Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Set up, operate, or tend milling or planing machines to mill, plane, shape, groove, or profile metal or plastic work pieces.
12,460 people do this job in the US. $52,800 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 18%
- 0%
- 82%
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, 18%. Today's estimate: 18%.
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 . 15 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observe milling or planing machine operation, and adjust controls to ensure conformance with specified tolerances.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 13% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Position and secure workpieces on machines, using holding devices, measuring instruments, hand tools, and hoists.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 11% | 21 min8 min to 42 min | Stays with people | |
| Make templates or cutting tools.Done daily by most who do it. | 11% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Mount attachments and tools, such as pantographs, engravers, or routers, to perform other operations, such as drilling or boring.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 9% | 29 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Select and install cutting tools and other accessories according to specifications, using hand tools or power tools.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 9% | 21 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Move cutters or material manually or by turning handwheels, or engage automatic feeding mechanisms to mill workpieces to specifications.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Replace worn tools, using hand tools, and sharpen dull tools, using bench grinders.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Study blueprints, layouts, sketches, or work orders to assess workpiece specifications and to determine tooling instructions, tools and materials needed, and sequences of operations.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Remove workpieces from machines, and check to ensure that they conform to specifications, using measuring instruments such as microscopes, gauges, calipers, and micrometers.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 8 min3 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Compute dimensions, tolerances, and angles of workpieces or machines according to specifications and knowledge of metal properties and shop mathematics.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | 99%Half by now | |
| Select cutting speeds, feed rates, and depths of cuts, applying knowledge of metal properties and shop mathematics.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 29 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Verify alignment of workpieces on machines, using measuring instruments such as rules, gauges, or calipers.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 8 min3 min to 21 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.
- Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic30% now, 38% by 2028
- Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic18% now, 18% by 2028
- Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing7% now, 7% by 2028
- Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners6% now, 6% by 2028
- Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic13% now, 13% by 2028
- Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators25% now, 26% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
- Machine Shops; Turned Product; and Screw, Nut, and Bolt Manufacturing1,830 people
- Aerospace Product and Parts Manufacturing1,210 people
- Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing (3321, 3322, 3325, 3326, and 3329 only)1,030 people
- Alumina and Aluminum Production and Processing1,020 people
- Machinery Manufacturing (3331, 3332, 3334, and 3339 only)880 people
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).