Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders
Operate or tend bonding machines that use adhesives to join items for further processing or to form a completed product. Processes include joining veneer sheets into plywood; gluing paper; or joining rubber and rubberized fabric parts, plastic, simulated leather, or other materials.
11,500 people do this job in the US. $46,460 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 9%
- 0%
- 91%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 5%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 9%. Today's estimate: 9%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 16 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perform test production runs and make adjustments as necessary to ensure that completed products meet standards and specifications.Done daily by most who do it. | 16% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Monitor machine operations to detect malfunctions and report or resolve problems.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 14% | 17 min4 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Remove and stack completed materials or products, and restock materials to be joined.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 10% | 17 min4 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Mount or load material such as paper, plastic, wood, or rubber in feeding mechanisms of cementing or gluing machines.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 8% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Transport materials, supplies, and finished products between storage and work areas, using forklifts.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Adjust machine components according to specifications such as widths, lengths, and thickness of materials and amounts of glue, cement, or adhesive required.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Clean and maintain gluing and cementing machines, using solutions, lubricants, brushes, and scrapers.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Maintain production records such as quantities, dimensions, and thicknesses of materials processed.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Remove jammed materials from machines and readjust components as necessary to resume normal operations.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 5% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Fill machines with glue, cement, or adhesives.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Examine and measure completed materials or products to verify conformance to specifications, using measuring devices such as tape measures, gauges, or calipers.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | Stays with people | |
| Read work orders and communicate with coworkers to determine machine and equipment settings and adjustments and supply and product specifications.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 8 min4 min to 21 min | 100%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders0% now, 0% by 2028
- Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders7% now, 7% by 2028
- Machine Feeders and Offbearers5% now, 5% by 2028
- Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders14% now, 14% by 2028
- Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic14% now, 14% by 2028
- Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders2% now, 2% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).