Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders
Operate or tend equipment such as cooling and freezing units, refrigerators, batch freezers, and freezing tunnels, to cool or freeze products, food, blood plasma, and chemicals.
6,900 people do this job in the US. $41,330 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 6%
- 0%
- 94%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 4%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 6%. Today's estimate: 6%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 18 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assemble equipment, and attach pipes, fittings, or valves, using hand tools.Done daily by most who do it. | 15% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Monitor pressure gauges, ammeters, flowmeters, thermometers, or products, and adjust controls to maintain specified conditions, such as feed rate, product consistency, temperature, air pressure, and machine speed.Done daily by most who do it. | 11% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Measure or weigh specified amounts of ingredients or materials, and load them into tanks, vats, hoppers, or other equipment.Done daily by most who do it. | 9% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Inspect and flush lines with solutions or steam, and spray equipment with sterilizing solutions.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 7% | 33 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Scrape, dislodge, or break excess frost, ice, or frozen product from equipment to prevent accumulation, using hands and hand tools.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Record temperatures, amounts of materials processed, or test results on report forms.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 7 min3 min to 13 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Start machinery, such as pumps, feeders, or conveyors, and turn valves to heat, admit, or transfer products, refrigerants, or mixes.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Adjust machine or freezer speed and air intake to obtain desired consistency and amount of product.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Stir material with spoons or paddles to mix ingredients or allow even cooling and prevent coagulation.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Place or position containers into equipment, and remove containers after completion of cooling or freezing processes.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Correct machinery malfunctions by performing actions such as removing jams, and inform supervisors of malfunctions as necessary.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Read dials and gauges on panel control boards to ascertain temperatures, alkalinities, and densities of mixtures, and turn valves to obtain specified mixtures.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders5% now, 5% by 2028
- Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders6% now, 6% by 2028
- Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders10% now, 10% by 2028
- Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic20% now, 20% by 2028
- Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders8% now, 8% by 2028
- Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders7% now, 7% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).