Skip to content
Singulariki

Controlling Machines and Processes

Work activity group · O*NET

Controlling Machines and Processes is one of the 41 Generalized Work Activities at the top of O*NET's work-activity hierarchy — the broadest description of what people do on the job, sitting above the more specific intermediate and detailed work activities. Across the 894 occupations O*NET rates on it, it scores an average importance of 2.75 of 5 — 18th percentile among all activity groups.

Intermediate activities it contains

The intermediate work activities O*NET groups under Controlling Machines and Processes, ranked by how many occupations perform each. Each links to its own page.

Intermediate activity Occupations AI applied
Operate industrial processing or production equipment 71 9th pct
Operate lifting or moving equipment 62 6th pct
Operate cutting or grinding equipment 44 3rd pct
Operate medical equipment 40 14th pct
Operate pumping systems or equipment 35 11th pct
Operate audiovisual or related equipment 27 37th pct
Operate construction or excavation equipment 24 4th pct
Operate communications equipment or systems 20 79th pct
Operate laboratory or field equipment 18 9th pct
Operate energy production or distribution equipment 13 10th pct
Operate office equipment 13 39th pct
Operate agricultural or forestry equipment 12 13th pct

How AI is applied to this activity group

Microsoft's "Working with AI" study measured how often an AI assistant performs each work activity in real Bing Copilot conversations. Averaged across the 12 intermediate activities under Controlling Machines and Processes that the study measured, this group ranks in the 20th percentile for how frequently AI is applied — a description of how AI is used today, not a forecast that the activity will be automated.

The figure is the mean of the child activities' applied-percentiles; open any activity above to see its underlying Microsoft measurements. Every occupation blends many activities, so a high AI-applied rank for one group does not mean a job is being automated.

Occupations that rely on this activity group most

Ranked by O*NET importance rating (1–5) for Controlling Machines and Processes. Wages are BLS OEWS May 2024 national medians.

Occupation Importance Median pay Employment
Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand 4.87 $41,690 11,850
Commercial Pilots 4.84 $122,670 51,830
Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 4.75 $46,630 5,310
Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 4.74 $48,310 13,810
Helpers--Extraction Workers 4.74 $48,400 6,720
Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas 4.71 $57,980 44,120
Machinists 4.69 $56,150 298,790
Pile Driver Operators 4.68 $70,510 3,040
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 4.66 $46,980 65,700
Manufactured Building and Mobile Home Installers 4.65 $41,080 2,610
Printing Press Operators 4.64 $45,160 145,110
Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators 4.63 $58,710 469,270
Locomotive Engineers 4.63 $77,400 31,990
Wind Turbine Service Technicians 4.63 $62,580 11,220
Logging Equipment Operators 4.62 $49,210 22,520
Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators 4.60 $49,970 176,950
Radiation Therapists 4.60 $101,990 18,700
Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders 4.60 $45,210 12,170
Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 4.57 $41,230 154,820
Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners 4.56 $48,970 5,730
Stone Cutters and Carvers, Manufacturing 4.52 $45,690 34,750
Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas 4.52 $59,600 17,410
Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 4.50 $48,630 22,350
Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders 4.50 $40,160 6,590
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 4.46 $45,190 70,110
Sailors and Marine Oilers 4.46 $49,610 31,360
Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas 4.45 $65,010 13,090
Derrick Operators, Oil and Gas 4.45 $62,740 11,040
Food Batchmakers 4.42 $40,790 171,660
Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 4.42 $49,390 96,950
Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 4.42 $45,130 57,310
Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers 4.42 $58,030 3,300
Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators 4.40 $51,650 45,680
Gas Compressor and Gas Pumping Station Operators 4.40 $71,510 5,110
Roof Bolters, Mining 4.40 $76,640 2,230
Patternmakers, Metal and Plastic 4.40 $54,540 1,570
Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining 4.39 $52,550 34,210
Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fibers 4.38 $44,980 14,900
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 4.37 $46,060 129,850
Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers 4.37 $92,560 123,680
Construction Laborers 4.36 $46,730 1,057,660
Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers 4.35 $106,580 23,340
Continuous Mining Machine Operators 4.35 $63,380 14,340
Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders 4.34 $47,010 16,160
Ship Engineers 4.34 $101,320 8,580
Fallers 4.33 $53,900 4,110
Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders 4.31 $47,680 100,840
Biomass Plant Technicians 4.31 $99,670 30,720
Hydroelectric Plant Technicians 4.31 $99,670 30,720
Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers 4.30 $226,600 99,300
Engine and Other Machine Assemblers 4.30 $52,540 38,420
Print Binding and Finishing Workers 4.29 $39,820 36,470
Roustabouts, Oil and Gas 4.28 $47,510 45,330
Crane and Tower Operators 4.27 $66,370 42,000
Geothermal Technicians 4.26 $48,640 183,690
Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators 4.24 $40,100 5,550
Millwrights 4.23 $65,170 40,660
Semiconductor Processing Technicians 4.23 $51,180 32,150
Dredge Operators 4.23 $48,430 1,030
Patternmakers, Wood 4.23 $52,520 180

Showing 60 of 894 occupations.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Controlling Machines and Processes." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/activity-groups/controlling-machines-and-processes

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Controlling Machines and Processes. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/activity-groups/controlling-machines-and-processes

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-controlling-machines-and-processes,
  title  = {Controlling Machines and Processes},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/activity-groups/controlling-machines-and-processes}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.