Good eyesight, with or without glasses, is required for assemblers who work with small parts. In plants that make electrical and electronic products, which may contain many different colored wires, applicants often are tested for color vision. As precision assemblers become more experienced, they may progress to jobs that require more skill and be given more responsibility. Experienced assemblers who have learned many assembly operations and understand the construction of a product may become product repairers. These workers fix assembled articles that operators or inspectors have identified as defective.
Assemblers also can advance to quality control jobs or be promoted to supervisor.
In some firms, assemblers can become trainees for one of the skilled trades. Those with a background in math, science, and computers may advance to programmers or operators of more highly automated production equipment. Job Outlook Employment of precision assemblers is expected to decline through the year 2005, as increasing automation and internationalization of production will offset any increase in employment that would have resulted from industrial growth. As manufacturing firms strive for greater precision and productivity, jobs that can be performed more economically or more accurately by automated equipment will be upgraded or will disappear. Recent advancements have made robotics more applicable and affordable for manufacturing firms.