Career Explorer Production
Human edge, steady
Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic
Set up, operate, or tend forging machines to taper, shape, or form metal or plastic parts.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 20% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it low), and US jobs are projected to change by -17.2% 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)
- $49,030
- Job growth to 2035
- -17.2%
- Openings a year
- 600
- People doing it (2025)
- 8,900
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Read documents or materials to inform work processes
- Communicate with others about operational plans or activities
- Test performance of equipment or systems
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Operate industrial processing or production equipment
- Position workpieces or materials on equipment
- Disassemble equipment
What the work looks like
- Install, adjust, and remove dies, synchronizing cams, forging hammers, and stop guides, using overhead cranes or other hoisting devices, and hand tools.
- Start machines to produce sample workpieces, and observe operations to detect machine malfunctions and to verify that machine setups conform to specifications.
- Remove dies from machines when production runs are finished.
- Select, align, and bolt positioning fixtures, stops, and specified dies to rams and anvils, forging rolls, or presses and hammers.
- Read work orders or blueprints to determine specified tolerances and sequences of operations for machine setup.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as manufacturers continue to use and integrate automated, CNC, and programmable machines to complete tasks previously done by these workers.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Ophthalmic laboratory techniciansHuman edge, steady, Index 68, +2.2%
- Fiberglass laminators and fabricatorsHuman edge, growing, Index 86, +4.6%
- Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tendersHuman edge, steady, Index 21, -13.6%
- Timing device assemblers and adjustersHuman edge, steady, Index 27, -6.1%
Also known as: Blacksmith, Hammer Operator, Machine Operator, Process Technician (Process Tech), Forge Operator, Forge Press Operator, Forger, Header 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.