How to become Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tender in 2024

Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tender Operate or tend cooking equipment, such as steam cooking vats, deep fry cookers, pressure cookers, kettles, and boilers, to prepare food products.

Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tender is Also Know as

In different settings, Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tender is titled as

  • Cooker Operator
  • Food Production Worker
  • Fryer Operator
  • Kettle Fry Cook Operator
  • Machine Operator
  • Mogul Operator
  • Oven Operator
  • Peeler Operator
  • Retort Operator
  • Thermo Processor

Education and Training of Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tender

Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tender is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tender

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Education Required for Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tender

These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Degrees Related to Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tender

Training Required for Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tender

Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tender in different industries are

What Do Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tender do?

  • Record production and test data, such as processing steps, temperature and steam readings, cooking time, batches processed, and test results.
  • Listen for malfunction alarms, and shut down equipment and notify supervisors when necessary.
  • Collect and examine product samples during production to test them for quality, color, content, consistency, viscosity, acidity, or specific gravity.
  • Observe gauges, dials, and product characteristics, and adjust controls to maintain appropriate temperature, pressure, and flow of ingredients.
  • Read work orders, recipes, or formulas to determine cooking times and temperatures, and ingredient specifications.
  • Clean, wash, and sterilize equipment and cooking area, using water hoses, cleaning or sterilizing solutions, or rinses.
  • Set temperature, pressure, and time controls, and start conveyers, machines, or pumps.
  • Tend or operate and control equipment, such as kettles, cookers, vats and tanks, and boilers, to cook ingredients or prepare products for further processing.
  • Measure or weigh ingredients, using scales or measuring containers.
  • Admit required amounts of water, steam, cooking oils, or compressed air into equipment, such as by opening water valves to cool mixtures to the desired consistency.
  • Remove cooked material or products from equipment.
  • Notify or signal other workers to operate equipment or when processing is complete.
  • Turn valves or start pumps to add ingredients or drain products from equipment and to transfer products for storage, cooling, or further processing.
  • Place products on conveyors or carts, and monitor product flow.
  • Pour, dump, or load prescribed quantities of ingredients or products into cooking equipment, manually or using a hoist.
  • Activate agitators and paddles to mix or stir ingredients, stopping machines when ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
  • Operate auxiliary machines and equipment, such as grinders, canners, and molding presses, to prepare or further process products.

Qualities of Good Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tender

  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tender

  • Boilers
  • Bucket belt conveyors
  • Canners
  • Chain hoists
  • Combination feeders
  • Continuous baking ovens
  • Cooking vats
  • Corn cooking systems
  • Direct-fired fryers
  • Electromagnetic vibratory feeders
  • Grinders
  • Hand trucks
  • Hot air impingement ovens
  • Hot oil cookers
  • Hot oil roasting equipment
  • Ingredient scales
  • Molding machines
  • Molding presses
  • Pressure cookers
  • Retort chambers
  • Roasting equipment
  • Smoke generators
  • Smoking equipment
  • Steam air retorts
  • Steam kettles
  • Steam retorts
  • Vacuum batch cookers
  • Water hoses
  • Water immersion retorts
  • Water spray retorts

Technology Skills required for Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tender

  • Database software