Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders
Operate or tend food or tobacco roasting, baking, or drying equipment, including hearth ovens, kiln driers, roasters, char kilns, and vacuum drying equipment.
20,370 people do this job in the US. $44,810 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 8%
- 0%
- 92%
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, 5%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 8%. Today's estimate: 8%.
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 . 19 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operate or tend equipment that roasts, bakes, dries, or cures food items such as cocoa and coffee beans, grains, nuts, and bakery products.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 28% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Observe flow of materials and listen for machine malfunctions, such as jamming or spillage, and notify supervisors if corrective actions fail.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 7% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Clean equipment with steam, hot water, and hoses.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Record production data, such as weight and amount of product processed, type of product, and time and temperature of processing.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Set temperature and time controls, light ovens, burners, driers, or roasters, and start equipment, such as conveyors, cylinders, blowers, driers, or pumps.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Fill or remove product from trays, carts, hoppers, or equipment, using scoops, peels, or shovels, or by hand.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 13 min4 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Observe, feel, taste, or otherwise examine products during and after processing to ensure conformance to standards.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 7 min3 min to 13 min | Stays with people | |
| Weigh or measure products, using scale hoppers or scale conveyors.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 8 min3 min to 17 min | Stays with people | |
| Observe temperature, humidity, pressure gauges, and product samples and adjust controls, such as thermostats and valves, to maintain prescribed operating conditions for specific stages.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 8 min3 min to 21 min | Stays with people | |
| Open valves, gates, or chutes or use shovels to load or remove products from ovens or other equipment.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Push racks or carts to transfer products to storage, cooling stations, or the next stage of processing.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | Stays with people | |
| Clear or dislodge blockages in bins, screens, or other equipment, using poles, brushes, or mallets.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 38 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.
- Food Batchmakers13% now, 23% by 2028
- Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders7% now, 7% 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
- Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products7% now, 7% by 2028
- Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders6% now, 6% 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).