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Plant and machine operators, and assemblers · code 8122

Metal finishing, plating and coating machine operators

Metal finishing, plating and coating machine operators monitor and operate equipment which finishes, plates and coats metal articles or parts in order to give them improved resistance to corrosion and abrasion, for decorative purposes, or to impart electrical or magnetic properties. Tasks include - (a) operating and monitoring equipment which cleans metal articles in preparation for electroplating, galvanizing, enamelling or similar processes; (b) operating and monitoring electroplating equipment; (c) operating and monitoring hot-dip equipment used to coat iron and steel products; (d) operating and monitoring machines which automatically coat wire with non-ferrous metal; (e) operating and monitoring equipment used to spray molten metal or other substances onto metal products to provide a protective or decorative coating or to build up worn or damaged surfaces; (f) operating and monitoring equipment used to impart a rust-resistant finish to metal articles by treating them with chemicals and heating them; (g) checking proper thickness of plating using micrometers, callipers or other devices, recording data and writing production logs; (h) preparing and mixing metallizing solutions according to formulas or specifications. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Metal coating machine operator - Metal finishing machine operator - Metal plating machine operator - Metal polishing machine operator Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Metal production process controller - 3135 - Vehicle painter - 7132

None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count. It ranks 148 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • surface grinding machine operator
  • electroplating machine operator
  • rustproofer
  • deburring machine operator
  • tumbling machine operator
  • filing machine operator
  • cylindrical grinder operator
  • enameller
  • coating machine operator
  • dip tank operator
  • anodising machine operator
  • abrasive blasting operator

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

79.5
Holds up
against AI Not Exposed

AI could take on 20.5 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 20.5 = 79.5

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

66.7
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 3 US jobs

39.5
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 42.9 · hand skill 44 · cramped spaces 31.6 · 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

This number is probably too high

This score only looks at AI tools like chatbots. It doesn't look at robots at all — and this job rates 66.7 out of 100 for how hands-on it is, which is exactly where robots come in.

Have a look at the tasks below and judge for yourself. The ILO scored them low because a chatbot can't do them. Whether a machine with hands could is a different question, and we can't answer it yet.

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 27.5, while the average is 20.5. 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. 27.5

    Checking proper thickness of plating using micrometers, callipers or other devices recording data and writing production logs

    Low
  2. 23

    Operating and monitoring electroplating equipment

    Very Low
  3. 22.3

    Operating and monitoring hot-dip equipment used to coat iron and steel products

    Very Low
  4. 21.5

    Operating and monitoring equipment used to spray molten metal or other substances onto metal products to provide a protective or decorative coating or to build up worn or damaged surfaces

    Very Low
  5. 18.5

    Operating and monitoring equipment used to impart a rust-resistant finish to metal articles by treating them with chemicals and heating them

    Very Low
  6. 18.1

    Operating and monitoring machines which automatically coat wire with non-ferrous metal

    Very Low
  7. 16.8

    Preparing and mixing metalizing solutions according to formulas or specifications.

    Very Low
  8. 16.3

    Operating and monitoring equipment which cleans metal articles in preparation for electroplating, galvanizing, enamelling or similar processes

    Very Low

8 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.

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

AI helps you
58.3
AI does it for you
24.7

Helping wins by 33.6 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 3221, 7119, 7123

Compared with similar jobs

There are 39 jobs in the “Plant and machine operators, and assemblers” group, averaging 80.2. This one is below that.