Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians
In short: today's best AI models could do about 34% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 69% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The conversations, in-person and hands-on work, about 28% of the time, stays with people.
Apply engineering theory and principles to problems of industrial layout or manufacturing production, usually under the direction of engineering staff. May perform time and motion studies on worker operations in a variety of industries for purposes such as establishing standard production rates or improving efficiency.
75,570 people do this job in the US. $66,120 a year.
Reviewed on October 1, 2026: what each task is made of, and what handing it over would ask.
A typical 40-hour week
- AI could take on0 h
- A person checks AI's work13 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet15 h
- Stays with people12 h
Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 0 hours, 13 hours become checking its work, 15 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 12 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Draw equipment layouts (about 2 h, a person checks); Create and interpret drawings (about 1 h, a person checks); Analyze production costs (about 1 h, a person checks).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 70%
- 1%
- 7%
- 2%
- 20%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
What handing it over would take, now
The 34% within reach splits by what a model would need. The dates, pace and reliability follow the controls above. Estimates.
of the working time. The material can be handed to a model and the result handed back.
of the working time. The model has to be connected to the system the work lives in.
is conversation short enough by length. This site leaves conversation with people, so it is not in the total.
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, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 8%. Today's estimate: 34%.
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.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, 0.15% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 123rd largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 4 of its 30 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.026% to 0.021% (released February and March 2025); 0.012% to 0.004% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.16% to 0.15% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.026% | 399 of 708 | 6 of 30 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.021% | 417 of 703 | 6 of 30 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.012% | 442 of 655 | 4 of 30 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0083% | 505 of 672 | 3 of 30 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.004% | 594 of 677 | 2 of 30 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.16% | 117 of 434 | 4 of 30 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.15% | 123 of 447 | 4 of 30 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 30% of this job's working time as physical work. For 25% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 22% in a purpose-built cell, 3% in a structured facility. 0.28 of 3, the 392nd highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 70%
- No robot shown 5%
- In a purpose-built cell 22%
- In a structured facility 3%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
What changes for the people in this job
From the task-by-task review, by the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five. It says which parts of the work stay with people and which change, not whether anyone keeps a job: that depends on decisions no data set can see.
What stays with people
28% of the working time: the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of the tasks.
- Help build and test prototypes, the hands-on work, 3%
- Conduct time and motion studies, the hands-on work, 3%
- Develop production improvement programs, the conversation, 3%
- Inspect production processes, the hands-on work, 3%
- Develop sustainable manufacturing methods, the hands-on work, 2%
- Develop production and quality programs, the conversation, 2%
What becomes checking the machine
68% of the working time: desk work a model could do by then, in tasks where a mistake costs something or a licensed person signs. A person checks it.
- Design plant layouts, costly if wrong, 8%
- Develop production improvement programs, costly if wrong, 7%
- Draw equipment layouts, costly if wrong, 7%
- Develop sustainable manufacturing methods, costly if wrong, 7%
- Develop production and quality programs, costly if wrong, 6%
- Compare costs of design options, costly if wrong, 5%
What to learn
- Reviewing work you did not do yourself. The tasks under What becomes checking the machine, where a mistake costs something, stay a person's to check: spotting what a draft gets wrong is a skill of its own.
- Briefing a model and checking its drafts. About 70% of the time is documents and data, the part models reach first: writing a clear brief, giving the right material, and checking what comes back.
- The hands-on craft. About 20% of the time is hands-on work, which no model here does; robots are rated separately on this page.
Your own version of this job: read it against your job description. The headline is free; the full personal report, every task with its timeline and what to learn, is $19 (a sample).
The tasks
Sorted by . 30 tasks from .
| Task | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Develop or implement programs to address problems related to production, materials, safety, or quality.Program design on paper, and meetings with the people who run it.Done daily by most who do it. | 10% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 1 work week | Documents 70%, conversation 30% | 20%Desk part half by Apr 2027 |
| Develop sustainable manufacturing technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, minimize raw material use, replace toxic materials with non-toxic materials, replace non-renewable materials with renewable materials, or reduce waste.Research and design on paper, with trials on the floor.Done daily by most who do it. | 10% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 3.3 work weeks | Documents 80%, hands-on 20% | 4%Desk part half by Apr 2028 |
| Develop production, inventory, or quality assurance programs.Working out the program on paper, with the staff consulted.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 8% | 2.5 work days6.7 h to 1.7 work weeks | Documents 80%, conversation 20% | 14%Desk part half by Jun 2027 |
| Design plant layouts or production facilities.Layout design in CAD.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 8% | 3.1 work days6.7 h to 2.1 work weeks | Documents 100% | 11%Half by Oct 2027 |
| Prepare layouts, drawings, or sketches of machinery or equipment, such as shop tooling, scale layouts, or new equipment design, using drafting equipment or computer-aided design (CAD) software.Drawings and layouts made in CAD.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 5 h1.7 h to 2.1 work days | Documents 100% | 73%Half by now |
| Study time, motion, methods, or speed involved in maintenance, production, or other operations to establish standard production rate or improve efficiency.Timing the work on the floor, then working out the standard rates.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 5 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | Documents 50%, hands-on 50% | 33%Desk part half by now |
| Assist engineers in developing, building, or testing prototypes or new products, processes, or procedures.Building and testing at the bench, with the write-ups.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 4.2 work days | Hands-on 60%, documents 40% | 16%Desk part half by Jan 2027 |
| Conduct statistical studies to analyze or compare production costs for sustainable and nonsustainable designs.A statistical cost study at the desk.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 5% | 1 work day2.5 h to 3.1 work days | Documents 100% | 52%Half by now |
| Develop manufacturing infrastructure to integrate or deploy new manufacturing processes.Design and planning on paper, with time on the floor as it goes in.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 3.3 work days6.7 h to 1.7 work weeks | Documents 70%, hands-on 30% | 7%Desk part half by Sep 2027 |
| Analyze, estimate, or report production costs.Cost analysis and estimates at the desk.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 3.3 h50 min to 1.3 work days | Documents 100% | 80%Half by now |
| Oversee or inspect production processes.Walking the line to see the process and the people running it.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Boston Dynamics Spot + Orbit (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 1.7 h38 min to 6.7 h | Hands-on 70%, in person 30% | Stays with people |
| Identify opportunities for improvements in quality, cost, or efficiency of automation equipment.Studying the equipment's figures and watching it run to find what could be better.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 3% | 3.3 h50 min to 1.7 work days | Documents 70%, hands-on 30% | 49%Desk part half by now |
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. Made of: how the task's time splits among five kinds of doing. Only the documents and systems parts can count as within reach, so a task that is 30% documents can be at most 30% 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.
- Industrial Engineers60% now, 86% by 2028
- Manufacturing Engineers48% now, 91% by 2028
- Mechanical Engineering Technologists and Technicians35% now, 53% by 2028
- Calibration Technologists and Technicians37% now, 55% by 2028
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians39% now, 48% by 2028
- Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians10% now, 21% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
- Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturing6,130 people
- Semiconductor and Other Electronic Component Manufacturing5,810 people
- Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical, and Control Instruments Manufacturing4,320 people
- Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services4,230 people
- Plastics Product Manufacturing4,130 people
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 34% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 69% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (58% to 72% across the three paces the site shows). Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Draw equipment layouts (73% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Create and interpret drawings (99% of the task's time now); and Analyze production costs (80% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028).
- Which tasks of Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Inspect production processes; Set up and run production equipment; and Calibrate equipment with gauges. Together such tasks are about 5% of the working time, and the people and body parts of the other tasks stay with people too.
- What should Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians learn as AI takes on more of the work?
- By the job's own task-by-task review, the first things to learn are reviewing work you did not do yourself; briefing a model and checking its drafts; and the hands-on craft. By the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five, about 28% of the working time stays with people, 68% becomes checking a model's work and 1% could be handed over with lighter checks. It says which parts of the work change, never whether anyone keeps a job.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.15% went to this job's tasks, the 123rd largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 4 of its 30 tasks appeared. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 0%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 30% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 25% of the working time, 3% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.28 of 3. One example: Spot (with Orbit software) for "follow safety and environmental rules". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 30 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, reviewed one task at a time on October 1, 2026 for what each is made of (documents, business systems, conversation, in person, hands-on), and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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