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.
171,200 people do this job in the US. $46,330 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 7%
- 0%
- 93%
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, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 7%. Today's estimate: 7%.
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 . 31 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Set up, operate, or tend machines to saw, cut, shear, slit, punch, crimp, notch, bend, or straighten metal or plastic material.Done daily by most who do it. | 13% | 38 min13 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| 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.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 9% | 33 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Clean and lubricate machines.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Set stops on machine beds, change dies, and adjust components, such as rams or power presses, when making multiple or successive passes.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 29 min13 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Start machines, monitor their operations, and record operational data.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Plan sequences of operations, applying knowledge of physical properties of workpiece materials.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Clean work area.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Remove housings, feed tubes, tool holders, or other accessories to replace worn or broken parts, such as springs or bushings.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 4% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Position guides, stops, holding blocks, or other fixtures to secure and direct workpieces, using hand tools and measuring devices.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 17 min4 min to 42 min | Stays with people | |
| Test and adjust machine speeds or actions, according to product specifications, using gauges and hand tools.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 29 min | Stays with people | |
| Sharpen dulled blades, using bench grinders, abrasive wheels, or lathes.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 33 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Examine completed workpieces for defects, such as chipped edges or marred surfaces and sort defective pieces according to types of flaws.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 8 min3 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.
- Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders7% now, 7% by 2028
- Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing7% now, 7% by 2028
- Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic18% now, 18% by 2028
- Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic18% now, 18% by 2028
- Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic14% now, 14% by 2028
- Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic6% now, 6% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
- Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturing27,220 people
- Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing (3321, 3322, 3325, 3326, and 3329 only)26,710 people
- Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing (3323 and 3324 only)22,210 people
- Plastics Product Manufacturing12,850 people
- Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods (4232, 4233, 4235, 4236, 4237, and 4239 only)10,120 people
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).