AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Conveyor Operators and Tenders?

Task-level automation exposure for Conveyor Operators and Tenders: 23 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

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Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

23% weighted task index

23 of 23 tasks scored

Median Salary

$42,420 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Low

22,930 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

-2.6% employment change

2,200 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 44 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$36,200 – $62,830

Highest medians

West Virginia $62,830

Iowa $56,900

Maryland $56,120

Alabama $55,970

Louisiana $54,590

Lowest medians

Oklahoma $36,200

Arkansas $36,940

South Carolina $38,020

Florida $38,190

Tennessee $38,260

State figures come from the 53-7011 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.

What the score is made of

Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.

Automation potential 23%

Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.

Physical work 64%

Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.

Judgment & influence 0%

Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.

Routine administration 6%

Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.

Rewritten by O*NET 0%

Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.

Consequence of error 16/100 Low

O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.

Constituent Task Mix

23 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.

High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 14%

3 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 10%

2 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 76%

18 tasks

How would you survive?

Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.

Simulate Upskilling →

Constituent Tasks

#10755 · Core · 11% automatable

Stop equipment or machinery and clear jams, using poles, bars, and hand tools, or remove damaged materials from conveyors.

physical manipulation — Physical control of conveyors and material movers

Remove debris or damaged materials. Operate conveyors or other industrial material moving equipment.

#10757 · Core · 4% automatable

Load, unload, or adjust materials or products on conveyors by hand, by using lifts, hoists, and scoops, or by opening gates, chutes, or hoppers.

physical manipulation — Hands-on loading of processing equipment

Load materials into equipment for processing.

#10750 · Core · 24% automatable

Observe conveyor operations and monitor lights, dials, and gauges to maintain specified operating levels and to detect equipment malfunctions.

visual inspection — Gauge reading requires physical presence

Monitor equipment gauges or displays to ensure proper operation. Inspect material-moving equipment to detect problems.

#21030 · Core · 45% automatable

Observe packages moving along conveyors to identify packages, detect defective packaging, and perform quality control.

decision support — AI flags quality/safety issues; human owns physical verification

Monitor operational quality or safety.

#10744 · Core · 8% automatable

Position deflector bars, gates, chutes, or spouts to divert flow of materials from one conveyor onto another conveyor.

physical manipulation — Positioning material handling equipment is physical

Position material handling equipment.

#10749 · Core · 8% automatable

Clean, sterilize, and maintain equipment, machinery, and work stations, using hand tools, shovels, brooms, chemicals, hoses, and lubricants.

physical manipulation — Machinery cleaning requires hands-on work

Clean facilities or work areas. Clean machinery or equipment. Maintain material moving equipment in good working condition.

#10747 · Core · 82% automatable

Record production data such as weights, types, quantities, and storage locations of materials, as well as equipment performance problems and downtime.

data analysis — Record production data into structured logs

Record operational or production data.

#10748 · Core · 65% automatable

Inform supervisors of equipment malfunctions that need to be addressed.

text generation — Reporting malfunctions is structured information relay

Report vehicle or equipment malfunctions.

#10746 · Supplemental · 17% automatable

Manipulate controls, levers, and valves to start pumps, auxiliary equipment, or conveyors, and to adjust equipment positions, speeds, timing, and material flows.

physical manipulation — Physical control of conveyors and material movers

Control pumps or pumping equipment. Operate conveyors or other industrial material moving equipment.

#10760 · Supplemental · 8% automatable

Distribute materials, supplies, and equipment to work stations, using lifts and trucks.

physical manipulation — Manual moving of materials and supplies

Move materials, equipment, or supplies.

#10764 · Supplemental · 18% automatable

Press console buttons to deflect packages to predetermined accumulators or reject lines.

physical manipulation — Physical operation of packing/material processing machinery

Operate packing or other material processing equipment.

#10766 · Supplemental · 4% automatable

Thread strapping through strapping tools and secure battens with strapping to form protective pallets around extrusions.

physical manipulation — Physical securing of cargo with straps

Secure cargo.

#10751 · Supplemental · 17% automatable

Operate elevator systems in conjunction with conveyor systems.

physical manipulation — Physical control of conveyors and material movers

Operate conveyors or other industrial material moving equipment. Operate industrial equipment.

#10745 · Supplemental · 26% automatable

Weigh or measure materials and products, using scales or other measuring instruments, or read scales on conveyors that continually weigh products, to verify specified tonnages and prevent overloads.

physical manipulation — Hands-on dimensional measurement of material

Measure product or material dimensions. Weigh materials to ensure compliance with specifications.

#10752 · Supplemental · 60% automatable

Read production and delivery schedules, and confer with supervisors, to determine sorting and transfer procedures, arrangement of packages on pallets, and destinations of loaded pallets.

information retrieval — Parse work orders into procedures reliably

Review work orders or schedules to determine operations or procedures. Communicate with others to coordinate material handling or movement.

#10758 · Supplemental · 13% automatable

Operate consoles to control automatic palletizing equipment.

physical manipulation — Hands-on control of industrial machinery in unstructured settings

Operate industrial equipment. Operate cranes, hoists, or other moving or lifting equipment.

#10754 · Supplemental · 40% automatable

Contact workers in work stations or other departments to request movement of materials, products, or machinery, or to notify them of incoming shipments and their estimated delivery times.

interpersonal — Material-handling coordination tied to physical operations

Communicate with others to coordinate material handling or movement.

#10759 · Supplemental · 12% automatable

Affix identifying information to materials or products, using hand tools.

physical manipulation — Physically marking objects requires manipulation

Mark materials or objects for identification.

#10756 · Supplemental · 17% automatable

Collect samples of materials or products, checking them to ensure conformance to specifications or sending them to laboratories for analysis.

physical manipulation — Testing samples requires lab hands-on work

Test materials, solutions, or samples. Collect samples for analysis or testing.

#10761 · Supplemental · 8% automatable

Move, assemble, and connect hoses or nozzles to material hoppers, storage tanks, conveyor sections or chutes, and pumps.

physical manipulation — Connecting hoses requires physical fitting

Move materials, equipment, or supplies. Install parts, assemblies, or attachments in transportation or material handling equipment. Connect hoses to equipment or machinery.

#10753 · Supplemental · 8% automatable

Repair or replace equipment components or parts such as blades, rolls, and pumps.

physical manipulation — Physical maintenance of material moving equipment

Maintain material moving equipment in good working condition.

#10763 · Supplemental · 18% automatable

Measure dimensions of bundles, using rulers, and cut battens to required sizes, using power saws.

physical manipulation — Hands-on dimensional measurement of workpieces

Measure distances or dimensions. Measure dimensions of completed products or workpieces to verify conformance to specifications. Cut materials according to specifications or needs. Operate cutting equipment.

#10765 · Supplemental · 8% automatable

Join sections of conveyor frames at temporary working areas, and connect power units.

physical manipulation — Connecting cables is hands-on installation

Install parts, assemblies, or attachments in transportation or material handling equipment. Connect cables or electrical lines.

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Community Sentiment

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Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?

Method

How this was scored

1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.

Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.

Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast

See the full method →

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