The Workforce AI Index · Consumer Cyclical
Smurfit Westrock plc (SW)
Paper packaging maker, counted by region. Read October 1, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-27. Ranked 30 of the 39 Consumer Cyclical companies read so far, by the share within reach now: the sector.
The filing counts 97,000 people by region and nothing by kind of plant, so the split between converting plants and mills follows its description (c).
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: 14% now, 21% at the end of 2027, 24% at the end of 2028, 24% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 24% desk work, 9% people work and 67% 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 75% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 20% becomes checking a model's work and 4% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
97,000 employees as of 2025-12-31 (stated). The filing counts 50,000 in its North America segment, which includes Canada and Mexico; the United States is 46% of revenue; no U.S. count.
The filing: “As of December 31, 2025, we employed approximately 97,000 people across the 40 countries in which we operate, of which approximately 50,000 were in the North America segment, approximately 36,500 in our Europe, MEA and APAC segment, and approximately 10,500 in the LATAM segment.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Converted Paper Product Manufacturing | 70% | By description (c): the filing's business is corrugated and consumer packaging made in converting plants, the paperboard containers its SIC code names, with no count by kind of plant. |
| Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard Mills | 30% | By description (c): the paper and paperboard mills that supply the converting plants, which the filing describes but does not count separately. |
What the filing says about the workforce: Approximately 97,000 in 40 countries: 50,000 North America, 36,500 Europe, MEA and APAC, 10,500 Latin America; seasonal peaks and troughs in parts of the workforce; collective bargaining agreements in various jurisdictions, with most unionized U.S. employees represented by the United Steelworkers; a lost time incident rate of 0.56 in 2025.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Converted Paper Product Manufacturing, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- International Paper Company (IP, 62,602 employees)14% now, 24% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
10 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing names AI in 10 sentences: automation, robotics and machine learning used and expanded in its products, generative AI in its business processes, and the risk of competitors' AI advances.
- “Pricing pressure could arise from, among other things, limited demand growth in the market in question, price reductions by competitors, growth in supply from existing competitors, entry of new competitors into the markets in which we operate, the ability of competitors to capitalize on their economies of scale and create excess product supply, the ability of competitors to operate or successfu...”
- “We also utilize and intend to expand our use of automation, robotics and machine learning in many of our products, including consumer-facing features, and we leverage generative artificial intelligence in our business processes.”
- “Additionally, if we are unable to match or surpass the advances of artificial intelligence that our competitors implement for their products or for internal operations, our competitive position could be impacted.”
- “The rapid evolution and increased availability of artificial intelligence may intensify cybersecurity risks by making targeted attacks more convincing and cybersecurity incidents more difficult to detect, contain, and mitigate. 30 Despite our security measures, our information technology, and that of our third-party providers and business partners, is subject to recurring attempts by threat act...”
- “We are subject to a wide variety of regional, national, state, provincial, and local laws, regulations and other requirements, including those relating to the environment, product safety, competition, corruption, sanctions, occupational health and safety, labor and employment, data privacy, artificial intelligence, tax and health care.”
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 | 97,000 | 2026-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-31 | 100,000 | 2025-03-07 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The filing counts people by region, not by kind of plant; the split between converting and mills rests on description (c).
- The U.S. share is not stated.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001628280-26-012555, 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.
Questions about this company
- How much of Smurfit Westrock plc's working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 14% now and 24% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Smurfit Westrock plc'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 Smurfit Westrock plc employ?
- 97,000 as of December 31, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025 states.
- What kinds of work make up Smurfit Westrock plc's workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 2 industry staffing patterns, the largest Converted Paper Product Manufacturing; by those patterns the work is about 24% desk work, 9% people work and 67% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Smurfit Westrock plc's annual report say about AI?
- 10 sentences in the filing name AI. 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 1, 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.