http://www.iuoe.org/

http://www.nccco.org/