Ball Corporation (BALL)
Metal can plants, 31% in the U.S. Read October 19, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025, filed February 19, 2026. Ranked 94 of the 161 Consumer Cyclical companies read so far, by the share within reach now.
Within reach now
18%
End of 2028
28%
Employees, annual report
16,000
Leading staffing pattern
Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing (3323 and 3324 only)
Share of the working time within reach, long-run pace, four times in five
- Now18%
- End of 202725%
- End of 202828%
- End of 203029%
What changes for its people by the end of 2028, by its industries' figures
- Stays with people 71%
- Becomes checking a model's work 23%
- Handed over with lighter checks 5%
The filing states 16,000 employees, 5,000 in the U.S., in three segments that all make metal beverage, food and household cans, so one pattern carries the workforce.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 18% now, 25% at the end of 2027, 28% at the end of 2028, 29% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 29% desk work, 13% people work and 59% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 71% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 23% becomes checking a model's work and 5% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
16,000 employees as of December 31, 2025 (stated). Approximately 5,000 of 16,000 employees in the U.S. (31%), stated.
The filing: “At the end of 2025, the company and its subsidiaries employed approximately 16,000 employees, including approximately 5,000 employees in the U.S.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing (3323 and 3324 only) | 100% | All three segments, beverage packaging in the Americas and Asia (51% of revenue), in Europe (32%) and food and household products packaging (17%), make metal cans, which NAICS places in metal containers (3324, the site's 3320A2), and the filing counts no employees by segment, so one pattern carries the workforce (c). |
What the filing says about the workforce: 5,000 of 16,000 in the U.S.; collective bargaining details are in the risk factors, not the human capital section; nine global employee networks; a year of transformation in 2025 after the aerospace sale.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing (3323 and 3324 only), largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Crown Holdings, Inc. (CCK, 23,000 employees)17% now, 28% by 2028
- Greif, Inc. (GEF, 14,000 employees)16% now, 26% by 2028
- BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT, 10,400 employees)18% now, 34% by 2028
- Silgan Holdings Inc. (SLGN)17% now, 27% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
2 sentences in the filing name AI. Two sentences: AI-driven phishing among the cybersecurity risks the company monitors, and a March 2025 agreement with Ayna.AI forming a partnership in which Ball holds 49 percent.
- “We continually refine our approach to address evolving cybersecurity regulations, identify potential and emerging security risks (including AI-driven phishing and supply chain attacks), and implement strategies to manage these risks.”
- “The remaining assets and liabilities of the business are immaterial and consist primarily of working capital and were presented as current assets held for sale and current liabilities held for sale on the consolidated balance sheet at December 31, 2024. On March 21, 2025, Ball and Ayna.AI LLC (Ayna) executed a Unit Purchase Agreement to form a strategic partnership in which Ball owns a 49 per...”
Its annual reports, year by year
Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector
- Fiscal 20210median 0
- Fiscal 20220median 0
- Fiscal 20230median 1
- Fiscal 20240median 4
- Fiscal 20252median 10
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 16,000 | 2026-02-19 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-31 | 16,000 | 2025-02-20 | 10-K |
| 2023-12-31 | 21,000 | 2024-02-20 | 10-K |
| 2022-12-31 | 21,000 | 2023-02-21 | 10-K |
| 2021-12-31 | 24,300 | 2022-02-16 | 10-K |
| 2020-12-31 | 21,500 | 2021-02-17 | 10-K |
| 2019-12-31 | 18,300 | 2020-02-19 | 10-K |
| 2018-12-31 | 17,500 | 2019-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2017-12-31 | 18,300 | 2018-03-01 | 10-K |
| 2016-12-31 | 18,450 | 2017-03-02 | 10-K |
| 2015-12-31 | 15,200 | 2016-02-16 | 10-K |
| 2014-12-31 | 8,000 | 2015-02-20 | 10-K |
| 2013-12-31 | 8,200 | 2014-02-24 | 10-K |
| 2012-12-31 | 8,800 | 2013-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2011-12-31 | 9,100 | 2012-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2010-12-31 | 8,900 | 2011-02-28 | 10-K |
| 2009-12-31 | 10,500 | 2010-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2008-12-31 | 10,400 | 2009-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2007-12-31 | 15,500 | 2008-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2006-12-31 | 15,500 | 2007-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2006-02-22 | 13,100 | 2006-02-22 | 10-K |
| 2004-12-31 | 13,200 | 2005-02-23 | 10-K |
| 2003-12-31 | 12,700 | 2004-03-12 | 10-K |
| 2002-12-31 | 12,500 | 2003-03-27 | 10-K |
| 2001-12-31 | 9,950 | 2002-03-28 | 10-K |
| 2000-12-31 | 11,200 | 2001-03-30 | 10-K |
| 1999-12-31 | 11,850 | 2000-03-30 | 10-K |
| 1998-12-31 | 12,100 | 1999-03-29 | 10-K |
| 1997-12-31 | 10,300 | 1998-03-31 | 10-K |
| 1996-12-31 | 7,900 | 1997-03-31 | 10-K |
| 1995-12-31 | 7,500 | 1996-04-01 | 10-K |
| 1994-12-31 | 12,873 | 1995-03-29 | 10-K405 |
| 1993-12-31 | 13,807 | 1994-03-29 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- No count by segment: all three segments make metal cans, so one pattern carries the workforce (c).
- The data service's geography table has an unreadable line and was not used; the U.S. count comes from the filing.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001104659-26-017410, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
The report on Ball Corporation, $29
This page as a document to keep, with what it does not show: the share within reach at every date on three paces and two reliabilities, a typical workforce of this shape at the stated headcount role by role and task by task (the industries' staffing, never the company's roster), where to start, what changes for the people and what they would learn, every sentence in the filing that names AI, the headcount by year, the companies read with the same leading pattern, the method and a citation line. To print or save as a PDF, open again in your browser for a year.
See the report, $29See the sample first: Walmart's report is free
Questions about this company
- How much of Ball Corporation's working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 18% now and 28% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Ball Corporation's own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Ball Corporation employ?
- 16,000 as of December 31, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025 states. About 31% in the U.S.
- What kinds of work make up Ball Corporation's workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 1 industry staffing pattern, the largest Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing (3323 and 3324 only); by those patterns the work is about 29% desk work, 13% people work and 59% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Ball Corporation's annual report say about AI?
- 2 sentences in the filing name AI. Its annual reports for fiscal 2021 to 2025 name it in 0, 0, 0, 0 and 2 sentences, year by year. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 19, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.