Career Explorer Production
Human edge, steady
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders
Set up, operate, or tend machines that cut or slice materials, such as glass, stone, cork, rubber, tobacco, food, paper, or insulating material.
More resilient than most: more resilient than 62% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it moderate), and US jobs are projected to change by -0.9% by 2035, expected to shrink. The work leans on physical dexterity.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $46,570
- Job growth to 2035
- -0.9%
- Openings a year
- 5,400
- People doing it (2025)
- 45,900
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Adjust equipment to ensure adequate performance
- Test performance of equipment or systems
- Read documents or materials to inform work processes
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Operate cutting or grinding equipment
- Position workpieces or materials on equipment
- Remove workpieces from production equipment
What the work looks like
- Remove defective or substandard materials from machines, and readjust machine components so that products meet standards.
- Maintain production records, such as quantities, types, and dimensions of materials produced.
- Start machines to verify setups, and make any necessary adjustments.
- Press buttons, pull levers, or depress pedals to start and operate cutting and slicing machines.
- Start pumps to circulate water and abrasives onto blades or cables during cutting.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as animal food processing is increasingly automated.
- Fewer of these jobs, as new technology and equipment used in cutting and slicing replace some workers.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Floor sanders and finishersHuman edge, steady, Index 73, +1.4%
- Packaging and filling machine operators and tendersHuman edge, growing, Index 91, +4.1%
- Sailors and marine oilersHuman edge, steady, Index 89, +3.2%
- Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmersHuman edge, growing, Index 88, +5.7%
Also known as: Cutter, Cutter Operator, Machine Operator, Paper Cutter, Cutting Machine Operator, Die Cutter Operator, Flat Cutter, Sheeter.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.