---
title: "Will AI Replace Industrial Production Managers?"
description: "BLS rates industrial production managers' exposure to AI as high. What that means, which parts of the work AI touches, and the 2025–2035 outlook (+2.6%…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/will-ai-replace-industrial-production-managers"
last-updated: "2026-10-15T08:19:32.066Z"
---

# Will AI Replace Industrial Production Managers? (2026)

**Short answer:** Not replaced, but changed. BLS rates the exposure as high, so AI can help with a real share of the work, yet it still projects employment to grow.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics places industrial production managers in its high AI exposure category, above the middle of the pack: a substantial share of the work overlaps with what AI can do. BLS projects employment to change by +2.6% over 2025–2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 17,000 openings a year.

| Measure | Value | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| BLS relative AI exposure | High | BLS Employment Projections, AI exposure categories |
| NueCareer AI-resilience score | 49/100 | NueCareer analysis of O\*NET 31.0 Database |
| Projected employment change | +2.6% | BLS EP 2025–2035 |
| Openings a year | 17,000 | BLS EP 2025–2035 |
| Median annual wage | $126,060 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |

## Exposure categories

| BLS category | Occupations |
| --- | --- |
| Low | 203 |
| Moderate | 194 |
| High (this job) | 190 |
| Very high | 199 |

Exposure means AI could be or has been used to assist with or complete some of the work. BLS says it does not imply job loss, productivity gains, automation probability or wage effects. Method: https://www.bls.gov/emp/publications/ai-exposure-categories.htm

## What holds up

- Face-to-face discussions: 4.8/5 (O\*NET work context)
- Coaching and developing others: 3.8/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships: 3.9/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Resolving conflicts and negotiating with others: 3.6/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)

## What AI reaches first

- Processing information: 3.8/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Working with computers: 4.3/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Getting information: 4.5/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Email: 4.9/5 (O\*NET work context)

## O\*NET tasks

- Review operations and confer with technical or administrative staff to resolve production or processing problems.
- Review processing schedules or production orders to make decisions concerning inventory requirements, staffing requirements, work procedures, or duty assignments, considering budgetary limitations and time constraints.
- Direct or coordinate production, processing, distribution, or marketing activities of industrial organizations.
- Hire, train, evaluate, or discharge staff or resolve personnel grievances.
- Prepare and maintain production reports or personnel records.
- Develop or implement production tracking or quality control systems, analyzing production, quality control, maintenance, or other operational reports to detect production problems.

## FAQ

**Will AI replace industrial production managers?**

Not replaced, but changed. BLS rates the exposure as high, so AI can help with a real share of the work, yet it still projects employment to grow. BLS defines exposure as AI being able to assist with or complete some of the work, and says it does not imply job loss, productivity gains or wage effects. BLS projects employment to change by +2.6% over 2025–2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 17,000 openings a year.

**How exposed are industrial production managers to AI?**

BLS sorts 786 occupations into four relative categories: low, moderate, high and very high. Industrial Production Managers are in the high category, alongside 189 other occupations. The categories combine five public measures of where AI could be or already is used, and they compare occupations with each other rather than giving an absolute risk.

**What parts of an industrial production manager's job can AI do?**

In O\*NET's description of the work, the parts that overlap most with what AI handles well are processing information, working with computers and getting information. The parts that hold up best are face-to-face discussions, coaching and developing others and establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationships. These come from O\*NET ratings of how important each activity is to the job, read through NueCareer's AI-resilience method.

**Is being an industrial production manager a safe career from AI?**

On NueCareer's AI-resilience score, built from O\*NET work activities, industrial production managers score 49 out of 100, higher than 59% of the occupations we score. The job pays a median of $126,060 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025). No job is fully safe from technological change, but the federal exposure category and the projected openings are the two numbers worth weighing.

Full profile: https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-production-manager.

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology