Career Explorer Production
Human edge, steady
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders
Set up, operate, or tend continuous flow or vat-type equipment; filter presses; shaker screens; centrifuges; condenser tubes; precipitating, fermenting, or evaporating tanks; scrubbing towers; or batch stills. These machines extract, sort, or separate liquids, gases, or solids from other materials to recover a refined product. Includes dairy processing equipment operators.
In the middle of the pack: more resilient than 47% 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 -5.7% 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)
- $51,610
- Job growth to 2035
- -5.7%
- Openings a year
- 5,200
- People doing it (2025)
- 61,400
- 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
- Maintain safety or security
- Communicate with others about operational plans or activities
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Operate industrial processing or production equipment
- Operate pumping systems or equipment
- Test characteristics of materials or products
What the work looks like
- Monitor material flow or instruments, such as temperature or pressure gauges, indicators, or meters, to ensure optimal processing conditions.
- Inspect machines or equipment for hazards, operating efficiency, malfunctions, wear, or leaks.
- Set up or adjust machine controls to regulate conditions such as material flow, temperature, or pressure.
- Collect samples of materials or products for laboratory analysis.
- Operate machines to process materials in compliance with applicable safety, energy, or environmental regulations.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as automation increases in beverage manufacturing to improve quality.
- Fewer of these jobs, as automation increases in chemical manufacturing to improve quality.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibersHuman edge, steady, Index 56, -3.3%
- Chemical equipment operators and tendersHuman edge, growing, Index 74, +3.6%
- Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tendersHuman edge, steady, Index 73, +2.6%
- Cooling and freezing equipment operators and tendersHuman edge, growing, Index 90, +5.9%
Also known as: Blender, Cellar Worker, Machine Tender, Pasteurizer, Brewer, Digester Cook, Paper Machine Tender, Plant Operator.
Is this career on your child's list?
Build a free Career Playbook matched to your child, or get a 90-day Action Plan with dated next steps, written for your child by name.
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.