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Date: 10/06/2025

Fiberglass Laminators and Fabricators

Laminate layers of fiberglass on molds to form boat decks and hulls, bodies for golf carts, automobiles, or other products.

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    Work Activities

    Work Activities

    • Pat or press layers of saturated mat or cloth into place on molds, using brushes or hands, and smooth out wrinkles and air bubbles with hands or squeegees.
    • Apply layers of plastic resin to mold surfaces prior to placement of fiberglass mats, repeating layers until products have the desired thicknesses and plastics have jelled.
    • Cure materials by letting them set at room temperature, placing them under heat lamps, or baking them in ovens.
    • Inspect, clean, and assemble molds before beginning work.
    • Inspect, clean, and assemble molds before beginning work.
    • Release air bubbles and smooth seams, using rollers.
    • Inspect, clean, and assemble molds before beginning work.
    • Spray chopped fiberglass, resins, and catalysts onto prepared molds or dies using pneumatic spray guns with chopper attachments.
    • Trim cured materials by sawing them with diamond-impregnated cutoff wheels.
    • Repair or modify damaged or defective glass-fiber parts, checking thicknesses, densities, and contours to ensure a close fit after repair.
    • Select precut fiberglass mats, cloth, and wood-bracing materials as required by projects being assembled.
    • Apply lacquers and waxes to mold surfaces to facilitate assembly and removal of laminated parts.
    • Bond wood reinforcing strips to decks and cabin structures of watercraft, using resin-saturated fiberglass.
    • Check all dies, templates, and cutout patterns to be used in the manufacturing process to ensure that they conform to dimensional data, photographs, blueprints, samples, or customer specifications.
    • Mix catalysts into resins, and saturate cloth and mats with mixtures, using brushes.
    • Mix catalysts into resins, and saturate cloth and mats with mixtures, using brushes.
    • Trim excess materials from molds, using hand shears or trimming knives.
    • Check completed products for conformance to specifications and for defects by measuring with rulers or micrometers, by checking them visually, or by tapping them to detect bubbles or dead spots.

    Skills

    • Technology Design

      Making equipment and technology useful for customers.

    • Operations Analysis

      Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.

    • Complex Problem Solving

      Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.

    • Equipment Selection

      Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.

    • Negotiation

      Bringing people together to solve differences.

    • Quality Control Analysis

      Testing how well a product or service works.

    • Active Listening

      Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

    • Reading Comprehension

      Reading work-related information.

    • Active Learning

      Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.

    • Management of Material Resources

      Managing equipment and materials.

    • Instructing

      Teaching people how to do something.

    • Programming

      Writing computer programs.

    • Judgment and Decision Making

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.

    • Social Perceptiveness

      Understanding people's reactions.

    • Service Orientation

      Looking for ways to help people.

    • Repairing

      Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.

    • Equipment Maintenance

      Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.

    • Troubleshooting

      Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.

    • Persuasion

      Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.

    • Operation and Control

      Using equipment or systems.

    • Writing

      Writing things for co-workers or customers.

    • Monitoring

      Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.

    • Speaking

      Talking to others.

    • Science

      Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.

    • Time Management

      Managing your time and the time of other people.

    • Operations Monitoring

      Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.

    • Installation

      Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.

    • Learning Strategies

      Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.

    • Mathematics

      Using math to solve problems.

    • Critical Thinking

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

    • Coordination

      Changing what is done based on other people's actions.

    • Systems Analysis

      Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.

    • Management of Personnel Resources

      Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.

    • Systems Evaluation

      Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.

    • Management of Financial Resources

      Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.

    WorkKeys®

    Applied Math
    N/A
    Workplace Documents
    N/A
    Graphic Literacy
    N/A

    Abilities

    • Originality

      Creating new and original ideas.

    • Memorization

      Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.

    • Deductive Reasoning

      Using rules to solve problems.

    • Oral Comprehension

      Listening and understanding what people say.

    • Perceptual Speed

      Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.

    • Control Precision

      Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.

    • Information Ordering

      Ordering or arranging things.

    • Speed of Closure

      Quickly knowing what you are looking at.

    • Manual Dexterity

      Holding or moving items with your hands.

    • Dynamic Flexibility

      Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Visual Color Discrimination

      Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.

    • Speed of Limb Movement

      Quickly moving your arms and legs.

    • Stamina

      Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.

    • Peripheral Vision

      Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.

    • Written Expression

      Communicating by writing.

    • Visualization

      Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.

    • Fluency of Ideas

      Coming up with lots of ideas.

    • Explosive Strength

      Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.

    • Wrist-Finger Speed

      Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.

    • Trunk Strength

      Using your lower back and stomach.

    • Near Vision

      Seeing details up close.

    • Reaction Time

      Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.

    • Rate Control

      Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.

    • Oral Expression

      Communicating by speaking.

    • Selective Attention

      Paying attention to something without being distracted.

    • Multilimb Coordination

      Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.

    • Arm-Hand Steadiness

      Keeping your arm or hand steady.

    • Flexibility of Closure

      Seeing hidden patterns.

    • Inductive Reasoning

      Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.

    • Written Comprehension

      Reading and understanding what is written.

    • Far Vision

      Seeing details that are far away.

    • Static Strength

      Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.

    • Gross Body Equilibrium

      Keeping your balance or staying upright.

    • Depth Perception

      Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.

    • Speech Clarity

      Speaking clearly.

    • Category Flexibility

      Grouping things in different ways.

    • Time Sharing

      Doing two or more things at the same time.

    • Response Orientation

      Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.

    • Problem Sensitivity

      Noticing when problems happen.

    • Night Vision

      Seeing at night or under low light.

    • Mathematical Reasoning

      Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.

    • Hearing Sensitivity

      Telling the difference between sounds.

    • Dynamic Strength

      Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.

    • Glare Sensitivity

      Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.

    • Gross Body Coordination

      Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.

    • Speech Recognition

      Recognizing spoken words.

    • Auditory Attention

      Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.

    • Sound Localization

      Noticing the direction that a sound came from.

    • Finger Dexterity

      Putting together small parts with your fingers.

    • Spatial Orientation

      Knowing where things are around you.

    • Number Facility

      Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.

    • Extent Flexibility

      Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    Knowledge

    • Telecommunications

      Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

    • Foreign Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.

    • Mechanical

      Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

    • Therapy and Counseling

      Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.

    • Communications and Media

      Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

    • Food Production

      Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.

    • Law and Government

      Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

    • Administrative

      Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

    • Engineering and Technology

      Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

    • Biology

      Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.

    • Physics

      Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.

    • English Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

    • History and Archeology

      Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.

    • Education and Training

      Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

    • Design

      Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

    • Transportation

      Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

    • Economics and Accounting

      Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

    • Sociology and Anthropology

      Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

    • Administration and Management

      Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

    • Computers and Electronics

      Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

    • Customer and Personal Service

      Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

    • Medicine and Dentistry

      Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.

    • Fine Arts

      Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.

    • Production and Processing

      Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.

    • Sales and Marketing

      Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

    • Building and Construction

      Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.

    • Geography

      Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.

    • Chemistry

      Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.

    • Philosophy and Theology

      Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.

    • Public Safety and Security

      Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

    • Psychology

      Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

    • Personnel and Human Resources

      Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

    • Mathematics

      Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

    Career Video

    Video not available
    Additional videos and more information available on CareerOneStop

    Pay

    • Ohio Annual Salary 45280/yr
    • Typical Salary
    • Ohio Hourly Wage 21.77/hr
    • Typical Hourly Wage

    Ohio Employment Trends

    • Currently Employed 380
    • Yearly Projected Openings 40

    Typical Education

    Personality

    Realistic: People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions.They do well at jobs that need:
    • Attention to Detail
    • Dependability
    • Cooperation
    • Self Control
    • Initiative
    • Independence

    Tools

    • Bending machines
    • Feed or drive rollers
    • Glass vacuum moldings
    • Laboratory heaters
    • Ladders
    • Micrometers
    • Paint brushes
    • Paint rollers
    • Paint sprayers
    • Paint systems ovens
    • Personal computers
    • Power drills
    • Power grinders
    • Power sanders
    • Power saws
    • Power screwguns
    • Resin guns
    • Respirators
    • Rulers
    • Scaffolding
    • Shears
    • Squeegees or washers
    • Utility knives
    • Vacuum pumps

    Technology

    • Enterprise resource planning ERP software
    • Spreadsheet software
    • Word processing software

    Tags

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