Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Set up, operate, or tend paper goods machines that perform a variety of functions, such as converting, sawing, corrugating, banding, wrapping, boxing, stitching, forming, or sealing paper or paperboard sheets into products.
96,130 people do this job in the US. $50,270 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 0%
- 0%
- 100%
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, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 0%. Today's estimate: 0%.
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 . 14 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disassemble machines to maintain, repair, or replace broken or worn parts, using hand or power tools.Done daily by most who do it. | 16% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Install attachments to machines for gluing, folding, printing, or cutting.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 15% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Examine completed work to detect defects and verify conformance to work orders, and adjust machinery as necessary to correct production problems.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 13% | 13 min7 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Observe operation of various machines to detect and correct machine malfunctions such as improper forming, glue flow, or pasteboard tension.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 9% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Adjust guide assemblies, forming bars, and folding mechanisms according to specifications, using hand tools.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Place rolls of paper or cardboard on machine feed tracks, and thread paper through gluing, coating, and slitting rollers.Done daily by most who do it. | 8% | 21 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Monitor finished cartons as they drop from forming machines into rotating hoppers and into gravity feed chutes to prevent jamming.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 13 min4 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Measure, space, and set saw blades, cutters, and perforators, according to product specifications.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Start machines and move controls to regulate tension on pressure rolls, to synchronize speed of machine components, and to adjust temperatures of glue or paraffin.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 17 min8 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Stamp products with information such as dates, using hand stamps or automatic stamping devices.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 8 min3 min to 17 min | Stays with people | |
| Remove finished cores, and stack or place them on conveyors for transfer to other work areas.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Cut products to specified dimensions, using hand or power cutters.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 3% | 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.
- Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders9% now, 9% by 2028
- Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders7% now, 7% by 2028
- Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders13% now, 14% by 2028
- Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fibers5% now, 5% by 2028
- Machine Feeders and Offbearers5% now, 5% by 2028
- Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders14% now, 14% 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).