Metal production process controllers
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?
Exposure score 31/100 is minimal. AI will mainly streamline logs, reports and control-room monitoring, while equipment operation, emergency shutdowns and crew leadership remain human-led. The broader occupational group is forecast to grow 1.9% by 2035.
What changes
- Automating shift logs and drafting production reports from process data
- Highlighting gauge and video-monitor anomalies for operator review
- Supporting control-room coordination with summarized process status and alerts
What stays human
- Physically operating complex metal-processing machinery safely
- Making emergency startup and shutdown decisions under plant-specific conditions
- Supervising crews and coordinating responses across the production floor
What to learn
- Learn industrial data tools for automated shift reporting and validation
- Strengthen alarm management, process diagnostics and control-system troubleshooting
- Practice emergency response leadership and clear crew communication
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).
- Maintaining shift log of production and other data and preparing production and other reports.56
- 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 room35
- Observing computer printouts, video monitors and gauges to verify specified processing conditions and to make necessary adjustments32
- Providing and organising training for members of production crew31
- Coordinating and supervising production crew such as machine and process operators, assistants and helpers28
- Starting up and shutting down the production system in cases of emergency or as required by schedule19
- Operating multi-function central process control machinery to grind, separate, filter, melt, roast, treat, refine or otherwise process metals16
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.
- Maintaining shift log of production and other data and preparing production and other reports.(56)
- 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(35)
- Observing computer printouts, video monitors and gauges to verify specified processing conditions and to make necessary adjustments(32)
- Providing and organising training for members of production crew(31)
- Coordinating and supervising production crew such as machine and process operators, assistants and helpers(28)
- Starting up and shutting down the production system in cases of emergency or as required by schedule(19)
- Operating multi-function central process control machinery to grind, separate, filter, melt, roast, treat, refine or otherwise process metals(16)
You are exactly at the occupation average. (The occupation's score: 31.)
About 14% of your working time goes to highly exposed tasks (score ≥ 50).
- • Maintaining shift log of production and other data and preparing production and other reports.
- • 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
- • Operating multi-function central process control machinery to grind, separate, filter, melt, roast, treat, refine or otherwise process metals
- • Starting up and shutting down the production system in cases of emergency or as required by schedule
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 Science and engineering associate professionals group in total employment, by country (Eurostat, ISCO 2-digit — 4-digit breakdowns are not public by country).
Table view
| Country | Science and engineering associate professionals |
|---|---|
| Slovakia | 5.4% · 140 thousand · 2025 |
| Austria | 4.9% · 222 thousand · 2025 |
| Norway | 4.8% · 141 thousand · 2025 |
| Sweden | 4.8% · 254 thousand · 2025 |
| Czechia | 4.7% · 247 thousand · 2025 |
| Denmark | 4.7% · 143 thousand · 2025 |
| Croatia | 4.5% · 77 thousand · 2025 |
| Switzerland | 4.4% · 214 thousand · 2025 |
| Germany | 4.1% · 1,722 thousand · 2025 |
| Italy | 3.8% · 902 thousand · 2025 |
| Poland | 3.7% · 635 thousand · 2025 |
| Finland | 3.7% · 95 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovenia | 3.6% · 36 thousand · 2025 |
| Belgium | 3.5% · 180 thousand · 2025 |
| Malta | 3.5% · 12 thousand · 2025 |
| France | 3.3% · 965 thousand · 2025 |
| Bulgaria | 3.2% · 92 thousand · 2025 |
| Hungary | 3.1% · 146 thousand · 2025 |
| Estonia | 3.0% · 21 thousand · 2025 |
| Latvia | 2.9% · 26 thousand · 2025 |
| Netherlands | 2.8% · 273 thousand · 2025 |
| Portugal | 2.4% · 127 thousand · 2025 |
| Iceland | 2.3% · 5 thousand · 2025 |
| Spain | 2.3% · 517 thousand · 2025 |
| Lithuania | 2.1% · 31 thousand · 2025 |
| Cyprus | 1.9% · 10 thousand · 2025 |
| United Kingdom | 1.9% · 642 thousand · 2025 |
| Ireland | 1.7% · 47 thousand · 2025 |
| Romania | 1.4% · 106 thousand · 2025 |
| Greece | 1.2% · 54 thousand · 2025 |
What do they earn?
Mean gross monthly earnings in the major occupational group (Technicians and associate professionals). 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.
- Switzerland5,280
- Luxembourg4,320
- Norway4,307
- Denmark4,301
- Ireland4,024
- Belgium3,903
- Iceland3,856
- Germany3,608
- Austria3,399
- Netherlands3,247
- EU273,226
- Italy3,127
- Sweden3,089
- Finland2,971
- France2,687
- Spain2,685
- Slovenia2,660
- Cyprus2,537
- Lithuania2,472
- Malta2,464
- Romania2,310
- Poland2,294
- Czechia2,275
- Estonia2,251
- Croatia2,127
- Latvia2,081
- Hungary2,054
- Greece2,050
- Portugal2,044
- Slovakia2,027
- Bulgaria1,738
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 Science and engineering associate professionals 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?