AI exposure: Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Set up, operate, or tend machines that cut or slice materials, such as glass, stone, cork, rubber, tobacco, food, paper, or insulating material.
Reading this score
computedAt 14.7% of weighted task load, Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders sits at the 23th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 77.0% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 28 tasks it averages 2.64 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Maintain production records, at 73.3%. The least is Wash stones, at 0.0%. A gap of 73.3% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within production occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 16.2% across the group's 107 roles, with 60 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 28 tasks, 4 are currently banded exposed, 1 assisted and 23 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 0.83 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.64 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.46 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.34 | 0-3 |
| Context | 0.93 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 0.91 | 0-3 |
Task by task
28 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maintain production records, such as quantities, types, and dimensions of materials produced. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.33 | exposed |
| Type instructions on computer keyboards, push buttons to activate computer programs, or manually set cutting guides, clamps, and knives. | 43.8% | 18.8% | 37.5% | 4.08 | exposed |
| Review work orders, blueprints, specifications, or job samples to determine components, settings, and adjustments for cutting and slicing machines. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.23 | exposed |
| Start pumps to circulate water and abrasives onto blades or cables during cutting. | 26.9% | 14.8% | 58.3% | 4.24 | untouched |
| Monitor operation of cutting or slicing machines to detect malfunctions or to determine whether supplies need replenishment. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 3.97 | exposed |
| Select and install machine components, such as cutting blades, rollers, and templates, according to specifications, using hand tools. | 25.0% | 12.5% | 62.5% | 4.03 | untouched |
| Direct workers on cutting teams. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 3.77 | assisted |
| Remove defective or substandard materials from machines, and readjust machine components so that products meet standards. | 18.3% | 6.7% | 75.0% | 4.34 | untouched |
| Position width gauge blocks between blades, and level blades and insert wedges into frames to secure blades to frames. | 16.7% | 8.3% | 75.0% | 3.39 | untouched |
| Press buttons, pull levers, or depress pedals to start and operate cutting and slicing machines. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.28 | untouched |
| Adjust machine controls to alter position, alignment, speed, or pressure. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.19 | untouched |
| Set up, operate, or tend machines that cut or slice materials, such as glass, stone, cork, rubber, tobacco, food, paper, or insulating material. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 3.71 | untouched |
| Tighten pulleys or add abrasives to maintain cutting speeds. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 3.54 | untouched |
| Start machines to verify setups, and make any necessary adjustments. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 4.31 | untouched |
| Sharpen cutting blades, knives, or saws, using files, bench grinders, or honing stones. | 8.3% | 4.2% | 87.5% | 3.33 | untouched |
| Examine, measure, and weigh materials or products to verify conformance to specifications, using measuring devices, such as rulers, micrometers, or scales. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.19 | untouched |
| Remove completed materials or products from cutting or slicing machines, and stack or store them for additional processing. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.17 | untouched |
| Stack and sort cut material for packaging, further processing, or shipping, according to types and sizes of material. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.09 | untouched |
| Position stock along cutting lines, or against stops on beds of scoring or cutting machines. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.99 | untouched |
| Feed stock into cutting machines, onto conveyors, or under cutting blades, by threading, guiding, pushing, or turning handwheels. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.93 | untouched |
| Move stock or scrap to and from machines manually, or by using carts, handtrucks, or lift trucks. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.82 | untouched |
| Change or replace saw blades, cables, cutter heads, and grinding wheels, using hand tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.80 | untouched |
| Clean and lubricate cutting machines, conveyors, blades, saws, or knives, using steam hoses, scrapers, brushes, or oil cans. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.78 | untouched |
| Mark cutting lines or identifying information on stock, using marking pencils, rulers, or scribes. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.52 | untouched |
| Operate cranes, or signal crane operators to position or remove stone from cars or saw beds. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.71 | untouched |
| Cut stock manually to prepare for machine cutting, using tools such as knives, cleavers, handsaws, or hammers and chisels. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.16 | untouched |
| Turn cranks or press buttons to activate winches that move cars under sawing cables or saw frames. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.07 | untouched |
| Wash stones, using water hoses. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 2.65 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.