Feed materials or products into or through equipment.

Feed materials or products into or through equipment. is a detailed work activity in O*NET — a concrete unit of work shared across 21 occupations and seen in 21 occupation-specific tasks. It rolls up into the broader work activity Position workpieces or materials on equipment. in Handling and Moving Objects .

Detailed work activities are the most granular shared layer in O*NET's work-activity hierarchy (Generalized → Intermediate → Detailed → occupation-specific task). The figures below describe how this activity shows up across the economy and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the work will be automated.

AI exposure

Of the 21 tasks under this activity that the OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rated, 0 (0%) are flagged as directly exposed to language models (E1) or exposed via model-powered tools (E2).

Exposure estimates overlap with model capabilities — whether a model could speed the task up — not whether the work will be done by software. Observed AI use is augmentation and assistance today, not jobs replaced.

Member tasks

Occupation-specific tasks O*NET maps to this detailed work activity, most important first.

• Thread yarn, thread, and fabric through guides, needles, and rollers of machines for weaving, knitting, or other processing. · Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders · importance 4.6 · no direct exposure
• Feed paper through press cylinders and adjust feed and tension controls. · Printing Press Operators · importance 4.5 · no direct exposure
• Thread yarn, thread, or fabric through guides, needles, and rollers of machines. · Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders · importance 4.5 · no direct exposure
• Draw thread through machine guide slots, needles, and presser feet in preparation for stitching, or load rolls of wire through machine axles. · Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders · importance 4.3 · no direct exposure
• Place rolls of paper or cardboard on machine feed tracks, and thread paper through gluing, coating, and slitting rollers. · Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders · importance 4.3 · no direct exposure
• Place spools of thread, cord, or other materials on spindles, insert bobbins, and thread ends through machine guides and components. · Sewing Machine Operators · importance 4.3 · no direct exposure
• Feed stock into cutting machines, onto conveyors, or under cutting blades, by threading, guiding, pushing, or turning handwheels. · Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders · importance 4.3 · no direct exposure
• Thread yarn, thread, or fabric through guides, needles, and rollers of machines. · Textile Winding, Twisting, and Drawing Out Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders · importance 4.3 · no direct exposure
• Thread or feed sheets or rods through rolling mechanisms, or start and control mechanisms that automatically feed steel into rollers. · Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic · importance 4.3 · no direct exposure
• Supply materials to spindles, conveyors, hoppers, or other feeding devices and unload packaged product. · Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders · importance 4.3 · no direct exposure
• Thread or feed items or products through or around machine rollers and dryers. · Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders · importance 4.3 · no direct exposure
• Feed stock through feed mechanisms or conveyors into planing, shaping, boring, mortising, or sanding machines to produce desired components. · Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing · importance 4.2 · no direct exposure
• Move toolholders manually or by turning handwheels, or engage automatic feeding mechanisms to feed tools to and along workpieces. · Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic · importance 4.2 · no direct exposure
• Thread ends of cloth or twine through specified sections of equipment prior to processing. · Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders · importance 4.1 · no direct exposure
• Start conveyors to move roasted grain to cooling pans and agitate grain with rakes as blowers force air through perforated bottoms of pans. · Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders · importance 4.1 · no direct exposure
• Move cutters or material manually or by turning handwheels, or engage automatic feeding mechanisms to mill workpieces to specifications. · Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic · importance 4.1 · no direct exposure
• Feed products into machines by hand or conveyor. · Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders · importance 4.0 · no direct exposure
• Position and feed materials into processing machines, by hand or by using automated equipment. · Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic · importance 3.9 · no direct exposure
• Load or feed workpieces into welding machines to join or bond components. · Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders · importance 3.7 · no direct exposure
• Set pyrometer controls of heat-treating furnaces and feed or place parts, tools, or assemblies into furnaces to harden. · Tool and Die Makers · importance 3.6 · no direct exposure
• Thread and hand-feed materials through machine cutters or abraders. · Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic · importance 3.5 · no direct exposure

Occupations that perform this

• Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
• Printing Press Operators
• Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
• Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders
• Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
• Sewing Machine Operators
• Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
• Textile Winding, Twisting, and Drawing Out Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
• Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
• Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders
• Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
• Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
• Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
• Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders
• Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders
• Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
• Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
• Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
• Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
• Tool and Die Makers
• Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

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.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

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

@misc{singulariki-feed-materials-or-products-into-or-through-equipment,
  title  = {Feed materials or products into or through equipment.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/detailed-activities/feed-materials-or-products-into-or-through-equipment}
}