Job Check
Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Set up, operate, or tend forging machines to taper, shape, or form metal or plastic parts.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Start machines to produce sample workpieces, and observe operations to detect machine malfunctions and to verify that machine setups conform to specifications.Mostly human for now
- 02Read work orders or blueprints to determine specified tolerances and sequences of operations for machine setup.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 03Confer with other workers about machine setups and operational specifications.Mostly human for now
- 04Measure and inspect machined parts to ensure conformance to product specifications.Mostly human for now
- 05Turn handles or knobs to set pressures and depths of ram strokes and to synchronize machine operations.Mostly human for now
- 06Set up, operate, or tend presses and forging machines to perform hot or cold forging by flattening, straightening, bending, cutting, piercing, or other operations to taper, shape, or form metal.Mostly human for now
- 07Trim and compress finished forgings to specified tolerances.Mostly human for now
- 08Install, adjust, and remove dies, synchronizing cams, forging hammers, and stop guides, using overhead cranes or other hoisting devices, and hand tools.Mostly human for now
- 09Remove dies from machines when production runs are finished.Mostly human for now
- 10Select, align, and bolt positioning fixtures, stops, and specified dies to rams and anvils, forging rolls, or presses and hammers.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
4%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 36% 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 84% 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.
- Install, adjust, and remove dies, synchronizing cams, forging hammers, and stop guides, using overhead cranes or other hoisting devices, and hand tools.
- Start machines to produce sample workpieces, and observe operations to detect machine malfunctions and to verify that machine setups conform to specifications.
- Remove dies from machines when production runs are finished.