Manufacturing managers
AI can help with a few sub-tasks (emails, paperwork), but the core of the job doesn't change.
Exposure is not job loss: it shows how much of the work generative AI could do today. Whether that turns into transformation, productivity gains or cuts depends on employers, regulation — and on you.
0 = today’s generative AI cannot perform any of the job’s tasks, 100 = it could do all of them fully. The pale band is the spread across tasks.
Work out your own score ↓What can you do?
🤖 Written with AIThis text was written by artificial intelligence from the data points shown; it is built on verified figures but may contain mistakes.· 13/10/2026How is it made?
Manufacturing managers have minimal generative-AI exposure at 38/100, while strong group growth and replacement demand support continued opportunities. AI will chiefly enhance reporting, budgeting and production planning rather than replace operational leadership.
What changes
- Automating production records, report drafting and performance summaries
- Modelling budgets, monitoring costs and suggesting resource adjustments
- Optimising production plans across quality, quantity, labour and deadlines
What stays human
- Leading equipment acquisition, installation and site-specific decisions
- Coordinating safety requirements and responding to shop-floor risks
- Selecting, training and managing production staff
What to learn
- Learn AI-assisted production planning and scenario modelling
- Build data skills for cost, output and quality analysis
- Strengthen equipment commissioning, safety leadership and workforce development
Task by task
The ILO scored every task of the occupation separately, as the average of two AI models (GPT-4o and Gemini). The pale band is the range between the two models' scores, the dot the ILO's final score (for a few tasks expert review placed it outside the band).
- Controlling the preparation of production records and reports52
- Establishing and managing budgets, monitoring production output and costs, and adjusting processes and resources to minimize costs51
- Planning details of production activities in terms of output quality and quantity, cost, time available and labour requirements49
- Determining, implementing and monitoring production strategies, policies and plans44
- Consulting with and informing other managers about production matters44
- Identifying business opportunities and determining products to be manufactured41
- Overseeing the provision of quotes for the manufacture of specialized goods and establishing contracts with customers and suppliers35
- Overseeing the selection, training and performance of staff.33
- Controlling the operation of production plant and quality procedures through planning of maintenance, designation of operating hours and supply of parts and tools33
- Researching and implementing regulatory and statutory requirements affecting manufacturing operations and the environment32
- Coordinating the implementation of occupational health and safety requirements27
- Overseeing the acquisition and installation of new plant and equipment17
How much does it affect you?
Every job is different: mark which of these tasks you do and how much, and we'll compute your own, time-weighted score.
For each task: I don't do it · sometimes · most of my job.
- Controlling the preparation of production records and reports(52)
- Establishing and managing budgets, monitoring production output and costs, and adjusting processes and resources to minimize costs(51)
- Planning details of production activities in terms of output quality and quantity, cost, time available and labour requirements(49)
- Determining, implementing and monitoring production strategies, policies and plans(44)
- Consulting with and informing other managers about production matters(44)
- Identifying business opportunities and determining products to be manufactured(41)
- Overseeing the provision of quotes for the manufacture of specialized goods and establishing contracts with customers and suppliers(35)
- Overseeing the selection, training and performance of staff.(33)
- Controlling the operation of production plant and quality procedures through planning of maintenance, designation of operating hours and supply of parts and tools(33)
- Researching and implementing regulatory and statutory requirements affecting manufacturing operations and the environment(32)
- Coordinating the implementation of occupational health and safety requirements(27)
- Overseeing the acquisition and installation of new plant and equipment(17)
You are exactly at the occupation average. (The occupation's score: 38.)
About 17% of your working time goes to highly exposed tasks (score ≥ 50).
- • Controlling the preparation of production records and reports
- • Establishing and managing budgets, monitoring production output and costs, and adjusting processes and resources to minimize costs
- • Overseeing the acquisition and installation of new plant and equipment
- • Coordinating the implementation of occupational health and safety requirements
An estimate from the ILO task scores. Everything is computed in your browser — nothing is sent or stored.
How many people work in this occupational group?
Share of the Production and specialised services managers group in total employment, by country (Eurostat, ISCO 2-digit — 4-digit breakdowns are not public by country).
Table view
| Country | Production and specialised services managers |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 5.5% · 1,892 thousand · 2025 |
| Estonia | 4.6% · 32 thousand · 2025 |
| Ireland | 4.1% · 115 thousand · 2025 |
| Iceland | 3.2% · 7 thousand · 2025 |
| Croatia | 3.2% · 54 thousand · 2025 |
| Malta | 3.1% · 10 thousand · 2025 |
| Sweden | 3.0% · 158 thousand · 2025 |
| Bulgaria | 2.8% · 82 thousand · 2025 |
| Norway | 2.8% · 80 thousand · 2025 |
| Belgium | 2.7% · 140 thousand · 2025 |
| Latvia | 2.7% · 24 thousand · 2025 |
| Hungary | 2.5% · 118 thousand · 2025 |
| France | 2.5% · 728 thousand · 2025 |
| Switzerland | 2.5% · 119 thousand · 2025 |
| Netherlands | 2.4% · 238 thousand · 2025 |
| Lithuania | 2.3% · 33 thousand · 2025 |
| Poland | 2.2% · 381 thousand · 2025 |
| Portugal | 2.1% · 109 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovakia | 1.9% · 49 thousand · 2025 |
| Austria | 1.9% · 84 thousand · 2025 |
| Cyprus | 1.9% · 9 thousand · 2025 |
| Czechia | 1.7% · 91 thousand · 2025 |
| Italy | 1.4% · 341 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovenia | 1.4% · 14 thousand · 2025 |
| Germany | 1.3% · 569 thousand · 2025 |
| Finland | 1.3% · 34 thousand · 2025 |
| Spain | 1.3% · 292 thousand · 2025 |
| Denmark | 1.2% · 38 thousand · 2025 |
| Romania | 0.9% · 72 thousand · 2025 |
| Greece | 0.9% · 38 thousand · 2025 |
What do they earn?
Mean gross monthly earnings in the major occupational group (Managers). Eurostat's earnings survey only publishes pay by occupation at 1 digit, so this is the job's broader group. Enterprises with 10+ employees, 2022.
By country, at purchasing power parity (PPS/month), so countries with different price levels can be compared.
- Switzerland8,354
- Italy7,983
- Luxembourg7,683
- Belgium7,390
- Germany7,172
- Denmark6,654
- Austria6,190
- Ireland6,181
- Finland6,101
- Cyprus5,842
- Norway5,718
- Iceland5,653
- Netherlands5,508
- EU275,374
- France5,226
- Sweden4,960
- Slovenia4,808
- Spain4,699
- Czechia4,257
- Portugal4,203
- Greece4,190
- Malta4,128
- Poland4,112
- Romania4,078
- Lithuania4,031
- Hungary3,641
- Bulgaria3,559
- Croatia3,524
- Slovakia3,418
- Estonia3,290
- Latvia3,288
Source: Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey (earn_ses22_21), every four years. The United Kingdom is not covered by the survey.
Outlook to 2035
Employment in the Production and specialised services managers group according to Cedefop's 2026 forecast.
thousand · Cedefop Skills Forecast 2026 · 2026–2035: projection
Replacement demand is the jobs left by people retiring or changing careers — even a shrinking occupation can have many openings.
Related occupations
Sources: ILO WP140 (2025) · Eurostat lfsa_egai2d · Cedefop Skills Forecast 2026 · WEF Future of Jobs 2025 · ESCO. The exposure score measures how much of an occupation's tasks generative AI could perform — not whether the job disappears. For information only, not career advice. How do we calculate this?