AI exposure: Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Set up, operate, or tend machines to mix or blend materials, such as chemicals, tobacco, liquids, color pigments, or explosive ingredients.
Reading this score
computedAt 15.8% of weighted task load, Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders sits at the 25th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 76.1% 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 20 tasks it averages 2.60 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 Record operational or production data on specified forms, at 73.3%. The least is Dislodge and clear jammed materials or other items from machinery or equipment, 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 55 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 20 tasks, 6 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 14 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 | 0.95 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.60 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.25 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.71 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.01 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 0.98 | 0-3 |
Task by task
20 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record operational or production data on specified forms. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.41 | exposed |
| Read work orders to determine production specifications or information. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 4.58 | exposed |
| Stop mixing or blending machines when specified product qualities are obtained and open valves and start pumps to transfer mixtures. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 4.47 | exposed |
| Tend accessory equipment, such as pumps or conveyors, to move materials or ingredients through production processes. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 4.22 | exposed |
| Open valves to drain slurry from mixers into storage tanks. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 4.03 | exposed |
| Observe production or monitor equipment to ensure safe and efficient operation. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.56 | exposed |
| Mix or blend ingredients by starting machines and mixing for specified times. | 16.7% | 8.3% | 75.0% | 4.54 | untouched |
| Examine materials, ingredients, or products visually or with hands to ensure conformance to established standards. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 4.46 | untouched |
| Test samples of materials or products to ensure compliance with specifications, using test equipment. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 4.28 | untouched |
| Operate or tend machines to mix or blend any of a wide variety of materials, such as spices, dough batter, tobacco, fruit juices, chemicals, livestock feed, food products, color pigments, or explosive ingredients. | 7.5% | 5.0% | 87.5% | 4.41 | untouched |
| Clean and maintain equipment, using hand tools. | 6.7% | 5.8% | 87.5% | 4.09 | untouched |
| Weigh or measure materials, ingredients, or products to ensure conformance to requirements. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.61 | untouched |
| Compound or process ingredients or dyes, according to formulas. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.46 | untouched |
| Dump or pour specified amounts of materials into machinery or equipment. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.41 | untouched |
| Collect samples of materials or products for laboratory testing. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.40 | untouched |
| Unload mixtures into containers or onto conveyors for further processing. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.35 | untouched |
| Clean work areas. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.26 | untouched |
| Add or mix chemicals or ingredients for processing, using hand tools or other devices. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.22 | untouched |
| Transfer materials, supplies, or products between work areas, using moving equipment or hand tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.19 | untouched |
| Dislodge and clear jammed materials or other items from machinery or equipment, using hand tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.90 | 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.