Process operatives n.e.c.
Job holders in this unit group perform a variety of processing occupations not elsewhere classified in minor group 811: Process operatives.
- Employees (UK)
- 14k
- Median annual pay
- £30,843
- Exposure score ?
- 0.8/10 Minimal 1.0/10 Minimal strict reading, with tools is 1.0/10 with-tools reading, strict is 0.8/10
- Wage exposure
- £35m £43m
Higher exposure than 47% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
Where the work usually starts.
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgement, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where the work starts. Switch to With tools to see what AI plus the right context can take on.
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Adjust machine components to regulate speeds, pressures, and temperatures, and amounts, dimensions, and flow of materials or ingredients.
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Press control buttons to activate machinery and equipment.
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Examine, measure, and weigh materials or products to verify conformance to standards, using measuring devices such as templates, micrometers, or scales.
For this role the labels do not surface obvious candidates, so the work would start with the highest-stakes tasks below and find the AI angle in conversation.
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Adjust machine components to regulate speeds, pressures, and temperatures, and amounts, dimensions, and flow of materials or ingredients.
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Press control buttons to activate machinery and equipment.
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Examine, measure, and weigh materials or products to verify conformance to standards, using measuring devices such as templates, micrometers, or scales.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders" (51-9041.00).
What AI can already do
2 of 26 tasks, unaided
Record and maintain production data, such as meter readings, and quantities, types, and dimensions of materials produced.
Complete work tickets, and place them with products.
What still needs a person
24 of 26 tasks
Adjust machine components to regulate speeds, pressures, and temperatures, and amounts, dimensions, and flow of materials or ingredients.
Press control buttons to activate machinery and equipment.
Examine, measure, and weigh materials or products to verify conformance to standards, using measuring devices such as templates, micrometers, or scales.
Activate machines to shape or form products, such as candy bars, light bulbs, balloons, or insulation panels.
Monitor machine operations and observe lights and gauges to detect malfunctions.
Clear jams, and remove defective or substandard materials or products.
Notify supervisors when extruded filaments fail to meet standards.
Select and install machine components, such as dies, molds, and cutters, according to specifications, using hand tools and measuring devices.
Review work orders, specifications, or instructions to determine materials, ingredients, procedures, components, settings, and adjustments for extruding, forming, pressing, or compacting machines.
Turn controls to adjust machine functions, such as regulating air pressure, creating vacuums, and adjusting coolant flow.
Clean dies, arbors, compression chambers, and molds, using swabs, sponges, or air hoses.
Send product samples to laboratories for analysis.
Synchronize speeds of sections of machines when producing products involving several steps or processes.
Couple air and gas lines to machines to maintain plasticity of material and to regulate solidification of final products.
Pour, scoop, or dump specified ingredients, metal assemblies, or mixtures into sections of machine prior to starting machines.
Measure, mix, cut, shape, soften, and join materials and ingredients, such as powder, cornmeal, or rubber to prepare them for machine processing.
Remove materials or products from molds or from extruding, forming, pressing, or compacting machines, and stack or store them for additional processing.
Feed products into machines by hand or conveyor.
Measure arbors and dies to verify sizes specified on work tickets.
Move materials, supplies, components, and finished products between storage and work areas, using work aids such as racks, hoists, and handtrucks.
Disassemble equipment to repair it or to replace parts, such as nozzles, punches, and filters.
Remove molds, mold components, and feeder tubes from machinery after production is complete.
Swab molds with solutions to prevent products from sticking.
Install, align, and adjust neck rings, press plungers, and feeder tubes.
Tasks via O*NET "Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders" (51-9041.00).
What AI can already do
2 of 26 tasks, with tools
Record and maintain production data, such as meter readings, and quantities, types, and dimensions of materials produced.
Complete work tickets, and place them with products.
What still needs a person
24 of 26 tasks
Adjust machine components to regulate speeds, pressures, and temperatures, and amounts, dimensions, and flow of materials or ingredients.
Press control buttons to activate machinery and equipment.
Examine, measure, and weigh materials or products to verify conformance to standards, using measuring devices such as templates, micrometers, or scales.
Activate machines to shape or form products, such as candy bars, light bulbs, balloons, or insulation panels.
Monitor machine operations and observe lights and gauges to detect malfunctions.
Clear jams, and remove defective or substandard materials or products.
Notify supervisors when extruded filaments fail to meet standards.
Select and install machine components, such as dies, molds, and cutters, according to specifications, using hand tools and measuring devices.
Review work orders, specifications, or instructions to determine materials, ingredients, procedures, components, settings, and adjustments for extruding, forming, pressing, or compacting machines.
Turn controls to adjust machine functions, such as regulating air pressure, creating vacuums, and adjusting coolant flow.
Clean dies, arbors, compression chambers, and molds, using swabs, sponges, or air hoses.
Send product samples to laboratories for analysis.
Synchronize speeds of sections of machines when producing products involving several steps or processes.
Couple air and gas lines to machines to maintain plasticity of material and to regulate solidification of final products.
Pour, scoop, or dump specified ingredients, metal assemblies, or mixtures into sections of machine prior to starting machines.
Measure, mix, cut, shape, soften, and join materials and ingredients, such as powder, cornmeal, or rubber to prepare them for machine processing.
Remove materials or products from molds or from extruding, forming, pressing, or compacting machines, and stack or store them for additional processing.
Feed products into machines by hand or conveyor.
Measure arbors and dies to verify sizes specified on work tickets.
Move materials, supplies, components, and finished products between storage and work areas, using work aids such as racks, hoists, and handtrucks.
Disassemble equipment to repair it or to replace parts, such as nozzles, punches, and filters.
Remove molds, mold components, and feeder tubes from machinery after production is complete.
Swab molds with solutions to prevent products from sticking.
Install, align, and adjust neck rings, press plungers, and feeder tubes.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Process, plant and machine operatives, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons