Will AI replace Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic?
AI reaches little of this job’s work.
2/100
Low exposure
More exposed to AI than 4% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 3% of the work
What the job involves
Set up, operate, or tend machines to saw, cut, shear, slit, punch, crimp, notch, bend, or straighten metal or plastic material.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(1)
- Plan sequences of operations, applying knowledge of physical properties of workpiece materials.
Out of reach(29)
- Clean work area.
- Set up, operate, or tend machines to saw, cut, shear, slit, punch, crimp, notch, bend, or straighten metal or plastic material.
- Examine completed workpieces for defects, such as chipped edges or marred surfaces and sort defective pieces according to types of flaws.
- Measure completed workpieces to verify conformance to specifications, using micrometers, gauges, calipers, templates, or rulers.
- Start machines, monitor their operations, and record operational data.
and 24 more
Also called
Press Brake Operator · Press Operator · Saw Operator · Machine Operator · Banding Machine Operator · Beveler · Brake Operator · Jigsawyer
Related jobs
- Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing3/100
- Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic6/100
- Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic7/100
- Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic7/100
- Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders8/100
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics