Community Sentiment
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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders?
Task-level automation exposure for Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders: 17 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
31%
weighted task index
17 of 17 tasks scored
Median Salary
$48,040 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Low
14,280 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+2.6%
employment change
1,800 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 43 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$39,310 – $77,440
Highest medians
Maryland $77,440
Kentucky $75,620
Illinois $62,870
Kansas $62,350
Wyoming $62,130
Lowest medians
North Carolina $39,310
Nebraska $41,650
Florida $42,400
Oklahoma $42,970
Arkansas $43,560
State figures come from the 51-9051 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 31%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 48%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 10%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 8%
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 60/100
High
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
17 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) 20%
3 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 16%
2 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 64%
12 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
#4963 · Core · 42% automatable
Monitor equipment operation, gauges, and panel lights to detect deviations from standards.
visual inspection — Sensor/vision monitoring possible, but physical verification and accountability remain human
Monitor equipment operation to ensure proper functioning.
#4966 · Core · 55% automatable
Confer with supervisors or other equipment operators to report equipment malfunctions or to resolve production problems.
decision support — Diagnosis support good; physical resolution needs humans
Confer with others to resolve production problems or equipment malfunctions.
#4962 · Core · 18% automatable
Press and adjust controls to activate, set, and regulate equipment according to specifications.
physical manipulation — Manual temperature control adjustment
Adjust temperature controls of ovens or other heating equipment.
#4965 · Core · 82% automatable
Record gauge readings, test results, and shift production in log books.
data analysis — Record production data into structured logs
Record operational or production data.
#4964 · Core · 73% automatable
Read and interpret work orders and instructions to determine work assignments, process specifications, and production schedules.
information retrieval — Parse specs and materials from orders
Read work orders or other instructions to determine product specifications or materials requirements. Review blueprints or other instructions to determine operational methods or sequences.
#4967 · Core · 22% automatable
Examine or test samples of processed substances, or collect samples for laboratory testing, to ensure conformance to specifications.
physical manipulation — Chemical/physical testing requires lab manipulation
Test chemical or physical characteristics of materials or products.
#4969 · Core · 8% automatable
Transport materials and products to and from work areas, manually or using carts, handtrucks, or hoists.
physical manipulation — Physical moving of products between work areas
Move products, materials, or equipment between work areas.
#4970 · Supplemental · 15% automatable
Stop equipment and clear blockages or jams, using fingers, wire, or hand tools.
physical manipulation — Physically clearing jams in machinery
Clear equipment jams.
#4976 · Supplemental · 4% automatable
Load equipment receptacles or conveyors with material to be processed, by hand or using hoists.
physical manipulation — Hands-on loading of materials into equipment
Load materials into production equipment.
#4971 · Supplemental · 6% automatable
Remove products from equipment, manually or using hoists, and prepare them for storage, shipment, or additional processing.
physical manipulation — Physically extracting parts from production equipment
Remove products or workpieces from production equipment.
#4972 · Supplemental · 65% automatable
Calculate amounts of materials to be loaded into furnaces, adjusting amounts as necessary for specific conditions.
data analysis — Production requirement calc; human validates inputs
Calculate specific material, equipment, or labor requirements for production.
#4974 · Supplemental · 12% automatable
Melt or refine metal before casting, calculating required temperatures, and observe metal color, adjusting controls as necessary to maintain required temperatures.
physical manipulation — Manual temperature control adjustment
Adjust temperature controls of ovens or other heating equipment. Melt metal, plastic, or other materials to prepare for production.
#4961 · Supplemental · 25% automatable
Weigh or measure specified amounts of ingredients or materials for processing, using devices such as scales and calipers.
physical manipulation — Physical measuring and dispensing of ingredients
Measure ingredients or substances to be used in production processes.
#4978 · Supplemental · 30% automatable
Direct crane operators and crew members to load vessels with materials to be processed.
interpersonal — Directing production operations is human supervisory authority
Direct operational or production activities.
#4973 · Supplemental · 4% automatable
Feed fuel, such as coal and coke, into fireboxes or onto conveyors, and remove ashes from furnaces, using shovels and buckets.
physical manipulation — Hands-on loading of materials into equipment
Load materials into production equipment.
#4975 · Supplemental · 10% automatable
Replace worn or defective equipment parts, using hand tools.
physical manipulation — Hands-on removal and fitting of worn components
Replace worn equipment components.
#4968 · Supplemental · 8% automatable
Clean, lubricate, and adjust equipment, using scrapers, solvents, air hoses, oil, and hand tools.
physical manipulation — Physical production equipment maintenance
Clean production equipment. Maintain production or processing equipment. Lubricate production equipment.
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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
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