Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Production Occupations- O*NET-SOC code
- 51-4191.00
Set up, operate, or tend heating equipment, such as heat-treating furnaces, flame-hardening machines, induction machines, soaking pits, or vacuum equipment to temper, harden, anneal, or heat treat metal or plastic objects.
AI exposure
- Data source: BLSPublished: 2026-08
Moderate· relative
LowFour relative bandsVery highGroup-level value
Scale, basis and source
Four relative bands (Low / Moderate / High / Very high)
831 detailed occupations in the BLS Employment Projections table. Assigned per National Employment Matrix (NEM) code, so occupations sharing a NEM code carry the same band
- Data source: AnthropicPublished: 2026-03
0.000
0.000Range of values carried here0.745Scale, basis and source
Observed exposure index, 0–1 as published
Mapped onto O*NET tasks
Published per SOC 2018 occupation; every O*NET occupation with the same SOC 2018 code carries this value
- Data source: ILOPublished: 2025
0.17–0.26· 2 ISCO-08 groups
Scale, basis and source
Generative AI exposure index, 0–1 as published
Published per ISCO-08 unit group. Linked to this occupation, wholly or in part, by applying U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics crosswalks (ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC, 2010 SOC to 2018 SOC) as published
What kind of figure this source publishes
The BLS category is a relative rank, not an absolute level, and it is not a first-hand measurement: it groups an occupation's percentile ranks across several published studies into four bands. It is not an employment or wage forecast, not a probability of adoption, and it does not separate automation from augmentation.
ILO value for each linked ISCO-08 group
- ISCO-08 8121Metal Processing Plant Operators0.26
- ISCO-08 8142Plastic Products Machine Operators0.17
AI exposure (OpenAI rubric)
26 rated tasks · 4 tasks with β ≥ 0.5 (15.4%)
β = direct exposure (E1) + 0.5 × exposure when tools are available (E2), per the source repository's definition.
- Source unit: O*NET 27.2 tasks → O*NET 31.0 occupation code
- 3 rated tasks are not in the O*NET 31.0 task list; their scores are kept as published for O*NET 27.2.
- Source
- OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" exposure rubric
- Release
- gh-main-0471612
- License
- MIT License, Copyright (c) 2024 OpenAI
Tasks
Task statements from the O*NET® 31.0 Database, core tasks first.
| Task | Type | β (OpenAI) |
|---|---|---|
| Read production schedules and work orders to determine processing sequences, furnace temperatures, and heat cycle requirements for objects to be heat-treated. | Core | 1 |
| Record times that parts are removed from furnaces to document that objects have attained specified temperatures for specified times. | Core | 1 |
| Set up and operate or tend machines, such as furnaces, baths, flame-hardening machines, and electronic induction machines, that harden, anneal, and heat-treat metal. | Core | 0 |
| Remove parts from furnaces after specified times, and air dry or cool parts in water, oil brine, or other baths. | Core | 0 |
| Instruct new workers in machine operation. | Core | 0 |
| Adjust controls to maintain temperatures and heating times, using thermal instruments and charts, dials and gauges of furnaces, and color of stock in furnaces to make setting determinations. | Core | 0 |
| Move controls to light gas burners and to adjust gas and water flow and flame temperature. | Core | 0 |
| Start conveyors and open furnace doors to load stock, or signal crane operators to uncover soaking pits and lower ingots into them. | Core | 0 |
| Determine types and temperatures of baths and quenching media needed to attain specified part hardness, toughness, and ductility, using heat-treating charts and knowledge of methods, equipment, and metals. | Supplemental | 1 |
| Position stock in furnaces, using tongs, chain hoists, or pry bars. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Determine flame temperatures, current frequencies, heating cycles, and induction heating coils needed, based on degree of hardness required and properties of stock to be treated. | Supplemental | 1 |
| Load parts into containers and place containers on conveyors to be inserted into furnaces, or insert parts into furnaces. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Mount workpieces in fixtures, on arbors, or between centers of machines. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Reduce heat when processing is complete to allow parts to cool in furnaces or machinery. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Signal forklift operators to deposit or extract containers of parts into and from furnaces and quenching rinse tanks. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Test parts for hardness, using hardness testing equipment, or by examining and feeling samples. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Examine parts to ensure metal shades and colors conform to specifications, using knowledge of metal heat-treating. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Repair, replace, and maintain furnace equipment as needed, using hand tools. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Heat billets, bars, plates, rods, and other stock to specified temperatures preparatory to forging, rolling, or processing, using oil, gas, or electrical furnaces. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Clean oxides and scales from parts or fittings, using steam sprays or chemical and water baths. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Stamp heat-treatment identification marks on parts, using hammers and punches. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Set and adjust speeds of reels and conveyors for prescribed time cycles to pass parts through continuous furnaces. | Supplemental | 0 |
| Mount fixtures and industrial coils on machines, using hand tools. | Supplemental | 0 |
Occupation information
Sources and attribution
This page includes information from the O*NET® 31.0 Database (https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html) by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. AI Changing Work has modified all or some of this information: the O*NET-SOC code, title and task statements are reproduced in English without change; task-type labels are shown in the page's language and tasks are listed core first; any Korean occupation title shown on the Korean-language page is AI Changing Work's translation; any KSCO-8 unit groups linked to this occupation were paired with it by AI Changing Work's judgment, and the relation labels and statuses are AI Changing Work's additions. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
Any AI exposure figures on this page are published by third parties, not by AI Changing Work, and none is part of the O*NET information. OpenAI publishes task-level scores (MIT License) for O*NET 27.2 task statements; each is shown next to the O*NET 31.0 task statement with the same task ID, whose wording can differ from the 27.2 statement that was scored. OpenAI also publishes occupation-level scores for O*NET-SOC codes in the same release, and any such score is shown on the O*NET occupation with the same code. Anthropic publishes an observed exposure index in the Anthropic Economic Index (CC-BY), and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes relative AI exposure categories (public domain); both are published per SOC code, and each value is shown on every O*NET occupation with that code. The International Labour Organization publishes a generative AI exposure index in ILO Working Paper 140 (CC BY 4.0) for ISCO-08 unit groups; AI Changing Work links those groups to O*NET occupations by applying the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC and 2010 SOC to 2018 SOC crosswalks as published, without case-by-case selection, and these crosswalks match many groups only in part. Where several unit groups are linked, each group's published value is listed, and any summary shows only the lowest and highest of those values with the number of groups; no exposure figure is averaged or recalculated. Any employment figures are published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the SOC group containing this occupation. Each source is credited where its figures are shown.
O*NET OnLine: 51-4191.00 Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
KSCO 코드·명칭: 한국표준직업분류(제8차 개정) — 통계청 고시 제2024-328호 (2024-07-01 고시, 2025-01-01 시행). 저작권법 제7조 제2호의 고시 항목이다. 명칭 표기(가운뎃점·띄어쓰기)는 해설서 2차 정오 반영판의 표기를 따랐으며, 고시 항목표와는 18개 명칭에서 가운뎃점 글리프나 띄어쓰기만 다르다. 통계청은 2025년 10월 국가데이터처로 개편되었다. 이 페이지의 KSCO 연결은 통계청·국가데이터처의 공식 연계표가 아니다.