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Printing Machine Assistants

Printing machine assistants set and operate letterpress, platen or cylinder, lithographic and photogravure printing machines, photocopiers, office printers, duplication machines and other reprographic equipment.

Wages

New workers
AVERAGE
Experienced
£17,458
£25,604
£39,387

New workers start around £17,458. Normal pay is £25,604 per year.
Highly experienced workers can earn up to £39,387.

Available jobs

In the past year there were 8,644 vacancies for this type of job

-3.36%

Projected job growth over the next 8 years

Related courses

People work towards these careers by taking these courses at college and uni.

What they do most days?

  • Sets and operates presses for stamping patterns and labels on textiles, clothing, pottery, footwear and other leather goods.

  • Sets and operates machines for cutting paper to specified dimensions or for folding or binding to produce finished paper items.

  • Carries out routine maintenance and cleaning of printing machine.

  • Starts reprographic or printing machine and monitors operation for paper misfeeds and error messages, removes blockages and replaces damaged paper, and monitors quality of output.

  • Loads photocopiers, office printers, duplication machines and other reprographic equipment with stationery.

  • Sets controls to control the speed, pressure and ink flow of printing machine.

  • Positions printing plates, loads inks into reservoirs and loads paper rolls or sheets into printing press.

Hard Skills

Hard skills are specific, learnable, measurable, often industry or occupation-specific abilities related to a position.

Skills are ranked based on the number of job adverts that list them as required skills.

  • Machinery

  • Digital Printing

  • Flexography

  • Housekeeping

  • Printing Press

  • Prepress

  • Screen Printing

  • Print Production

  • Print Finishing Systems

  • Machine Operation

Soft Skills

Soft skills can be self-taught and usually do not necessitate a certain completed level of education.

Skills are ranked based on the number of job adverts that list them as required skills.

  • Detail Oriented

  • Communication

  • Problem Solving

  • Management

  • Operations

  • Troubleshooting (Problem Solving)

  • Customer Service

  • Packaging And Labeling

  • Quality Control

  • Time Management

How do I get a job like this?

People in these types of job started their career paths after studying courses like the ones below.