Production · Holland code ECR

First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers

Directly supervise and coordinate the activities of production and operating workers, such as inspectors, precision workers, machine setters and operators, assemblers, fabricators, and plant and system operators. Excludes team or work leaders.

Also called: Assembly Supervisor, Manufacturing Supervisor, Production Manager, Production Supervisor, Line Supervisor, Molding Supervisor, Plant Supervisor, Quality Assurance Supervisor (QA Supervisor).

O*NET 51-1011.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $74,450; Middle half earn $58,630 to $91,680. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED); 33% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 3 of 5; Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Enforce safety and sanitation regulations.
Keep records of employees' attendance and hours worked.
Inspect materials, products, or equipment to detect defects or malfunctions.
Read and analyze charts, work orders, production schedules, and other records and reports to determine production requirements and to evaluate current production estimates and outputs.
Plan and establish work schedules, assignments, and production sequences to meet production goals.
Confer with other supervisors to coordinate operations and activities within or between departments.
Interpret specifications, blueprints, job orders, and company policies and procedures for workers.
Observe work and monitor gauges, dials, and other indicators to ensure that operators conform to production or processing standards.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Active Listening3.9 / 5
Speaking3.9 / 5
Critical Thinking3.8 / 5
Monitoring3.8 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.5 / 5
Writing3.1 / 5

Knowledge areas

Production and Processing4.3 / 5
Administration and Management4.1 / 5
Personnel and Human Resources3.6 / 5
English Language3.5 / 5
Computers and Electronics3.2 / 5
Mathematics3.2 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic55
Investigative10
Artistic0
Social31
Enterprising88
Conventional68

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

industrial production manager · DE Führungskraft in der Industrieproduktion · FR directeur de production industrielle/directrice de production industrielle
leather wet processing department manager · DE Führungskraft im Bereich der Nassverarbeitung · FR responsable travail de rivière
dairy processing technician · DE Milchverarbeitungstechniker/Milchverarbeitungstechnikerin · FR opérateur de traitement du lait/opératrice de traitement du lait
industrial assembly supervisor · DE Montageleiter/Montageleiterin · FR superviseur assemblage en industrie/superviseuse assemblage en industrie
aircraft assembly supervisor · DE Industriemeister Flugzeugbau/Industriemeisterin Flugzeugbau · FR superviseur assemblage en industrie aéronautique/superviseuse assemblage en industrie aéronautique
container equipment assembly supervisor · DE Montageleiter Behälterbau/Montageleiterin Behälterbau · FR superviseur assemblage en équipement de réservoirs/superviseuse assemblage en équipement de réservoirs

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Production managers and directors in manufacturing (1121)227,800 employed
Welding trades (5213)49,800 employed
Skilled metal, electrical and electronic trades supervisors (5250)42,900 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Technicians and associate professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Technicians and associate professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€50,992
Austria	€46,986
Germany	€44,473
Netherlands	€42,448
Ireland	€41,613
Sweden	€41,155
Italy	€34,882
France	€34,816
Spain	€29,757
Portugal	€18,080
Poland	€12,108

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -0.08. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (51-1011).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

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