Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders
Operate or tend bonding machines that use adhesives to join items for further processing or to form a completed product. Processes include joining veneer sheets into plywood; gluing paper; or joining rubber and rubberized fabric parts, plastic, simulated leather, or other materials.
Most important skills
- Operation and Control
- Operations Monitoring
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Monitoring
- Quality Control Analysis
- Reading Comprehension
- Coordination
Key knowledge
- Production and Processing
- Mechanical
- English Language
- Mathematics
- Customer and Personal Service
- Education and Training
- Public Safety and Security
- Computers and Electronics
What the work involves
- Examine and measure completed materials or products to verify conformance to specifications, using measuring devices such as tape measures, gauges, or calipers.
- Adjust machine components according to specifications such as widths, lengths, and thickness of materials and amounts of glue, cement, or adhesive required.
- Monitor machine operations to detect malfunctions and report or resolve problems.
- Read work orders and communicate with coworkers to determine machine and equipment settings and adjustments and supply and product specifications.
- Fill machines with glue, cement, or adhesives.
- Mount or load material such as paper, plastic, wood, or rubber in feeding mechanisms of cementing or gluing machines.
- Maintain production records such as quantities, dimensions, and thicknesses of materials processed.
- Start machines, and turn valves or move controls to feed, admit, apply, or transfer materials and adhesives, and to adjust temperature, pressure, and time settings.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (72.6% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (42.7%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (28.5%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 70% of occupations compared | 83% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very low | Lower on dealing with the public than 86% of occupations compared | 56% of surveyed respondents chose “Not important at all” |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 83% of occupations compared | 49% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 50% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 70% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Lower on conflict situations than 51% of occupations compared | 27% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 62% of occupations compared | 28% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 84% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 7.07%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0.79%
- Contact with others most of the time: 8.85%
- Constant contact with others: 83.29%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2015
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 55.78%
- Fairly important: 0.39%
- Important: 9.93%
- Very important: 23.38%
- Extremely important: 10.52%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2015
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 7.47%
- Fairly important: 17.69%
- Important: 17.31%
- Very important: 8.23%
- Extremely important: 49.31%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2015
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0.79%
- Limited freedom: 24.84%
- Some freedom: 34.21%
- A lot of freedom: 40.16%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2015
Time pressure
- Never: 8.45%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 8.45%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 38.36%
- Every day: 44.73%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2015
Conflict situations
- Never: 25.64%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 19.25%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 15.65%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 26.52%
- Every day: 12.93%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2015
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 24.13%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 19.6%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 17.38%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 11.12%
- Every day: 27.77%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2015
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 0.39%
- Fairly serious: 23.69%
- Serious: 17.61%
- Very serious: 10.4%
- Extremely serious: 47.91%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2015
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O*NET-SOC 51-9191.00 · SOC 51-9191 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8