About This Career

Operates or tends equipment such as cooling and freezing units, refrigerators, batch freezers, and freezing tunnels, to cool or freeze products, food, blood plasma, and chemicals.

This career is part of the Manufacturing cluster Production pathway.

A person in this career:

• Records temperatures, amounts of materials processed, or test results on report forms.
• Monitors pressure gauges, ammeters, flowmeters, thermometers, or products, and adjusts controls to maintain specified conditions, such as feed rate, product consistency, temperature, air pressure, and machine speed.
• Reads dials and gauges on panel control boards to ascertain temperatures, alkalinities, and densities of mixtures, and turns valves to obtain specified mixtures.
• Starts machinery, such as pumps, feeders, or conveyors, and turns valves to heat, admit, or transfer products, refrigerants, or mixes.
• Corrects machinery malfunctions by performing actions such as removing jams, and informs supervisors of malfunctions as necessary.
• Assembles equipment, and attaches pipes, fittings, or valves, using hand tools.
• Measures or weighs specified amounts of ingredients or materials, and loads them into tanks, vats, hoppers, or other equipment.
• Adjusts machine or freezer speed and air intake to obtain desired consistency and amount of product.
• Weighs packages and adjusts freezer air valves or switches on filler heads to obtain specified amounts of product in each container.
• Inspects and flushes lines with solutions or steam, and sprays equipment with sterilizing solutions.

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

People who do this job report that:

• You would often handle loads up to 20 lbs., sometimes up to 50 lbs. You might do a lot of lifting, carrying, pushing or pulling.
• Work in this occupation involves use of protective items such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hearing protection, a hard hat, or personal flotation devices
• Conditions are very hot (above 90 F) or very cold (under 32 F)
• Work in this occupation involves using your hands to hold, control, and feel objects more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
• Sound and noise levels are loud and distracting
• Work in this occupation involves standing more than one-third of the time

Working in this career involves (physical activities):

• Seeing clearly up close
• Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
• Identifying and understanding the speech of another person
• Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying objects
• Using abdominal and lower back muscles repeatedly or over time without tiring

Work Hours and Travel

• Rotating shift work