pultrusion machine operator
Pultrusion Machine Operators tend, control, and maintain machines which enable the production of composite materials with consistent cross-sections by adding reinforcement fibres such as fibreglass to the existing material and coating the resulting material with resin; this then is pulled through a heated dye where it becomes cured.
pultrusion machine operator pultrusion Machine Operators tend, control, and maintain machines which enable the production of composite materials with consistent cross-sections by adding reinforcement fibres such as fibreglass to the existing material and coating the resulting material wi. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.50 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include types of fibre for polymer reinforcement, quality standards, coating substances, pultrusion process, optimise production processes parameters.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £32,644 a year for Plastics process operatives (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 8114). ONS rates this estimate reasonably precise. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Plant and machine operators and assemblers” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only pultrusion machine operator, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 8. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Knowledge you'll build
- Administration and Management
- Production and Processing
- Education and Training
- Chemistry
- English Language
- Customer and Personal Service
- Building and Construction
- Administrative
What you'd actually do
- Release air bubbles and smooth seams, using rollers.
- Spray chopped fiberglass, resins, and catalysts onto prepared molds or dies using pneumatic spray guns with chopper attachments.
- Mix catalysts into resins, and saturate cloth and mats with mixtures, using brushes.
- Check completed products for conformance to specifications and for defects by measuring with rulers or micrometers, by checking them visually, or by tapping them to detect bubbles or dead spots.
- Pat or press layers of saturated mat or cloth into place on molds, using brushes or hands, and smooth out wrinkles and air bubbles with hands or squeegees.
- Select precut fiberglass mats, cloth, and wood-bracing materials as required by projects being assembled.
Tools & technology you'd use
Frequently asked questions
What does pultrusion machine operator do?
Pultrusion Machine Operators tend, control, and maintain machines which enable the production of composite materials with consistent cross-sections by adding reinforcement fibres such as fibreglass to the existing material and coating the resulting material with resin; this then is pulled through a heated dye where it becomes cured.
What skills does pultrusion machine operator need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include types of fibre for polymer reinforcement, quality standards, coating substances, pultrusion process, optimise production processes parameters, feed glass fibre into pultrusion machine. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace pultrusion machine operator?
Our AI-durability model gives pultrusion machine operator a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.