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Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?
AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders?
Task-level automation exposure for Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders: 20 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
22%
weighted task index
20 of 20 tasks scored
Median Salary
$48,990 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Medium
94,920 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
-6.1%
employment change
7,900 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 50 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$31,410 – $60,790
Highest medians
Massachusetts $60,790
Minnesota $59,270
Wyoming $58,320
New Jersey $57,810
Maine $55,540
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $31,410
New Mexico $36,980
Montana $38,410
Michigan $44,310
Arkansas $44,650
State figures come from the 51-9023 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 22%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 69%
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 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 38/100
Moderate
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
20 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) 11%
2 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 5%
1 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 84%
17 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
#12397 · Core · 25% automatable
Weigh or measure materials, ingredients, or products 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.
#12410 · Core · 80% automatable
Read work orders to determine production specifications or information.
information retrieval — Parse specs and materials from orders
Read work orders or other instructions to determine product specifications or materials requirements.
#12402 · Core · 42% automatable
Observe production or monitor equipment to ensure safe and efficient operation.
visual inspection — Sensor/vision monitoring possible, but physical verification and accountability remain human
Monitor equipment operation to ensure proper functioning.
#20682 · Core · 15% automatable
Mix or blend ingredients by starting machines and mixing for specified times.
physical manipulation — Hands-on operation of mixing machinery
Operate mixing equipment.
#12403 · Core · 15% automatable
Stop mixing or blending machines when specified product qualities are obtained and open valves and start pumps to transfer mixtures.
physical manipulation — Pumping systems operated and adjusted in field
Operate pumping systems or equipment.
#12411 · Core · 12% automatable
Compound or process ingredients or dyes, according to formulas.
physical manipulation — Physical mixing of chemical solutions
Mix substances to create chemical solutions.
#12406 · 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.
#12400 · Core · 13% automatable
Operate or tend machines to mix or blend any of a wide variety of materials, such as spices, dough batter, tobacco, fruit juices, chemicals, livestock feed, food products, color pigments, or explosive ingredients.
physical manipulation — Hands-on operation of mixing machinery
Operate cooking, baking, or other food preparation equipment. Operate mixing equipment.
#12401 · Core · 4% automatable
Dump or pour specified amounts of materials into machinery or equipment.
physical manipulation — Hands-on loading of materials into equipment
Load materials into production equipment.
#12407 · Core · 82% automatable
Record operational or production data on specified forms.
data analysis — Record production data into structured logs
Record operational or production data.
#12404 · Core · 8% automatable
Collect samples of materials or products for laboratory testing.
physical manipulation — Manual product sampling
Collect samples of materials or products for testing.
#12412 · Core · 4% automatable
Unload mixtures into containers or onto conveyors for further processing.
physical manipulation — Hands-on loading of materials into equipment
Load materials into production equipment.
#23983 · Core · 5% automatable
Clean work areas.
physical manipulation — Hands-on cleaning of work areas
Clean work areas. Clean facilities or work areas.
#12405 · Core · 12% automatable
Add or mix chemicals or ingredients for processing, using hand tools or other devices.
physical manipulation — Physical mixing of chemical solutions
Mix substances to create chemical solutions.
#12409 · Core · 15% automatable
Tend accessory equipment, such as pumps or conveyors, to move materials or ingredients through production processes.
physical manipulation — Pumping systems operated and adjusted in field
Operate pumping systems or equipment.
#12408 · Core · 8% automatable
Transfer materials, supplies, or products between work areas, using moving equipment or hand tools.
physical manipulation — Physical moving of products between work areas
Move products, materials, or equipment between work areas.
#12413 · Core · 8% automatable
Clean and maintain equipment, using hand tools.
physical manipulation — Physical production equipment maintenance
Clean production equipment. Maintain production or processing equipment.
#12414 · Core · 15% automatable
Dislodge and clear jammed materials or other items from machinery or equipment, using hand tools.
physical manipulation — Physically clearing jams in machinery
Clear equipment jams.
#12398 · 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.
#12415 · Supplemental · 15% automatable
Open valves to drain slurry from mixers into storage tanks.
physical manipulation — Hands-on production flow control
Adjust equipment controls to regulate flow of production materials or products.
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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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