Explore by Career/Production
Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders
Operate or tend a variety of machines to join, decorate, reinforce, or finish shoes and shoe parts.
- Median pay
- $38,160
- per year
- 10-year outlook
- -3.7%
- Declining
- Typical entry
- High school diploma or equivalent
Key skills
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Operations Monitoring
- Operation and Control
- Equipment Maintenance
- Quality Control Analysis
What they do
- Inspect finished products to ensure that shoes have been completed according to specifications.
- Align parts to be stitched, following seams, edges, or markings, before positioning them under needles.
- Operate or tend machines to join, decorate, reinforce, or finish shoes and shoe parts.
- Remove and examine shoes, shoe parts, and designs to verify conformance to specifications such as proper embedding of stitches in channels.
- Switch on machines, lower pressure feet or rollers to secure parts, and start machine stitching, using hand, foot, or knee controls.
- Draw thread through machine guide slots, needles, and presser feet in preparation for stitching, or load rolls of wire through machine axles.
- Study work orders or shoe part tags to obtain information about workloads, specifications, and the types of materials to be used.
- Perform routine equipment maintenance such as cleaning and lubricating machines or replacing broken needles.
- Test machinery to ensure proper functioning before beginning production.
- Select and place spools of thread or pre-wound bobbins into shuttles, or onto spindles or loupers of stitching machines.
Majors that lead here
No mapped majors yet.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS, Employment Projections) and O*NET, used under CC BY 4.0.