Use hand tools or hand-held power tools to cut and trim a variety of manufactured items, such as carpet, fabric, stone, glass, or rubber.
U.S. Workers
7,070
Median Salary
$38,800
10-Year Growth
-18.1%
Annual Openings
600
Typical entry: No formal educational credential
18 of 18 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.
Mark or discard items with defects such as spots, stains, scars, snags, chips, scratches, or unacceptable shapes or finishes.
AI: Fully automatable - Computer vision and automated sorting/marking systems can reliably detect and remove items with visible defects in many production lines by 2025.
Separate materials or products according to size, weight, type, condition, color, or shade.
AI: Fully automatable - Automated vision, weight sensors, and sorting systems reliably separate items by size, weight, type, color, and many condition metrics at industrial scale.
Stack cut items and load them on racks or conveyors or onto trucks.
AI: Fully automatable - Palletizers, conveyors, and robotic stacking systems can stack and load cut items in warehouses and production lines, and automation for loading onto transport is increasingly available for standard cases.
Mark identification numbers, trademarks, grades, marketing data, sizes, or model numbers on products.
AI: Fully automatable - Automated printers, laser markers, and labeling/marking robots can consistently apply identification numbers, trademarks, grades, and model data on production lines.
Read work orders to determine dimensions, cutting locations, and quantities to cut.
AI: Fully automatable - OCR and document‑parsing systems integrated with production software can read work orders and extract dimensions, cut locations, and quantities for downstream automation.
Count or weigh and bundle items.
AI: Fully automatable - Counting and weighing with machine vision and scales plus automated bundling/palletizing equipment are routinely used in modern automated facilities.
Position templates or measure materials to locate specified points of cuts or to obtain maximum yields, using rules, scales, or patterns.
AI: Fully automatable - Vision-guided robots, CNC fixturing, and CAM nesting software can fully position templates and measure materials to locate cut points and maximize yield in production settings.
Lower table-mounted cutters such as knife blades, cutting wheels, or saws to cut items to specified sizes.
AI: Fully automatable - Table-mounted cutters and saws are routinely automated with motorized controls and safety interlocks, enabling fully automated cutting to specified sizes in many environments.
Adjust guides and stops to control depths and widths of cuts.
AI: Fully automatable - Motorized guides and stops with sensor feedback and closed-loop control are widely available, allowing automated adjustment of cut depth and width when equipment is designed for it.
Transport items to work or storage areas, using carts.
AI: Fully automatable - Autonomous mobile robots and automated material handling systems can transport items to work or storage areas in many facilities, providing full automation of routine cart-based transport.
Trim excess material or cut threads off finished products, such as cutting loose ends of plastic off a manufactured toy for a smoother finish.
AI: Partial - Vision-guided robots and custom fixtures can automate many repetitive trimming tasks on consistent parts, but delicate, highly variable finishing work on irregular or soft materials still often requires human dexterity.
Cut, shape, and trim materials, such as textiles, food, glass, stone, and metal, using knives, scissors, and other hand tools, portable power tools, or bench-mounted tools.
AI: Partial - CNC machines and robotic tooling can fully handle many cutting and shaping operations for predictable materials and geometries, but a broad range of hand-tool tasks across diverse materials and ad-hoc jobs remains only partially automatable.
Mark cutting lines around patterns or templates, or follow layout points, using squares, rules, and straightedges, and chalk, pencils, or scribes.
AI: Partial - Robotic marking and CNC layout can follow templates for many parts, but freehand or highly variable custom marking often still requires human judgment and manual dexterity.
Unroll, lay out, attach, or mount materials or items on cutting tables or machines.
AI: Partial - Automated roll handlers and material‑handling robots can unroll and mount many substrates, yet flexible, slippery, or nonstandard materials frequently need human intervention.
Fold or shape materials before or after cutting them.
AI: Partial - Specialized folding and forming machines can automate many standard folding tasks, but complex, variable, or delicate folding/shaping jobs often remain partially manual.
Clean, treat, buff, or polish finished items, using grinders, brushes, chisels, and cleaning solutions and polishing materials.
AI: Partial - Robotic polishing and automated finishing systems exist and can handle many repeatable polishing jobs, but varied shapes and delicate hand-finished quality still often require human skill, so only partial automation is typical by 2025.
Replace or sharpen dulled cutting tools such as saws.
AI: Partial - While some industrial setups have automatic tool changers or sharpening for machine tools, replacing or sharpening diverse hand cutting tools typically still needs human skill.
Route items to provide cutouts for parts, using portable routers, grinders, and hand tools.
AI: Partial - CNC routers and robotic routing can fully automate planned cutouts, but tasks performed with portable routers, handheld grinders, and unstructured hand tools remain only partially automatable.