Assembly Line Worker

Job overview
One of the earliest assembly lines was set up in Henry Ford's car factory in the USA in the first half of the twentieth century. Now they are a common feature of many factories worldwide where the final product being manufactured consists of a number of components assembled to form a complete unit. On such an assembly line each individual person is responsible for only a certain task or tasks.

What do people do in this job?
Assembly line workers perform a particular task or a number of predetermined tasks in the assembly process. The whole process is planned to reduce the wastage of time and material to a minimum. For example: one person drills the holes for the screws and the next one screws the screws into the holes. In certain instances the workers simply carry out their task by hand, but various tools and equipment may also be used, depending on the task to be performed. In some cases a worker may be controlling a piece of robotic equipment which, for example, does the actual drilling. In others he or she may be affixing a component taken from stock.

What kind of people are suitable for this job?
Assembly line workers mostly stand in a certain position alongside the assembly whilst the product moves along a conveyor system. As most of the work is done while standing, this job can be exhausting,  but usually workers are rotated to provide variety in their work.

Manual dexterity is important, as is good eye-hand co-ordination. Persons with controlled epilepsy and orthopaedic impairments should also be able to do the work.

As the work is repetitive, persons should have the ability to maintain their concentration without getting bored or making mistakes.