Maneuver workpieces in equipment during production.

Maneuver workpieces in equipment during production. is a detailed work activity in O*NET — a concrete unit of work shared across 6 occupations and seen in 6 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 6 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.

• Position and move metal wires or workpieces through a series of dies that compress and shape stock to form die impressions. · Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic · importance 4.5 · no direct exposure
• Hold stones, gems, dies, or styluses against rotating plates, wheels, saws, or slitters to cut, shape, slit, grind, or polish them. · Gem and Diamond Workers · importance 4.3 · no direct exposure
• Guide garments or garment parts under machine needles and presser feet to sew parts together. · Sewing Machine Operators · importance 4.3 · no direct exposure
• Guide workpieces against saws, saw over workpieces by hand, or operate automatic feeding devices to guide cuts. · Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood · importance 4.3 · no direct exposure
• Pull wires through bases of articles and wheels to separate finished pieces. · Potters, Manufacturing · importance 4.2 · no direct exposure
• Push or hold workpieces against, under, or through cutting, boring, or shaping mechanisms. · Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing · importance 4.2 · no direct exposure

Occupations that perform this

• Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
• Gem and Diamond Workers
• Sewing Machine Operators
• Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood
• Potters, Manufacturing
• Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing

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-maneuver-workpieces-in-equipment-during-production,
  title  = {Maneuver workpieces in equipment during production.},
  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/maneuver-workpieces-in-equipment-during-production}
}