Job Check
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Set up, operate, or tend machines to extrude or draw thermoplastic or metal materials into tubes, rods, hoses, wire, bars, or structural shapes.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Measure and examine extruded products to locate defects and to check for conformance to specifications, adjusting controls as necessary to alter products.Mostly human for now
- 02Start machines and set controls to regulate vacuum, air pressure, sizing rings, and temperature, and to synchronize speed of extrusion.Mostly human for now
- 03Determine setup procedures and select machine dies and parts, according to specifications.Mostly human for now
- 04Troubleshoot, maintain, and make minor repairs to equipment.Mostly human for now
- 05Change dies on extruding machines, according to production line changes.Mostly human for now
- 06Load machine hoppers with mixed materials, using augers, or stuff rolls of plastic dough into machine cylinders.Mostly human for now
- 07Install dies, machine screws, and sizing rings on machines that extrude thermoplastic or metal materials.Mostly human for now
- 08Operate shearing mechanisms to cut rods to specified lengths.Mostly human for now
- 09Maintain an inventory of materials.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 10Clean work areas.Mostly human for now
Tasks from O*NET® 31.0 (US Department of Labor, CC BY 4.0, changed by us), most important first. “Already use” comes from Anthropic’s data on real work chats with Claude; “could speed up” from task ratings made with GPT-4 in 2023.
Four studies, side by side
None is a forecast of job lossToo little dataNot enough work use was seen to measure. This does not mean the job is safe from AI.Anthropic, 2026
2%of this job’s tasks an AI model could do in half the time, counting tasks that need extra tools as half (rated in 2023).Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, 2023
Above 48% of jobsin how often and how well AI helped with this job’s work in Microsoft Copilot chats (2024 data).Microsoft Research (Tomlinson et al.), 2025
Above 85% of jobsin how much of this job’s physical work robots have been shown to do, from factories to homes (2026).Anthropic, 2026
Your human edge
The main tasks with no real AI use seen and no big speed-up expected. This is where your skill counts most today.
- Measure and examine extruded products to locate defects and to check for conformance to specifications, adjusting controls as necessary to alter products.
- Start machines and set controls to regulate vacuum, air pressure, sizing rings, and temperature, and to synchronize speed of extrusion.
- Determine setup procedures and select machine dies and parts, according to specifications.