Will “Machine Operator” be Automated?

Core Skills & Abilities

• Light burners or start heating units of machines, and regulate screed temperatures and asphalt flow rates.

• Drive and operate curbing machines to extrude concrete or asphalt curbing.

• Observe distribution of paving material to adjust machine settings or material flow, and indicate low spots for workers to add material.

• Inspect, clean, maintain, and repair equipment, using mechanics' hand tools, or report malfunctions to supervisors.

• Fill tanks, hoppers, or machines with paving materials.

• Operate tamping machines or manually roll surfaces to compact earth fills, foundation forms, and finished road materials, according to grade specifications.

• Install dies, cutters, and extensions to screeds onto machines, using hand tools.

• Operate machines to spread, smooth, level, or steel-reinforce stone, concrete, or asphalt on road beds.

• Set up and tear down equipment.

• Set up forms and lay out guidelines for curbs, according to written specifications, using string, spray paint, and concrete or water mixes.

• Coordinate truck dumping.

• Operate oil distributors, loaders, chip spreaders, dump trucks, and snow plows.

• Drive machines onto truck trailers, and drive trucks to transport machines and material to and from job sites.

• Control traffic.

• Cut or break up pavement and drive guardrail posts, using machines equipped with interchangeable hammers.

• Shovel blacktop.

• Operate machines that clean or cut expansion joints in concrete or asphalt and that rout out cracks in pavement.

• Place strips of material, such as cork, asphalt, or steel into joints, or place rolls of expansion-joint material on machines that automatically insert material.

• Control paving machines to push dump trucks and to maintain a constant flow of asphalt or other material into hoppers or screeds.

• Start machine, engage clutch, and push and move levers to guide machine along forms or guidelines and to control the operation of machine attachments.