What You Need to Know About Shoe Machine Operator

Career Description Operate or tend a variety of machines to join, decorate, reinforce, or finish shoes and shoe parts.

What Do Shoe Machine Operators Do On a Daily Basis?

• Turn setscrews on needle bars, and position required numbers of needles in stitching machines.
• Test machinery to ensure proper functioning before beginning production.
• Operate or tend machines to join, decorate, reinforce, or finish shoes and shoe parts.
• Study work orders or shoe part tags to obtain information about workloads, specifications, and the types of materials to be used.
• Remove and examine shoes, shoe parts, and designs to verify conformance to specifications such as proper embedding of stitches in channels.
• Position dies on material in a manner that will obtain the maximum number of parts from each portion of material.

Shoe Machine Operator Needed Skills

These are the skills Shoe Machine Operators say are the most useful in their careers:

Operation Monitoring: Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.

Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

Quality Control Analysis: Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.

Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Operation and Control: Controlling operations of equipment or systems.

Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Types of Shoe Machine Operator Jobs

• Double Head Machine Operator
• Heel Shaver
• Die Out Worker
• Painter Apprentice
• Stitching Machine Operator

What Kind of Shoe Machine Operator Job Opportunities Are There?

In the United States, there were 3,600 jobs for Shoe Machine Operator in 2016. There is little to no growth in job opportunities for Shoe Machine Operator. There will be an estimated 400 positions for Shoe Machine Operator per year.

The states with the most job growth for Shoe Machine Operator are Illinois, Oregon, and Washington. Watch out if you plan on working in Washington, Oregon, or Illinois. These states have the worst job growth for this type of profession.

Salary for a Shoe Machine Operator

The salary for Shoe Machine Operators ranges between about $19,020 and $40,410 a year.

Shoe Machine Operators who work in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, or Maine, make the highest salaries.

How much do Shoe Machine Operators make in different U.S. states?

State	Annual Mean Salary
California	$30,580
Florida	$35,140
Maine	$32,100
Massachusetts	$43,330
New York	$26,240
Pennsylvania	$25,050
Texas	$30,470
Washington	$32,060
Wisconsin	$32,300

What Tools & Technology do Shoe Machine Operators Use?

Although they’re not necessarily needed for all jobs, the following technologies are used by many Shoe Machine Operators:

• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft Office
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Data entry software
• Adobe Systems Adobe Acrobat
• Inventory tracking software
• Microsoft operating system
• Production control software

How to Become a Shoe Machine Operator

Learn what Shoe Machine Operator education requirements there are.

How Long Does it Take to Become a Shoe Machine Operator?

Similar Careers

Those interested in being a Shoe Machine Operator may also be interested in:

• Machine Feeders and Offbearers

Are you already one of the many Shoe Machine Operator in the United States? If you’re thinking about changing careers, these fields are worth exploring:

• Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

References:

• Bureau of Labor Statistics
• College Factual
• O*NET Online

Image Credit: Steven M O’Kelley via Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5

More about our data sources and methodologies.