Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders

What Does a Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders Do?

Operate or tend food or tobacco roasting, baking, or drying equipment, including hearth ovens, kiln driers, roasters, char kilns, and vacuum drying equipment.

Day-to-Day Responsibilities

• 1Observe, feel, taste, or otherwise examine products during and after processing to ensure conformance to standards.
• 2Set temperature and time controls, light ovens, burners, driers, or roasters, and start equipment, such as conveyors, cylinders, blowers, driers, or pumps.
• 3Observe temperature, humidity, pressure gauges, and product samples and adjust controls, such as thermostats and valves, to maintain prescribed operating conditions for specific stages.
• 4Observe flow of materials and listen for machine malfunctions, such as jamming or spillage, and notify supervisors if corrective actions fail.
• 5Record production data, such as weight and amount of product processed, type of product, and time and temperature of processing.
• 6Weigh or measure products, using scale hoppers or scale conveyors.
• 7Operate or tend equipment that roasts, bakes, dries, or cures food items such as cocoa and coffee beans, grains, nuts, and bakery products.
• 8Signal coworkers to synchronize flow of materials.

Required Skills

• Monitoring
• Email software
• Microsoft Excel

Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders Salary