Operate or tend machines to wash or clean products, such as barrels or kegs, glass items, tin plate, food, pulp, coal, plastic, or rubber, to remove impurities.
U.S. Workers
13,890
Median Salary
$41,460
10-Year Growth
+3.6%
Annual Openings
1,600
Typical entry: High school diploma or equivalent
11 of 11 tasks have some AI capability
Exposure Trend
This score reflects estimated AI technical capability for tasks in this occupation. It does not predict employment changes, and it does not account for company-specific constraints, regulation, or adoption barriers.
Add specified amounts of chemicals to equipment at required times to maintain solution levels and concentrations.
AI: Fully automatable - Automated dosing systems with sensors and control logic (including AI for scheduling/optimization) can add specified chemical amounts at required times to maintain concentrations.
Observe machine operations, gauges, or thermometers, and adjust controls to maintain specified conditions.
AI: Fully automatable - Sensor feeds and computer-vision/automation controllers can observe gauges and thermometers and perform closed-loop adjustments to maintain specified conditions.
Set controls to regulate temperature and length of cycles, and start conveyors, pumps, agitators, and machines.
AI: Fully automatable - Setting controls and starting conveyors, pumps, and machines are standard functions of industrial control systems and can be fully automated.
Draw samples for laboratory analysis, or test solutions for conformance to specifications, such as acidity or specific gravity.
AI: Fully automatable - Automated autosamplers, inline analyzers (pH, density) and lab instruments already perform sampling and conformance tests without manual intervention in many facilities.
Drain, clean, and refill machines or tanks at designated intervals, using cleaning solutions or water.
AI: Fully automatable - Drain/clean/refill cycles are commonly handled by automated clean‑in‑place (CIP) systems and robotic cleaning solutions that can be orchestrated by AI.
Record gauge readings, materials used, processing times, or test results in production logs.
AI: Fully automatable - Recording gauge readings, materials used, and processing times is straightforward to automate using sensors, MES/SCADA integration, and AI-enhanced logging.
Load machines with objects to be processed and unload them after cleaning, placing them on conveyors or racks.
AI: Fully automatable - Loading and unloading items onto conveyors or racks is routinely automated by industrial robots and machine-vision systems in many cleaning/processing operations when parts and workflows are structured.
Measure, weigh, or mix cleaning solutions, using measuring tanks, calibrated rods or suction tubes.
AI: Fully automatable - Measuring, weighing, and mixing fluids can be fully automated with metering pumps, load cells, and automated mixers controlled by software/AI.
Adjust, clean, and lubricate mechanical parts of machines, using hand tools and grease guns.
AI: Partial - Fine manual maintenance tasks like adjusting, cleaning, and lubricating with hand tools in variable, messy environments are partially automatable with cobots and tooling but still often require human dexterity and judgment.
Operate or tend machines to wash and remove impurities from items such as barrels or kegs, glass products, tin plate surfaces, dried fruit, pulp, animal stock, coal, manufactured articles, plastic, or rubber.
AI: Partial - Many washing operations are automated, but the wide variety of items and occasional need for dexterous loading, fixturing, or judgment means AI/automation only partially replaces humans in all cases.
Examine and inspect machines to detect malfunctions.
AI: Partial - AI-driven monitoring and computer vision can detect many faults and anomalies, but full inspection for all malfunctions often still requires human diagnosis or intrusive testing.