Will AI replace Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians?
AI reaches some of this job’s work, but most of it stays with people.
38/100
Moderate exposure
More exposed to AI than 59% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 57% of the work
What the job involves
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.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(17)
- Adhere to all applicable regulations, policies, and procedures for health, safety, and environmental compliance.
- Develop or implement programs to address problems related to production, materials, safety, or quality.
- Recommend corrective or preventive actions to assure or improve product quality or reliability.
- Create or interpret engineering drawings, schematic diagrams, formulas, or blueprints for management or engineering staff.
- Prepare production documents, such as standard operating procedures, manufacturing batch records, inventory reports, or productivity reports.
and 12 more
Out of reach(13)
- Assist engineers in developing, building, or testing prototypes or new products, processes, or procedures.
- Oversee or inspect production processes.
- Provide advice or training to other technicians.
- Monitor and adjust production processes or equipment for quality and productivity.
- Identify opportunities for improvements in quality, cost, or efficiency of automation equipment.
and 8 more
Also called
Industrial Engineering Technician (Industrial Engineering Tech) · Industrial Engineering Tech · Industrial Technician (Industrial Tech) · Industrial Engineering Technologist · Industrial Tech · Motion Study Technician · Production Control Technologist · Time Study Technician
Related jobs
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