Glossary
Extruding Machine Operator Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential extruding machine operator terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key extruding machine operator vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in extruding machine operator training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Barrel zone
- Heated section.
- Cooling tank
- Cools product.
- Die
- Shapes material.
- Die swell
- Expansion after the die.
- Extruder
- Machine that pushes material.
- First article
- First part checked before a run.
- Lockout/tagout
- Energy isolation before servicing.
- Melt temperature
- Plastic temperature.
- PPE
- Personal protective equipment.
- Puller
- Pulls product.
- Resin
- Plastic pellets.
- Scrap
- Parts that fail inspection.
- Screw
- Pushes material.
- SOP
- Standard operating procedure.
- Wall thickness
- Product thickness.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Extruding Machine Operator practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Extruding Machine Operator training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.