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Professionals · code 2141

Industrial and production engineers

Industrial and production engineers conduct research and design, organize and oversee the construction, operation and maintenance of industrial production processes and installations. They establish programmes for the coordination of manufacturing activities and assess cost effectiveness and safety. Tasks include - (a) studying functional statements, organizational charts and project information to determine functions and responsibilities of workers and work units and to identify areas of duplication; (b) establishing work measurement programmes and analysing work samples to develop standards for labour utilization; (c) analysing workforce utilization, facility layout, operational data and production schedules and costs to determine optimum worker and equipment efficiencies; (d) developing specifications for manufacture, and determining materials, equipment, piping, material flows, capacities and layout of plant and systems; (e) organizing and managing project labour and the delivery of materials, plant and equipment; (f) establishing standards and policies for installation, modification, quality control, testing, inspection and maintenance according to engineering principles and safety regulations; (g) inspecting plant to improve and maintain performance; (h) directing the maintenance of plant buildings and equipment, and coordinating the requirements for new designs, surveys and maintenance schedules; (i) advising management on new production methods, techniques and equipment; (j) liaising with materials buying, storing and controlling departments to ensure a steady flow of supplies. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Industrial efficiency engineer - Industrial engineer - Industrial plant engineer - Production engineer Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Manufacturing production manager - 1321

A few tasks are affected, but the heart of the job isn't. It ranks 291 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • clothing technologist
  • maintenance and repair engineer
  • food and beverage packaging technologist
  • process engineer
  • industrial engineer
  • leather production planner
  • logistics analyst
  • packaging production manager
  • textile technologist
  • leather goods industrial engineer

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

63.3
Holds up
against AI Minimal Exposure

AI could take on 36.7 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 36.7 = 63.3

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

34.6
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 4 US jobs

17
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 19.7 · hand skill 9.4 · cramped spaces 22.1 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on under 50 Less than half hands-on

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out This job rates 34.6 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 46.3, while the average is 36.7. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 46.3

    Studying functional statements, organizational charts and project information to determine functions and responsibilities of workers and work units and to identify areas of duplication

    Low
  2. 46

    Analysing workforce utilization, facility layout, operational data and production schedules and costs to determine optimum worker and equipment efficiencies

    Low
  3. 44

    Establishing work measurement programmes and analysing work samples to develop standards for labour utilization

    Low
  4. 39

    Developing specifications for manufacture, and determining materials, equipment, piping, material flows, capacities and layout of plant and systems

    Low
  5. 35.8

    Establishing standards and policies for installation, modification, quality control, testing, inspection and maintenance according to engineering principles and safety regulations

    Low
  6. 35.8

    Advising management on new production methods, techniques and equipment

    Low
  7. 35.8

    Liaising with materials buying, storing and controlling departments to ensure a steady flow of supplies.

    Low
  8. 32

    Directing the maintenance of plant buildings and equipment, and coordinating the requirements for new designs, surveys and maintenance schedules

    Low
  9. 28.5

    Organizing and managing project labour and the delivery of materials, plant and equipment

    Low
  10. 24

    Inspecting plant to improve and maintain performance

    Very Low

10 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

2 Australian jobs match this one, and we've simply averaged them. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
72
AI does it for you
35

Helping wins by 37 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 2335, 2339

Compared with similar jobs

There are 92 jobs in the “Professionals” group, averaging 61.3. This one is above that.