Skip to content
Singulariki

Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Occupation · SOC 51-4081.00

Set up, operate, or tend more than one type of cutting or forming machine tool or robot.

Also called: CNC Machine Setter (Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Setter) · Cell Technician · Machine Operator · Machine Technician · Fabrication Set-Up Person · Injection Molding Technician · Mold Setter · Production Operator · Shear Operator · Tooling Set-Up Person · Automatic Wheel-Line Operator · Ballistics Laboratory Gunsmith

Job family: Production Occupations

Take this to your AI
Download .md

A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch /roles/role-51-4081-00/context.md directly.

AI work map

A fast read on where AI already shows up in this occupation, where it stays a copilot, where humans remain in the loop, and what the labor market is doing. Built from observed Claude.ai conversations mapped to O*NET tasks and from published research — measures of usage and exposure, not advice or predictions that the job is going away.

Often handed to AI

Task areas most often handled directively in observed AI conversations — candidates to delegate with light review.

  • Compute data such as gear dimensions and machine settings, applying knowledge of shop mathematics. · 1.2%
See how AI is used here →

Keep a human in the loop

Task areas where a human was still judged necessary in a large share of observed conversations — not a safety ruling, an observed-need signal.

  • Compute data such as gear dimensions and machine settings, applying knowledge of shop mathematics. · 90.7% need a human
See the boundary tasks →

28th-percentile task overlap — yet about 12,800 openings a year (-0.5% projected, BLS), and observed AI use leans 1864% copilot, not hand-off (AEI) . What exposure means →

AI & job outlook

What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.

Exposure to current AI

Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.

Measure Rank vs all occupations Percentile Score
Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.) Low 27th -0.7
LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou) Low 17th 0.1
AI assistant applicability (Microsoft) Moderate 44th 0.1

OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.1), with simple added tooling (β 0.1), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.1). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.

This job mostly cannot be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman) — its hands-on tasks sit outside what software-based AI reaches.

Mixed signals. Today's AI/LLM studies show relatively low exposure for this job, but the older (2013) Frey–Osborne work rated it higher for computerization and robotics. Different eras, different technologies — the AI measures above reflect the current state.

Historical automation estimate (2013)

A pre-LLM (2013) estimate of how automatable this job is by computerization and robotics. Shown for historical context only — it is not part of any current AI ranking.

Frey–Osborne probability 0.9 · 81st percentile among occupations · High

Job outlook

Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.

Outlook Declining · -0.5% by 2034
Projected annual openings 12,800
Employment 2024 → 2034 131,000 → 130,300

“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.

Where this work sits on the global GenAI gradient

The ILO's 2025 global study scores generative-AI exposure on the international ISCO-08 occupation system, not US SOC. Bridged through the published (and approximate, many-to-many) IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 crosswalk, this US occupation corresponds to the international occupation below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.

18% mean task exposure (2025)
28th percentile of 427 placed occupations
+2 pts shift 2023 → 2025
International occupation (ISCO-08) Task exposure (2025) Most tasks fall in
Metal Working Machine Tool Setters and Operators · 7223 18% Not exposed

Read the whole six-band gradient on the GenAI exposure gradient page. The crosswalk is approximate: a US occupation can map to several international ones, and the ILO scores describe the international occupation, not this exact US role.

Working with AI in this job

How people actually apply AI to this occupation's tasks, from Claude.ai (Free and Pro) conversations in the Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15. This is one AI assistant's consumer sample — not all AI, not the whole workforce. Autonomy and the collaboration mix are model-rated estimates; figures below the sample floor are hidden.

Augmentation vs. automation 18.6% working with AI · 58.5% handed to AI
Most common way people use AI here Directive · AI does it; you give the instruction
Typical AI autonomy 3.0 / 5 · higher = AI acts more independently

What people delegate to AI

The role's most common tasks in AI conversations, each tagged with how people work with the AI on it. “Usage” is the share of observed conversations, not of the job.

Task How Usage
Compute data such as gear dimensions and machine settings, applying knowledge of shop mathematics. Directive 1.2%

Where a human is still needed

Tasks where the model most often judged that a person remained necessary — a useful read on the current boundary, not a guarantee.

Compute data such as gear dimensions and machine settings, applying knowledge of shop mathematics. 90.7%

What people most often hand AI here

Example prompts phrased from the tasks people most often delegate to AI in this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index). Each shows the underlying measured task and its share of observed AI use. They are suggested phrasings of real tasks — starting points, not endorsed instructions.

  • Help me compute data such as gear dimensions and machine settings, applying knowledge of shop mathematics.

    From: Compute data such as gear dimensions and machine settings, applying knowledge of shop mathematics. · 1.2% of measured AI use · directive

Tasks

All 21 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.

Work activities

Knowledge, skills & abilities

O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).

Knowledge

Production and Processing 4.1
Mechanical 3.9
Mathematics 3.6
English Language 3.3
Design 3.1

Transferable skills

Operations Monitoring 4.0
Quality Control Analysis 3.4
Operation and Control 3.1
Equipment Maintenance 3.1
Judgment and Decision Making 3.1
Social Perceptiveness 3.0
Complex Problem Solving 3.0
Troubleshooting 3.0
Repairing 3.0

Abilities

Arm-Hand Steadiness 3.9
Control Precision 3.9
Near Vision 3.9
Manual Dexterity 3.8
Problem Sensitivity 3.6
Visualization 3.4
Information Ordering 3.3
Oral Comprehension 3.1
Written Comprehension 3.1
Selective Attention 3.1
Finger Dexterity 3.1
Multilimb Coordination 3.1
Reaction Time 3.1
Far Vision 3.1
Speech Recognition 3.1
Deductive Reasoning 3.0
Inductive Reasoning 3.0
Category Flexibility 3.0
Flexibility of Closure 3.0
Perceptual Speed 3.0
Rate Control 3.0

Essential skills

Monitoring 3.1
Reading Comprehension 3.0
Active Listening 3.0
Speaking 3.0
Critical Thinking 3.0

Skills in demand

Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.

Tools & technology

Example Category
Autodesk AutoCAD Computer aided design CAD software Hot technology
Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet software Hot technology
Microsoft Office software Office suite software Hot technology
Microsoft Outlook Electronic mail software Hot technology
Microsoft Windows Operating system software Hot technology
Microsoft Word Word processing software Hot technology
SAP software Enterprise resource planning ERP software Hot technology
Email software Electronic mail software

Work context

How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.

Wear Common Protective or Safety Equipment such as Safety Shoes, Glasses, Gloves, Hearing Protection, Hard Hats, or Life Jackets 5.0
Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams 4.9
Importance of Being Exact or Accurate 4.7
Time Pressure 4.5
Spend Time Standing 4.4
Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls 4.2
Contact With Others 4.0
Pace Determined by Speed of Equipment 4.0
Freedom to Make Decisions 3.9
Indoors, Environmentally Controlled 3.8
Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team 3.8
Health and Safety of Other Workers 3.5
Determine Tasks, Priorities and Goals 3.4
E-Mail 3.3
Exposed to Minor Burns, Cuts, Bites, or Stings 3.3
Coordinate or Lead Others in Accomplishing Work Activities 3.2
Consequence of Error 3.2
Exposed to Sounds, Noise Levels that are Distracting or Uncomfortable 3.1
Exposed to Hazardous Equipment 3.1
Physical Proximity 3.1
Work Outcomes and Results of Other Workers 3.0
Exposed to Contaminants 3.0
Degree of Automation 3.0
Spend Time Walking or Running 3.0
Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results 3.0
Importance of Repeating Same Tasks 2.9
Spend Time Making Repetitive Motions 2.9
Spend Time Bending or Twisting Your Body 2.9
Indoors, Not Environmentally Controlled 2.8
Frequency of Decision Making 2.8
Conflict Situations 2.8
Written Letters and Memos 2.7
Level of Competition 2.6
Exposed to Very Hot or Cold Temperatures 2.3
Deal With External Customers or the Public in General 2.2
Telephone Conversations 2.0
Exposed to Hazardous Conditions 2.0
Dealing With Unpleasant, Angry, or Discourteous People 1.9
Spend Time Sitting 1.8
Public Speaking 1.8

How to get in

Job zone
Zone 2 — Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
Education
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Typical entry-level education
High school diploma or equivalent · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement
Related experience
Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
Preparation level
SVP (Below 6.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.

What to study: Precision Production . Fields of study crosswalked to this occupation (NCES CIP–SOC), not a requirement.

Education of current workers

Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.

High School Diploma 81.7%
Post-Secondary Certificate 7.6%
Some College Courses 5.6%
Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) 3.9%
Less than a High School Diploma 1.1%

Interests & work styles

The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.

Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)

Realistic 7.0
Conventional 4.6
Investigative 2.3

Interest areas

Mechanics/Electronics 4.9
Physical/Manual Labor 4.3
Engineering 3.5
Mathematics/Statistics 2.2
Transportation/Machine Operation 2.0
Information Technology 1.6
Construction/Woodwork 1.6
Teaching/Education 1.3
Accounting 1.2
Physical Science 1.2

Work styles

Attention to Detail 2.6
Dependability 2.5
Cautiousness 2.0

Wages & employment

U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)

$34k10th$38k25th$46kMedian$56k75th$73k90th
Annual wages by percentile — U.S. (BLS OEWS). The light band spans the 10th–90th percentile; the darker band is the middle half (25th–75th); the line is the median.
131k2024130k2034 (proj.)-0.5% · Declining
Projected U.S. employment, 2024–2034 (BLS Employment Projections). A labor-market forecast for the occupation, not an AI-impact forecast.
10th percentile $34,130
25th percentile $38,320
Median (50th) $46,060
75th percentile $56,220
90th percentile $72,850
People employed 129,850

Industries that employ this occupation

Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.

Industry Workers National median pay
Manufacturing · Sector 105,600 $47,550
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector 16,530 $36,200
Temporary Help Services · National industry 15,530 $36,210
Wholesale Trade · Sector 4,670 $46,590
Machine Shops · National industry 2,730 $44,360
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector 740 $48,150
Health Care and Social Assistance · Sector 340 $29,100
Transportation and Warehousing · Sector 260 $49,850
Engineering Services · National industry 250 $56,870
Management of Companies and Enterprises · Sector 250 $64,310
Construction · Sector 140 $54,500
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors · National industry 110 $45,850

Where this work is most concentrated

Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).

Industry Concentration Workers
Machine Shops · National industry 12.48× 2,730
Manufacturing · Sector 9.82× 105,600
Temporary Help Services · National industry 6.96× 15,530
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector 2.17× 16,530
Wholesale Trade · Sector 0.92× 4,670
Engineering Services · National industry 0.26× 250
Management of Companies and Enterprises · Sector 0.11× 250
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors · National industry 0.1× 110

Part of the Advanced Manufacturing career cluster.

Exposure quadrant: AI task-overlap percentile vs Median pay Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic sits at the 28th percentile of AI task-overlap and the 23rd percentile of median pay, placed here against 12 adjacent occupations on the same two axes. Lower overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · lower pay Lower overlap · lower pay Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners Industrial Machinery Mechanics Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators AI task-overlap percentile → ↑ Median pay
AI task-overlap percentile (horizontal) vs. median-pay percentile (vertical), across all scored occupations. This occupation is highlighted; related occupations are plotted alongside it. Overlap measures shared tasks with AI, not automation.

Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.

What you can do with this

Options the data surfaces for Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.

Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation

Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic show 28th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 12,800 annual U.S. openings

  • Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic rank in the 28th percentile (Low band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated.Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE
  • The occupation is projected to see about 12,800 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
  • BLS projects employment to be declining (-0.5%) from 2024 to 2034.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
  • Median annual pay is $46,060, across about 129,850 U.S. workers.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
  • Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 19% looks like augmentation (drafting, iterating, checking) rather than hands-off automation — from a Claude.ai usage sample, not a census.2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2
Copy the whole kit
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic show 28th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 12,800 annual U.S. openings

• Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic rank in the 28th percentile (Low band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated. (Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE)
• The occupation is projected to see about 12,800 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34)
• BLS projects employment to be declining (-0.5%) from 2024 to 2034. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34)
• Median annual pay is $46,060, across about 129,850 U.S. workers. (BLS OEWS (May 2024))
• Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 19% looks like augmentation (drafting, iterating, checking) rather than hands-off automation — from a Claude.ai usage sample, not a census. (2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2)

Source: Singulariki — "Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic". https://singulariki.com/roles/role-51-4081-00
Note: AI task overlap measures what today's AI can attempt, not automation, job loss, or a forecast.

AssetsShare imageMethodology & sourcesPress & newsroomThe newsroom

Every line is built only from figures this page already shows and cites. AI task overlap means what today's AI can attempt — not automation, job loss, or a forecast.

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. "Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-51-4081-00

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/roles/role-51-4081-00

BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-role-51-4081-00,
  title  = {Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/roles/role-51-4081-00}
}

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

Embed this chart

Paste this into any page. It links back here for attribution.