What Does a Machine Shop Supervisor Do?
Every work order that comes through the shop door, from a bracket needed by Friday to a full vacuum assembly, lands first with the machine shop supervisor. The supervisor decides which jobs run first, quotes the hours and materials and assigns work to the machinists, and no part leaves the shop until it has been checked against the drawing. Many of these shops serve research labs and engineering groups at universities and companies.
Also known as: Assistant Instrument Shop Manager, Instrument Shop Manager, Shop Superintendent, Instrument Shop Supervisor
Other Job Titles for This Work
Workers in this occupation report titles such as Assembly Supervisor, Line Supervisor, Manufacturing Supervisor, Molding Supervisor, Plant Supervisor, Production Manager, Production Supervisor, Quality Assurance Supervisor (QA Supervisor).
Machine Shop Supervisor Duties and Responsibilities
The primary responsibilities of a machine shop supervisor include:
- Log incoming work orders and set priorities with researchers, engineers and facilities staff.
- Quote jobs by estimating machine hours, materials and outside services such as plating.
- Assign jobs to machinists and instrument makers based on skill, machine time and deadlines.
- Check first-article parts and finished work against drawings before release.
- Order bar stock, sheet metal, cutting tools and fasteners within the shop budget.
- Run safety inspections, lockout-tagout checks and machine guarding reviews.
- Track shop hours and bill departments at approved recharge rates each month.
- Interview, hire and evaluate machinists, and plan training on new equipment.
- Arrange preventive maintenance and repairs for lathes, mills, grinders and saws.
- Machine urgent or difficult parts personally when the shop is short-handed.
Required Skills and Qualifications
To succeed as a machine shop supervisor, you will need the following skills and qualifications:
- Machinist background on lathes, mills and CNC
- Job costing and quoting
- Scheduling shop capacity
- Shop safety programs, including lockout-tagout
- Reading drawings and GD&T callouts
- Supervising skilled trades staff
- Fair, direct communication
- Spreadsheets or job-tracking software
Education and Training
Time at the lathe and mill, as a machinist or instrument maker, is the real qualification for running a shop, while BLS puts the typical education at a high school diploma. Some supervisors move over from running production in a factory. The job mixes machining with management, and experienced supervisors can become shop superintendents or instrument shop managers.
Salary and Job Outlook
Typical pay: $58,630 - $91,680 per year, with a median of $74,450.
The range covers the middle half of earners nationwide. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers.
BLS projects employment of first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, the wider group that includes machine shop supervisors, to grow about 2 percent from 2025 to 2035. Progression is often slow in research shops and openings there are few, even though the group as a whole averages roughly 61,000 a year.
Outlook source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035, First-line supervisors of production and operating workers.
Machine Shop Supervisor Pay Range
| Earners | Annual pay |
|---|---|
| Bottom 10% earn less than | $47,130 |
| Bottom 25% earn less than | $58,630 |
| Median (half earn more, half less) | $74,450 |
| Top 25% earn more than | $91,680 |
| Top 10% earn more than | $108,750 |
Highest-Paying States for Machine Shop Supervisors
The states with the highest median pay for this occupation are Wyoming ($90,390), Connecticut ($83,150), Rhode Island ($81,650), New Jersey ($81,110), District of Columbia ($80,030). Pay is lowest in New Mexico ($64,640), Florida ($63,950), Arkansas ($63,090).
Median pay in all 51 states with BLS data
| State | Median annual pay |
|---|---|
| Alabama | $73,060 |
| Alaska | $77,960 |
| Arizona | $75,330 |
| Arkansas | $63,090 |
| California | $76,840 |
| Colorado | $78,890 |
| Connecticut | $83,150 |
| Delaware | $79,100 |
| District of Columbia | $80,030 |
| Florida | $63,950 |
| Georgia | $69,170 |
| Hawaii | $71,990 |
| Idaho | $70,890 |
| Illinois | $75,200 |
| Indiana | $73,950 |
| Iowa | $74,750 |
| Kansas | $74,480 |
| Kentucky | $72,490 |
| Louisiana | $77,520 |
| Maine | $78,970 |
| Maryland | $78,520 |
| Massachusetts | $79,920 |
| Michigan | $72,170 |
| Minnesota | $78,550 |
| Mississippi | $68,720 |
| Missouri | $73,210 |
| Montana | $68,760 |
| Nebraska | $72,200 |
| Nevada | $68,270 |
| New Hampshire | $79,310 |
| New Jersey | $81,110 |
| New Mexico | $64,640 |
| New York | $78,580 |
| North Carolina | $69,640 |
| North Dakota | $76,350 |
| Ohio | $72,160 |
| Oklahoma | $70,000 |
| Oregon | $73,580 |
| Pennsylvania | $74,990 |
| Rhode Island | $81,650 |
| South Carolina | $77,500 |
| South Dakota | $73,040 |
| Tennessee | $65,310 |
| Texas | $70,140 |
| Utah | $71,220 |
| Vermont | $75,540 |
| Virginia | $74,150 |
| Washington | $79,310 |
| West Virginia | $68,990 |
| Wisconsin | $74,840 |
| Wyoming | $90,390 |
What the Work Is Like
O*NET surveys people who work as first-line supervisors of production and operating workers about their daily conditions. Of those surveyed:
- 92% wear safety gear such as gloves, safety glasses or a hard hat every day
- 87% say teamwork is very or extremely important in their job
- 85% use email every day
- 83% usually work more than 40 hours a week
- 82% say being exact and accurate is very or extremely important
- 72% deal with loud or distracting noise every day
- 70% spend more than half the workday on their feet
Education Workers Say the Job Needs
| Education level | Share of workers |
|---|---|
| High school diploma or GED | 33% |
| Some college | 15% |
| Less than high school | 14% |
| Associate's degree | 14% |
Tools and Software Machine Shop Supervisors Use
Tools and equipment
Software
Is This Job a Good Fit for You?
People who do well in this job tend to enjoy leading, persuading and making business decisions as well as organized work with data, records and clear procedures.
Skills O*NET rates most important: Active Listening, Speaking, Time Management, Management of Personnel Resources, Critical Thinking, Monitoring.
Knowledge areas used most: Production and Processing, Administration and Management, Personnel and Human Resources, English Language, Computers and Electronics.
Preparation: O*NET places this occupation in Job Zone 3 of 5, which means medium preparation.
Related Careers
These jobs use similar skills, according to O*NET's related-occupation data:
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Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035.
- O*NET 30.1 Database, occupation 51-1011.00 (First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers). View on O*NET OnLine.
This page includes information from the O*NET 30.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The Job Explorer has modified some of the information; USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed or tested these changes.