The Job of a Manufacturing Technician

The job of a manufacturing technician requires the use of machines, tools and labor to create products for sale or to use. A manufacturing technician may do his work with just his hands and raw materials to create a product for sale. High tech machinery may be used to create finished goods. The specific requirements of a manufacturing technician depend on the products the company produces or the research being conducted by the company.A technician is usually under the supervision of an engineer.An engineer may just be around to supervise the work of the technician, or he may be the one who designed the process the technician is following. An engineer may only be around to check the materials being used or check as results are produced.

In some companies the technicians may be labeled as different levels, technicians with less experience may be a Level I, someone with more experience would be labeled as a level II or III. The hierarchy in each company depends on different information.Some companies rank the highest level may just depend on the amount of schooling the technician has, not necessarily the amount of experience he has.Some companies require an Associates of Arts degree.Studies in calculus and physics may be required as well. Other companies are not interested in the education of their technicians; as long as the employee can learn fast and demonstrate that they have an understanding of the work they are performing, the company will hire them.Some companies even require their technicians be Certified Technicians.This means the technician has completed multiple levels of certification classes as well as passed certification exams, is a member in a professional association, and continuing education.

A manufacturing technician must be skilled at reading technical instructions to be able to complete the process given as well as operate machinery that can be both sophisticated and dangerous. A lot of processes a technician follows must comply with quality inspection.Most companies have quality inspectors for this job, and do not rely on the manufacturing technician for this. Evaluating parts, entering data into machines are processes the technician may be required to do, as well as some physical labor like loading or unloading materials and equipment.

Manufacturing technicians are used in many different work environments, ranging from food processing, where the technician is in charge of the canning process of beets, to biotechnology, where the technician is in charge of creating penicillin to be administered by a pharmacist. Manufacturing technicians are used in the computer world where they put an optical coating on a computer screen, or automobiles where they are applying powder coating to a bumper.Tech jobs are not limited to the above fields. There are manufacturing technician jobs in many fields and the possibilities of learning new manufacturing skills is endless for a technician who is willing to learn.

Some companies use contract manufacturing.This is a process created between two companies where one company will create the custom products or materials on behalf of the client. Companies that use contract manufacturing have multiple manufacturing technicians and rely highly on them.Some technicians may move from job to job depending on the amount of work the client has for them.

Manufacturing technicians' salaries range just like the range of their work environments.Some technicians work for small companies who have to keep employee costs low, others are able to pay their technicians well. Some technicians are part of a union, a group who guarantees their amount of pay.In the United States, the salary for a manufacturing technician can range from $10 dollars to above $20 dollars.