Description
Use hand tools or hand-held power tools to cut and trim a variety of manufactured items, such as carpet, fabric, stone, glass, or rubber.
- • Mark or discard items with defects such as spots, stains, scars, snags, chips, scratches, or unacceptable shapes or finishes.
- • Trim excess material or cut threads off finished products, such as cutting loose ends of plastic off a manufactured toy for a smoother finish.
- • Cut, shape, and trim materials, such as textiles, food, glass, stone, and metal, using knives, scissors, and other hand tools, portable power tools, or bench-mounted tools.
- • Separate materials or products according to size, weight, type, condition, color, or shade.
- • Mark identification numbers, trademarks, grades, marketing data, sizes, or model numbers on products.
- • Read work orders to determine dimensions, cutting locations, and quantities to cut.
- • Count or weigh and bundle items.
- • Mark cutting lines around patterns or templates, or follow layout points, using squares, rules, and straightedges, and chalk, pencils, or scribes.
- • Unroll, lay out, attach, or mount materials or items on cutting tables or machines.
- • Stack cut items and load them on racks or conveyors or onto trucks.
- • Fold or shape materials before or after cutting them.
- • Clean, treat, buff, or polish finished items, using grinders, brushes, chisels, and cleaning solutions and polishing materials.
- • Position templates or measure materials to locate specified points of cuts or to obtain maximum yields, using rules, scales, or patterns.
- • Route items to provide cutouts for parts, using portable routers, grinders, and hand tools.
- • Replace or sharpen dulled cutting tools such as saws.
- • Lower table-mounted cutters such as knife blades, cutting wheels, or saws to cut items to specified sizes.
- • Adjust guides and stops to control depths and widths of cuts.
- • Transport items to work or storage areas, using carts.
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Related Pathways
Advanced Manufacturing
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Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
