8181-Glass and Ceramics Plant Operators

Tasks include:

• operating and monitoring glass-making furnaces to make glass by melting and fusing pre-mixed ingredients
• tending hot or cold-end spray equipment used to coat glassware with surface hardener
• operating and maintaining machines that press or blow molten glass in moulds to form or shape containers, such as bottles, jars and drinking glasses
• operating hand press to mould glass into required shape
• operating drawing kiln to process molten glass into continuous sheet of flat glass
• operating and monitoring floating-glass production plant
• operating and maintaining finishing machines to grind, drill, sand, bevel, decorate, wash or polish glass or glass products
• setting and operating press machines to mould ceramic articles from moist clay
• operating machines to mix clay with water to knead it into a suitable plastic condition or semi-liquid form for making ceramic products
• operating and monitoring kilns which bake pottery, porcelain wave and bake bricks and tiles
• operating and monitoring machines for making glaze or abrasives
• operating and monitoring machines which extrude molten glass to form fibreglass filaments
• observing finished products to identify splits, cracks, breaks, colour and other imperfections