Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders
Operate or tend machines to bleach, shrink, wash, dye, or finish textiles or synthetic or glass fibers.
Most important skills
- Operations Monitoring
- Operation and Control
- Active Listening
- Monitoring
- Time Management
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
Key knowledge
- Production and Processing
- Public Safety and Security
- Education and Training
- Administration and Management
- Customer and Personal Service
- Mathematics
- English Language
- Mechanical
What the work involves
- Add dyes, water, detergents, or chemicals to tanks to dilute or strengthen solutions, according to established formulas and solution test results.
- Notify supervisors or mechanics of equipment malfunctions.
- Adjust equipment controls to maintain specified heat, tension, and speed.
- Observe display screens, control panels, equipment, and cloth entering or exiting processes to determine if equipment is operating correctly.
- Monitor factors such as temperatures and dye flow rates to ensure that they are within specified ranges.
- Start and control machines and equipment to wash, bleach, dye, or otherwise process and finish fabric, yarn, thread, or other textile goods.
- Examine and feel products to identify defects and variations from coloring and other processing standards.
- Confer with coworkers to get information about order details, processing plans, or problems that occur.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (56% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (48%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (32%)
- 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 Textile Bleaching and Dyeing 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 | Low | Lower on contact with others than 66% of occupations compared | 47% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very low | Lower on dealing with the public than 92% of occupations compared | 56% of surveyed respondents chose “Not important at all” |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 67% of occupations compared | 58% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 78% of occupations compared | 68% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Lower on time pressure than 53% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 95% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 58% of occupations compared | 32% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Higher on consequence of error than 51% of occupations compared | 28% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- Consequence of error: moderate
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: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Occasional contact with others: 9.33%
- Contact with others about half the time: 11.83%
- Contact with others most of the time: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Constant contact with others: 47.36%
n = 14, Incumbent 08/2023
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 56.2%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 33.69%
- Very important: 0%
- Extremely important: 10.11%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2023
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 13.95%
- Fairly important: 2.57%
- Important: 6.4%
- Very important: 18.96%
- Extremely important: 58.11%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2023
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 3.42%
- Very little freedom: 3.83%
- Limited freedom: 15.27%
- Some freedom: 68.15%
- A lot of freedom: 9.32%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2023
Time pressure
- Never: 3.83%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 30.69%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 41.64%
- Every day: 23.84%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2023
Conflict situations
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: 30.81%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 8.08%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 16.84%
- Every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 14, Incumbent 08/2023
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 24.48%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 32.22%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 16.84%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 8.08%
- Every day: 18.38%
n = 14, Incumbent 08/2023
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 28.24%
- Fairly serious: 3.83%
- Serious: 24.11%
- Very serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely serious: 16.13%
n = 15, Incumbent 08/2023
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O*NET-SOC 51-6061.00 · SOC 51-6061 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8