Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Set up, operate, or tend metal or plastic molding, casting, or coremaking machines to mold or cast metal or thermoplastic parts or products.
150,470 people do this job in the US. $44,350 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, 0%. 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 . 29 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Set up, operate, or tend metal or plastic molding, casting, or coremaking machines to mold or cast metal or thermoplastic parts or products.Done daily by most who do it. | 16% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Observe continuous operation of automatic machines to ensure that products meet specifications and to detect jams or malfunctions, making adjustments as necessary.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 14% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Smooth and clean inner surfaces of molds, using brushes, scrapers, air hoses, or grinding wheels, and fill imperfections with refractory material.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 33 min13 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Install dies onto machines or presses and coat dies with parting agents, according to work order specifications.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Cool products after processing to prevent distortion.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Repair or replace damaged molds, pipes, belts, chains, or other equipment, using hand tools, hand-powered presses, or jib cranes.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Obtain and move specified patterns to work stations, manually or using hoists, and secure patterns to machines, using wrenches.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 25 min8 min to 58 min | Stays with people | |
| Read specifications, blueprints, and work orders to determine setups, temperatures, and time settings required to mold, form, or cast plastic materials, as well as to plan production sequences.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 17 min4 min to 50 min | 96%Half by now | |
| Measure and visually inspect products for surface and dimension defects to ensure conformance to specifications, using precision measuring instruments.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 8 min3 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Perform maintenance work such as cleaning and oiling machines.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Remove parts, such as dies, from machines after production runs are finished.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 3% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Trim excess material from parts, using knives, and grind scrap plastic into powder for reuse.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 17 min4 min to 50 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.
- Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic19% now, 20% by 2028
- Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic0% now, 0% by 2028
- Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fibers5% now, 5% by 2028
- Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders14% now, 14% by 2028
- Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic13% now, 13% 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).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).