Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders
In short: today's best AI models could do about 1% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about the same by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The conversations, in-person and hands-on work, about 99% of the time, stays with people.
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.
Reviewed on September 30, 2026: what each task is made of, and what handing it over would ask.
A typical 40-hour week
- AI could take on0 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people40 h
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 0 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 40 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Count and record output (under an hour).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 0%
- 1%
- 0%
- 1%
- 98%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
What handing it over would take, now
The 1% within reach splits by what a model would need. The dates, pace and reliability follow the controls above. Estimates.
of the working time. The material can be handed to a model and the result handed back.
of the working time. The model has to be connected to the system the work lives in.
is conversation short enough by length. This site leaves conversation with people, so it is not in the total.
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, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 1%. Today's estimate: 1%.
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.
Measured use over time
None of this job's 20 tasks showed up in the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled in any of its 7 releases, from February 2025 to May 2026.
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 97% of this job's working time as physical work. For 91% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 83% in a purpose-built cell, 8% in a structured facility. 0.99 of 3, the 124th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 3%
- No robot shown 6%
- In a purpose-built cell 83%
- In a structured facility 8%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
What changes for the people in this job
From the task-by-task review, by the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five. It says which parts of the work stay with people and which change, not whether anyone keeps a job: that depends on decisions no data set can see.
What stays with people
99% of the working time: the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of the tasks.
- Run the packaging machine, the hands-on work, 15%
- Pack items into cartons, the hands-on work, 9%
- Fill and package product, the hands-on work, 7%
- Sort, weigh and check products, the hands-on work, 6%
- Clean and oil the machine, the hands-on work, 6%
- Watch the machine for quality, the hands-on work, 6%
What becomes checking the machine
No desk work within reach by then in tasks where a mistake costs something.
What to learn
- The hands-on craft. About 98% of the time is hands-on work, which no model here does; robots are rated separately on this page.
Your own version of this job: read it against your job description. The headline is free; the full personal report, every task with its timeline and what to learn, is $19 (a sample).
The tasks
Sorted by . 20 tasks from .
| Task | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tend or operate machine that packages product.Tending the machine through the run.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Foodmach turnkey canning line with Robomatrix robotic palletiser (Pirate Life brewery) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 15% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Stack finished packaged items, or wrap protective material around each item, and pack the items in cartons or containers.Wrapping and packing by hand.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, ABB IRB 360 FlexPicker case packing lines and IRB 660 palletizer (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 17 min4 min to 42 min | Hands-on 100% | 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.Filling bags and containers at the chute.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Premier Tech PTK Open-Mouth Bagger (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 17 min4 min to 58 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Sort, grade, weigh, and inspect products, verifying and adjusting product weight or measurement to meet specifications.Weighing and checking each item by hand.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Yamato Scale Feedback Control (checkweigher + multihead weigher) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 13 min4 min to 33 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Clean, oil, and make minor adjustments or repairs to machinery and equipment, such as opening valves or setting guides.Routine upkeep by hand.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Exo-MCD (Mobile Cleaning Device) with adaptive jet cleaner AJC/AJCsens (Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 25 min8 min to 42 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Observe machine operations to ensure quality and conformity of filled or packaged products to standards.Watching the fill and the packs as they come off.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, HEUFT SPECTRUM VX / HEUFT ONE full and empty container inspection systems (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 13 min4 min to 50 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Supply materials to spindles, conveyors, hoppers, or other feeding devices and unload packaged product.Loading hoppers and taking off the packed product.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Columbia/Okura miniPAL+ with Universal Robots UR20 and Pally software (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Inspect and remove defective products and packaging material.Spotting and removing bad items by hand.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, HEUFT InLine / SPECTRUM empty bottle inspector with compact rejector (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Hands-on 100% | 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.Bringing product and packaging supplies to the line.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, TIRELLI robotic depalletizer (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Clean and remove damaged or otherwise inferior materials to prepare raw products for processing.Picking out bad material by hand.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, TOMRA 3A / TOMRA 5A optical sorters (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Remove finished packaged items from machine and separate rejected items.Lifting items off the machine and setting rejects aside.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, JLS Automation Osprey case packer with ABB IRB 360 FlexPicker and PIVT package integrity inspection (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 21 min | Hands-on 100% | Stays with people |
| Monitor the production line, watching for problems such as pile-ups, jams, or glue that isn't sticking properly.Keeping an eye on the line for jams and bad seals.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, HEUFT SPECTRUM inspection systems with flip rejectors (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | Hands-on 100% | 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. Made of: how the task's time splits among five kinds of doing. Only the documents and systems parts can count as within reach, so a task that is 30% documents can be at most 30% 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 Tenders13% now, 13% 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).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 1% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 1% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Count and record output (40% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Run the packaging machine; Pack items into cartons; and Fill and package product. Together such tasks are about 98% of the working time, and the people and body parts of the other tasks stay with people too.
- What should Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders learn as AI takes on more of the work?
- By the job's own task-by-task review, the first things to learn are the hands-on craft. By the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five, about 99% of the working time stays with people, 0% becomes checking a model's work and 1% could be handed over with lighter checks. It says which parts of the work change, never whether anyone keeps a job.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 0%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 97% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 91% of the working time, 8% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.99 of 3. One example: ABB IRB 360 FlexPicker case packing lines and IRB 660 palletizer for "pack items into cartons". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 20 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, reviewed one task at a time on September 30, 2026 for what each is made of (documents, business systems, conversation, in person, hands-on), and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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