UK AI Exposure · Skilled trades occupations
Tool makers, tool fitters and markers-out
Tool makers, tool fitters and markers-out mark out metal for machining and fit, assemble and repair machine and press tools, dies, jigs, fixtures and other tools.
- Employees (UK)
- 8k
- Median annual pay
- £38,584
- Exposure score ?
- 1.0/10 Minimal 2.3/10 Low strict reading · with tools is 2.3/10 with-tools reading · strict is 1.0/10
- Wage exposure
- £31m £71m
Higher exposure than 55% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means
Most of this role's work is still genuinely hard for AI to do. Physical presence, bodily skill, high-context judgment, direct human care - the things that don't translate to text.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
You're not in the firing line today. But the frontier moves. Build enough AI fluency now that you can direct it for the parts of your work that could benefit. People in unexposed roles who understand AI become unusually valuable inside their organisations.
A handful of tasks in this role are touchable by AI, mostly around paperwork, scheduling and basic writing. The shape of the role stays the same - some parts just get faster.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
Pick the two or three most repetitive things in your week and try an LLM on them. Most people underestimate what Claude or ChatGPT can already do for admin-shaped work. The time you get back is the dividend.
Where a project with Alex usually starts for this role
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgment, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where we start — flip the toggle to 'With tools' to see what AI plus the right context can compress.
-
Verify dimensions, alignments, and clearances of finished parts for conformance to specifications, using measuring instruments such as calipers, gauge blocks, micrometers, or dial indicators.
-
Set up and operate conventional or computer numerically controlled machine tools such as lathes, milling machines, or grinders to cut, bore, grind, or otherwise shape parts to prescribed dimensions and finishes.
-
Visualize and compute dimensions, sizes, shapes, and tolerances of assemblies, based on specifications.
These are the highest-importance tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around these — usually the difference between an LLM that can technically do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
-
Set up and operate conventional or computer numerically controlled machine tools such as lathes, milling machines, or grinders to cut, bore, grind, or otherwise shape parts to prescribed dimensions and finishes.
-
Visualize and compute dimensions, sizes, shapes, and tolerances of assemblies, based on specifications.
-
Study blueprints, sketches, models, or specifications to plan sequences of operations for fabricating tools, dies, or assemblies.
Every role has three or four wedges like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days. Talk to Alex about a project →
The full task breakdown
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can already do unaided versus what still needs a human. Importance is O*NET's 1–5 rating of how central each task is to the role.
Tasks via O*NET "Tool and Die Makers" (51-4111.00).
What AI can already do
2 of 17 tasks · unaided
Set up and operate conventional or computer numerically controlled machine tools such as lathes, milling machines, or grinders to cut, bore, grind, or otherwise shape parts to prescribed dimensions and finishes.
Develop and design new tools and dies, using computer-aided design software.
Where humans still hold the line
15 of 17 tasks
Verify dimensions, alignments, and clearances of finished parts for conformance to specifications, using measuring instruments such as calipers, gauge blocks, micrometers, or dial indicators.
Visualize and compute dimensions, sizes, shapes, and tolerances of assemblies, based on specifications.
Study blueprints, sketches, models, or specifications to plan sequences of operations for fabricating tools, dies, or assemblies.
Fit and assemble parts to make, repair, or modify dies, jigs, gauges, and tools, using machine tools, hand tools, or welders.
Inspect finished dies for smoothness, contour conformity, and defects.
Select metals to be used from a range of metals and alloys, based on properties such as hardness or heat tolerance.
Lift, position, and secure machined parts on surface plates or worktables, using hoists, vises, v-blocks, or angle plates.
File, grind, shim, and adjust different parts to properly fit them together.
Smooth and polish flat and contoured surfaces of parts or tools, using scrapers, abrasive stones, files, emery cloths, or power grinders.
Measure, mark, and scribe metal or plastic stock to lay out machining, using instruments such as protractors, micrometers, scribes, or rulers.
Conduct test runs with completed tools or dies to ensure that parts meet specifications, making adjustments as necessary.
Design jigs, fixtures, and templates for use as work aids in the fabrication of parts or products.
Cut, shape, and trim blanks or blocks to specified lengths or shapes, using power saws, power shears, rules, and hand tools.
Set up and operate drill presses to drill and tap holes in parts for assembly.
Set pyrometer controls of heat-treating furnaces and feed or place parts, tools, or assemblies into furnaces to harden.
Tasks via O*NET "Tool and Die Makers" (51-4111.00).
What AI can already do
5 of 17 tasks · with tools
Set up and operate conventional or computer numerically controlled machine tools such as lathes, milling machines, or grinders to cut, bore, grind, or otherwise shape parts to prescribed dimensions and finishes.
Visualize and compute dimensions, sizes, shapes, and tolerances of assemblies, based on specifications.
Study blueprints, sketches, models, or specifications to plan sequences of operations for fabricating tools, dies, or assemblies.
Inspect finished dies for smoothness, contour conformity, and defects.
Develop and design new tools and dies, using computer-aided design software.
Where humans still hold the line
12 of 17 tasks
Verify dimensions, alignments, and clearances of finished parts for conformance to specifications, using measuring instruments such as calipers, gauge blocks, micrometers, or dial indicators.
Fit and assemble parts to make, repair, or modify dies, jigs, gauges, and tools, using machine tools, hand tools, or welders.
Select metals to be used from a range of metals and alloys, based on properties such as hardness or heat tolerance.
Lift, position, and secure machined parts on surface plates or worktables, using hoists, vises, v-blocks, or angle plates.
File, grind, shim, and adjust different parts to properly fit them together.
Smooth and polish flat and contoured surfaces of parts or tools, using scrapers, abrasive stones, files, emery cloths, or power grinders.
Measure, mark, and scribe metal or plastic stock to lay out machining, using instruments such as protractors, micrometers, scribes, or rulers.
Conduct test runs with completed tools or dies to ensure that parts meet specifications, making adjustments as necessary.
Design jigs, fixtures, and templates for use as work aids in the fabrication of parts or products.
Cut, shape, and trim blanks or blocks to specified lengths or shapes, using power saws, power shears, rules, and hand tools.
Set up and operate drill presses to drill and tap holes in parts for assembly.
Set pyrometer controls of heat-treating furnaces and feed or place parts, tools, or assemblies into furnaces to harden.
Stay on top of this
One email a week, written for people who aren't AI nerds. What's actually real, what's hype, and what smart operators are doing about it.
Get the weekly note
One email a week from Alex on how AI is changing UK work, how to get ahead of it, and what smart operators are actually doing. Written for people who aren't AI nerds.
Free. Unsubscribe any time.
Or go deeper:
Methodology
This role's exposure score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 GPT task labels, aggregated by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 via ISCO-08 (ONS Vol 2 coding index) and US SOC 2010 (BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional. ASHE covers employees only, so self-employed workers are not counted.
Get the weekly note. One email on how AI is changing UK work.