Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Set up, operate, or tend machines to roll steel or plastic forming bends, beads, knurls, rolls, or plate, or to flatten, temper, or reduce gauge of material.

The occupation “Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic” has an automation risk of 48.2%, only slightly lower than its base risk of 48.7%. This level of risk reflects a job that involves a balance of routine, automatable tasks and others that remain resistant to full machinery replacement. The significant portion of automatable work is found in activities such as monitoring machine cycles to detect jamming and ensure products meet specifications. Automation technology is highly capable in real-time data collection, quality monitoring, and responding to simple triggers or error conditions without human intervention. Additionally, tasks like adjusting and correcting machine setups to fine-tune product thickness or eliminate occasional defects are increasingly handled by smart, sensor-equipped machinery. Starting the operation of rolling and milling machines has also become easier to automate, thanks to programmable logic controllers and pre-set routines. Despite these trends, some tasks performed by rolling machine operators resist automation, lowering the overall risk and maintaining a need for human labor. Tasks such as disassembling sizing mills, sorting and storing parts, or manually removing scratches and polishing roll surfaces still demand dexterity, nuanced judgment, and physical manipulation that robotic solutions struggle to replace cost-effectively. Selecting the correct rolls, dies, and chucks from data charts to create specific product contours also involves interpretation, experience, and adaptability, all of which remain challenging for current AI and automation systems. These complex and variable activities help form a safeguard, slowing the potential for fully automated workflows within this occupation. The most critical bottleneck skills reinforcing human job security in this field are primarily related to originality, though their measured impact is relatively low (2.3% and 2.1%). Originality encapsulates workers’ ability to develop or select innovative solutions for unique or unexpected production challenges. While automation excels in consistency and repeatability, even a minor requirement for creative problem-solving can present a formidable obstacle. Although the occupation's reliance on originality is not substantial, its presence contributes to the resistance against complete automation, especially when integrated with the physical and judgment-based aspects of the work. Therefore, while robots and smart machines can handle much of the repetitive and programmable workload, human expertise remains necessary for critical evaluation, customization, and non-routine interventions.