AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders?

Task-level automation exposure for Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders: 21 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

E-E-A-T Verified

Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

27% weighted task index

21 of 21 tasks scored

Median Salary

$48,540 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Medium

26,000 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

-1.7% employment change

2,300 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 48 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$23,340 – $71,300

Highest medians

Wyoming $71,300

Alaska $68,730

Iowa $62,590

Nevada $60,180

Montana $60,110

Lowest medians

Puerto Rico $23,340

Mississippi $37,420

Oklahoma $38,380

Arkansas $38,910

Maryland $42,280

State figures come from the 51-9021 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 27%

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

Physical work 49%

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

Judgment & influence 5%

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

Routine administration 5%

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 22/100 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

21 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) 15%

3 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 12%

2 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 73%

16 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

#12376 · Core · 42% automatable

Observe operation of equipment to ensure continuity of flow, safety, and efficient operation, and to detect malfunctions.

visual inspection — Sensor/vision monitoring possible, but physical verification and accountability remain human

Monitor equipment operation to ensure proper functioning.

#12381 · Core · 8% automatable

Clean, adjust, and maintain equipment, using hand tools.

physical manipulation — Physical production equipment maintenance

Clean production equipment. Maintain production or processing equipment.

#12389 · Core · 15% automatable

Tend accessory equipment, such as pumps and conveyors, to move materials or ingredients through production processes.

physical manipulation — Pumping systems operated and adjusted in field

Operate pumping systems or equipment.

#12377 · Core · 12% automatable

Move controls to start, stop, or adjust machinery and equipment that crushes, grinds, polishes, or blends materials.

physical manipulation — Grinding requires hands-on control and feel

Operate grinding equipment.

#12382 · Core · 65% automatable

Notify supervisors of needed repairs.

text generation — Notifying maintenance needs is routine messaging

Notify others of equipment repair or maintenance needs.

#12380 · Core · 25% automatable

Weigh or measure materials, ingredients, or products at specified intervals to ensure conformance to requirements.

physical manipulation — Hands-on dimensional measurement of workpieces

Measure ingredients or substances to be used in production processes. Weigh finished products. Measure dimensions of completed products or workpieces to verify conformance to specifications.

#12378 · Core · 82% automatable

Record data from operations, testing, and production on specified forms.

data analysis — Record production data into structured logs

Record operational or production data.

#12384 · Core · 45% automatable

Reject defective products and readjust equipment to eliminate problems.

visual inspection — Material quality often needs hands-on or visual inspection

Evaluate quality of materials or products.

#12388 · Core · 18% automatable

Inspect chains, belts, or scrolls for signs of wear.

visual inspection — Physical inspection of production machinery in situ

Inspect production equipment.

#12385 · Core · 5% automatable

Clean work areas.

physical manipulation — Hands-on cleaning of work areas

Clean work areas.

#12379 · Core · 22% automatable

Examine materials, ingredients, or products, visually or with hands, to ensure conformance to established standards.

physical manipulation — Chemical/physical testing requires lab manipulation

Test chemical or physical characteristics of materials or products.

#12375 · Core · 80% automatable

Read work orders to determine production specifications and information.

information retrieval — Parse specs and materials from orders

Read work orders or other instructions to determine product specifications or materials requirements.

#12387 · Core · 15% automatable

Dislodge and clear jammed materials or other items from machinery and equipment, using hand tools.

physical manipulation — Physically clearing jams in machinery

Clear equipment jams.

#12390 · Supplemental · 22% automatable

Test samples of materials or products to ensure compliance with specifications, using test equipment.

physical manipulation — Chemical/physical testing requires lab manipulation

Test chemical or physical characteristics of materials or products.

#12392 · Supplemental · 12% automatable

Mark bins as to types of mixtures stored.

physical manipulation — Marking workpieces is hands-on physical task

Mark products, workpieces, or equipment with identifying information.

#12386 · Supplemental · 8% automatable

Transfer materials, supplies, and products between work areas, using moving equipment and hand tools.

physical manipulation — Physical moving of products between work areas

Move products, materials, or equipment between work areas.

#12395 · Supplemental · 12% automatable

Add or mix chemicals and ingredients for processing, using hand tools or other devices.

physical manipulation — Physical mixing of chemical solutions

Mix substances to create chemical solutions.

#12391 · Supplemental · 8% automatable

Collect samples of materials or products for laboratory testing.

physical manipulation — Manual product sampling

Collect samples of materials or products for testing.

#12394 · Supplemental · 4% automatable

Load materials into machinery and equipment, using hand tools.

physical manipulation — Hands-on loading of materials into equipment

Load materials into production equipment.

#12393 · Supplemental · 15% automatable

Turn valves to regulate the moisture contents of materials.

physical manipulation — Hands-on adjustment of liquid flow controls

Adjust equipment controls to regulate flow of water, cleaning solutions, or other liquids.

#12383 · Supplemental · 12% automatable

Set mill gauges to specified fineness of grind.

physical manipulation — Grinding requires hands-on control and feel

Operate grinding equipment.

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Community Sentiment

Do you agree?

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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