Career Explorer Production
Human edge, steady
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic
Set up, operate, or tend machines to saw, cut, shear, slit, punch, crimp, notch, bend, or straighten metal or plastic material.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 36% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is very low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it low), and US jobs are projected to change by -10.5% 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)
- $46,330
- Job growth to 2035
- -10.5%
- Openings a year
- 13,200
- People doing it (2025)
- 171,000
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Set up equipment
- Adjust equipment to ensure adequate performance
- 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
- Clean tools, equipment, facilities, or work areas
What the work looks like
- Measure completed workpieces to verify conformance to specifications, using micrometers, gauges, calipers, templates, or rulers.
- Examine completed workpieces for defects, such as chipped edges or marred surfaces and sort defective pieces according to types of flaws.
- Lubricate workpieces with oil.
- Read work orders or production schedules to determine specifications, such as materials to be used, locations of cutting lines, or dimensions and tolerances.
- Install, align, and lock specified punches, dies, cutting blades, or other fixtures in rams or beds of machines, using gauges, templates, feelers, shims, and hand tools.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as manufacturers are expected to use more CNC, automated, and programmable machinery to perform some functions or tasks previously done by these workers.
- Fewer of these jobs, as manufacturers are expected to use more CNC, automated, and programmable machines to perform some functions or tasks previously done by these workers.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Foundry mold and coremakersHuman edge, steady, Index 43, -23.0%
- Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawingHuman edge, steady, Index 44, -2.5%
- Slaughterers and meat packersHuman edge, steady, Index 71, +2.0%
- Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, woodHuman edge, steady, Index 57, -1.0%
Also known as: Machine Operator, Press Operator, Saw Operator, Setup Operator, Die Setter, Fabrication Operator, Machine Setter, Press Brake Operator.
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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.