Index
Intro
Machine operators in this unit group operate and tend wood processing equipment and machines to remove bark from logs, produce wood chips, preserve and treat wood, and produce waferboards, particleboards, hardboards, insulation boards, plywood, veneers and similar wood products. They are employed in sawmills, woodrooms of pulp mills, planing mills, wood treatment plants, waferboard plants and other wood processing plants.
There is some mobility among jobs in this unit group.
Progression to other positions in the wood, pulp and paper industries is possible with experience.
Main Duties
Machine operators in this unit group perform some or all of the following duties:
- Operate and tend various wood processing equipment and machines to remove bark, knots and dirt from logs; reduce logs or sawmill waste into wood chips or flakes; stack and band lumber; screen wood chips; and produce waferboards, particleboards, hardboards and insulation boards
- Operate and tend conveyors, lathes, sanding machines and other equipment to peel and slice veneer from logs and log sections, and to glue, press, trim, sand and splice veneer sheets
- Operate and tend kilns, treating tanks and other equipment to dry lumber and other wood products, and to treat chemically and impregnate wood products with preservatives
- Observe equipment, panel indicators, video monitors, and other instruments to detect malfunctions and ensure that processes are operating according to specifications
- Assemble plywood panels and repair plywood and veneer mechanically or manually
- Start up, shut down, set up, adjust and assist in maintaining processing equipment and machines as required
- Complete and maintain production reports.
Employment Requirements
- Completion of secondary school is usually required.
- Several months of on-the-job training are provided.
- For lumber kiln operators, particleboard operators and waferboard operators, some combination of college or company courses and up to one year of on-the-job training may be required.
- Previous experience as a labourer in wood processing may be required.
All Titles
- automatic veneer clipper tender – wood processing
- barker operator
- barker operator – wood processing
- barking machine operator – wood processing
- chip screen tender – wood processing
- chip-mixing machine tender – wood processing
- chipper operator
- chipper operator – wood processing
- clipper operator – wood processing
- core layer – wood processing
- core-laying machine tender – wood processing
- cut-off sawyer, veneer strips – wood processing
- debarker operator – wood processing
- dip tank tender – wood processing
- drop sorter operator – wood processing
- drum barker tender – wood processing
- dryer tender, wood particles
- drying kiln operator – wood processing
- edge gluer – wood processing
- excelsior machine tender
- flaker operator – wood processing
- forming line operator, hardboard
- forming machine operator, particleboard
- fuel log maker – wood processing
- grinding machine operator, hardboard
- groover operator, plywood panels – wood processing
- hardboard press operator – wood processing
- hardboard-forming line operator
- hardboard-grinding machine operator
- hardboard-oiling machine tender
- hot press operator – wood processing
- humidifier tender – wood processing
- hydraulic barker operator – wood processing
- incising machine tender – wood processing
- insulation board press tender
- jointer tender – wood processing
- jointer, veneer – wood processing
- lathe spotter – wood processing
- layup machine operator – wood processing
- log cooker – wood processing
- log vat tender – wood processing
- lumber drop sorter – wood processing
- lumber kiln operator
- lumber sorter, machine
- machine plywood patcher
- miller, wood flour
- mixer-dryer tender, wood particles
- multidrum sander operator
- operator, lumber kiln
- operator, multidrum sander
- operator, particleboard
- operator, plywood press
- panel-groover operator – wood processing
- panel-sanding machine operator – wood processing
- particleboard line operator
- particleboard-forming machine operator
- particleboard-sizing saw tender
- patcher operator – wood processing
- plywood and veneer patcher and repairerplywood and veneer patcher and repairman, plywood and veneer patcher and repairwoman
- plywood bundler
- plywood panel assembler
- plywood panel groover operator – wood processing
- plywood patcher
- plywood patcher, machine
- plywood press operator
- plywood-sizing saw tender – wood processing
- press operator, hardboard – wood processing
- press tender, insulation board
- ring barker operator – wood processing
- scarf gluer – wood processing
- scarfer tender – wood processing
- scarfing machine tender – wood processing
- screen tender, chips – wood processing
- sizing saw tender, plywood – wood processing
- tempering plant tender
- tender, automatic veneer clipper – wood processing
- tender, log vat – wood processing
- tender, scarfing machine – wood processing
- tender, tempering plant
- timber treating tank operator
- treating worker – wood preserving
- vat tender, logs – wood processing
- veneer clipper – wood processing
- veneer clipper tender, automatic – wood processing
- veneer cutter – wood processing
- veneer dryer tender
- veneer dryer tender – wood processing
- veneer jointer – wood processing
- veneer jointer operator – wood processing
- veneer lathe operator
- veneer lathe operator – wood processing
- veneer matcher – wood processing
- veneer patcher – wood processing
- veneer reel tender – wood processing
- veneer slicer-lather – wood processing
- veneer splicer tender – wood processing
- veneer strip cut-off sawyer – wood processing
- veneer taper – wood processing
- veneer-slicing machine operator – wood processing
- waferboard press operator
- waferboard press operator – wood processing
- wood particle dryer tender
- wood particles mixer-dryer tender
- wood treater
- wood treater – wood preserving
- wood-oiling machine operator – wood processing
Exclusions
- Labourers in wood, pulp and paper processing (9614)
- Sawmill machine operators (9431)
- Supervisors, forest products processing (9215)