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Manufacturing & Production · Updated Aug 2026

Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders

Operate or tend food or tobacco roasting, baking, or drying equipment, including hearth ovens, kiln driers, roasters, char kilns, and vacuum drying equipment.

JVS 2.0.0-phase4b
AI Exposure
50/100
Moderate

How much of this occupation’s work can be materially affected by current AI systems.

Replacement Risk
48/100
Moderate

How likely exposure is to translate into reduced human demand.

Includes provisional estimates for AI adoption pressure and labour-market resilience. How this is measured

Evidence quality
Confidence81/100
Task coverage85%

Confidence reflects task coverage, mapping and capability-evidence quality, and how much of the score rests on provisional inputs.

Task-level evidence

What is driving the score?

Occupation scores are built from the task mix—not a single prediction about a job title.

JVS 2.0.0-phase4b
TaskImportanceAI impactExposure
Record production data, such as weight and amount of product processed, type of product, and time and temperature of processing.High
74
Weigh or measure products, using scale hoppers or scale conveyors.High
74
Set temperature and time controls, light ovens, burners, driers, or roasters, and start equipment, such as conveyors, cylinders, blowers, driers, or pumps.High
72
Clear or dislodge blockages in bins, screens, or other equipment, using poles, brushes, or mallets.High
72
Operate or tend equipment that roasts, bakes, dries, or cures food items such as cocoa and coffee beans, grains, nuts, and bakery products.High
69
Push racks or carts to transfer products to storage, cooling stations, or the next stage of processing.Medium
75
Smooth out products in bins, pans, trays, or conveyors, using rakes or shovels.Medium
75
Read work orders to determine quantities and types of products to be baked, dried, or roasted.High
74
Take product samples during or after processing for laboratory analyses.High
33
Observe flow of materials and listen for machine malfunctions, such as jamming or spillage, and notify supervisors if corrective actions fail.High
37
Observe, feel, taste, or otherwise examine products during and after processing to ensure conformance to standards.High
26
Observe temperature, humidity, pressure gauges, and product samples and adjust controls, such as thermostats and valves, to maintain prescribed operating conditions for specific stages.High
26
Open valves, gates, or chutes or use shovels to load or remove products from ovens or other equipment.High
24
Fill or remove product from trays, carts, hoppers, or equipment, using scoops, peels, or shovels, or by hand.Medium
24
Start conveyors to move roasted grain to cooling pans and agitate grain with rakes as blowers force air through perforated bottoms of pans.High
18
Install equipment, such as spray units, cutting blades, or screens, using hand tools.Medium
22
Most exposed

Where AI can do more

Routine, digitized, and highly repeatable tasks face the greatest pressure.

  1. Push racks or carts to transfer products to storage, cooling stations, or the next stage of processing.75
  2. Smooth out products in bins, pans, trays, or conveyors, using rakes or shovels.75
  3. Record production data, such as weight and amount of product processed, type of product, and time and temperature of processing.74
  4. Weigh or measure products, using scale hoppers or scale conveyors.74
Hardest to automate

Where people still matter

These tasks score lowest on automation feasibility—physical presence, judgement, accountability and real-world variability all resist end-to-end automation.

  1. Start conveyors to move roasted grain to cooling pans and agitate grain with rakes as blowers force air through perforated bottoms of pans.01
  2. Install equipment, such as spray units, cutting blades, or screens, using hand tools.02
  3. Open valves, gates, or chutes or use shovels to load or remove products from ovens or other equipment.03
  4. Fill or remove product from trays, carts, hoppers, or equipment, using scoops, peels, or shovels, or by hand.04
  5. Observe, feel, taste, or otherwise examine products during and after processing to ensure conformance to standards.05
Where else this work leads

Related occupations

Occupations O*NET links to this one. Relatedness reflects shared work, not a claim that these roles are safer.

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AI risk 49

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Closely related work

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Beyond AI capability

Adoption and labour-market outlook

Structural factors are kept separate from raw capability so you can see what actually resists automation. Adoption pressure and labour-market resilience are still provisional models—25% of this occupation’s replacement-risk weight rests on them.

Human dependency62
Physical dependency62
Adoption pressure59
Labour-market resilience59
Methodology & sources

O*NET 30.3 occupational data interpreted through the JobsVsAI capability, automation and structural-constraint models.

Confidence81/100
CalculatedAug 21, 2026
Read methodology →