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Technicians and associate professionals · code 3135

Metal production process controllers

Metal production process controllers operate and monitor multi-function process control machinery and equipment to control the processing of metal converting and refining furnaces, metal-rolling mills, metal heat-treating or metal-extrusion plant. Tasks include - (a) coordinating and monitoring the operation of a particular aspect of metal processing production through control panels, computer terminals or other control systems, usually from a central control room; (b) operating multi-function central process control machinery to grind, separate, filter, melt, roast, treat, refine or otherwise process metals; (c) observing computer printouts, video monitors and gauges to verify specified processing conditions and to make necessary adjustments; (d) coordinating and supervising production crew such as machine and process operators, assistants and helpers; (e) starting up and shutting down the production system in cases of emergency or as required by schedule; (f) providing and organizing training for members of production crews; (g) maintaining shift logs of production and other data and preparing production and other reports. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Blast furnace operator - Central control caster - Rolling mill control operator Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Ladle pourer - 8121 - Steel roller - 8121 - Metal finishing machine operator - 8122

A few tasks are affected, but the heart of the job isn't. It ranks 247 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • metal furnace operator

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

69.3
Holds up
against AI Minimal Exposure

AI could take on 30.7 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 30.7 = 69.3

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

66
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, matched to one US job

43.6
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 42.9 · hand skill 46.4 · cramped spaces 41.5 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on 50+ · fiddly 39.4+ Hands-on, fiddly work in tight spaces

More fine handwork, and more time in cramped or awkward spots, than a typical hands-on job. That is exactly what machines find hardest: they do best in tidy, predictable places.

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 66 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, and for work like this robots are the bigger question.

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 55.8, while the average is 30.7. 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. 55.8

    Maintaining shift log of production and other data and preparing production and other reports.

    Medium
  2. 34.5

    Coordinating and monitoring the operation of a particular aspect of metal processing production through control panels, computer terminals or other control systems, usually from a central control room

    Low
  3. 31.8

    Observing computer printouts, video monitors and gauges to verify specified processing conditions and to make necessary adjustments

    Low
  4. 30.6

    Providing and organising training for members of production crew

    Low
  5. 27.5

    Coordinating and supervising production crew such as machine and process operators, assistants and helpers

    Low
  6. 19

    Starting up and shutting down the production system in cases of emergency or as required by schedule

    Very Low
  7. 16

    Operating multi-function central process control machinery to grind, separate, filter, melt, roast, treat, refine or otherwise process metals

    Very Low

7 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.

One Australian job matches this one closely, so this is about as reliable as it gets here.

AI helps you
63
AI does it for you
31

Helping wins by 32 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 7123

Compared with similar jobs

There are 82 jobs in the “Technicians and associate professionals” group, averaging 65.3. This one is above that.