Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders
Operate or tend machines to prepare industrial or consumer products for storage or shipment. Includes cannery workers who pack food products.
379,060 people do this job in the US. $43,220 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 2%
- 0%
- 98%
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, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 2%. Today's estimate: 2%.
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 . 20 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tend or operate machine that packages product.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 15% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Stack finished packaged items, or wrap protective material around each item, and pack the items in cartons or containers.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 9% | 17 min4 min to 42 min | Stays with people | |
| Package the product in the form in which it will be sent out, for example, filling bags with flour from a chute or spout.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 17 min4 min to 58 min | Stays with people | |
| Sort, grade, weigh, and inspect products, verifying and adjusting product weight or measurement to meet specifications.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 13 min4 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Clean, oil, and make minor adjustments or repairs to machinery and equipment, such as opening valves or setting guides.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 6% | 25 min8 min to 42 min | Stays with people | |
| Observe machine operations to ensure quality and conformity of filled or packaged products to standards.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 13 min4 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Supply materials to spindles, conveyors, hoppers, or other feeding devices and unload packaged product.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Inspect and remove defective products and packaging material.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Stock and sort product for packaging or filling machine operation, and replenish packaging supplies, such as wrapping paper, plastic sheet, boxes, cartons, glue, ink, or labels.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Clean and remove damaged or otherwise inferior materials to prepare raw products for processing.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Remove finished packaged items from machine and separate rejected items.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 21 min | Stays with people | |
| Monitor the production line, watching for problems such as pile-ups, jams, or glue that isn't sticking properly.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | Stays with people |
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.
- Packers and Packagers, Hand7% now, 7% by 2028
- Machine Feeders and Offbearers5% now, 5% by 2028
- Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders9% now, 9% by 2028
- Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders14% now, 14% by 2028
- Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders0% now, 0% by 2028
- Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders7% now, 7% 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).