Paper and wood machine operatives
Paper and wood machine operatives operate machines to treat and cut wood, to produce, treat and cut paper, paperboard, leatherboard, plasterboard and similar material, and to assemble and make wooden crates and containers.
- Employees (UK)
- 13k
- Median annual pay
- £29,640
- Exposure score ?
- 0.4/10 Minimal 0.4/10 Minimal strict reading, with tools is 0.4/10 with-tools reading, strict is 0.4/10
- Wage exposure
- £15m £15m
Higher exposure than 25% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
Where the work usually starts.
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgement, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where the work starts. Switch to With tools to see what AI plus the right context can take on.
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Examine completed work to detect defects and verify conformance to work orders, and adjust machinery as necessary to correct production problems.
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Observe operation of various machines to detect and correct machine malfunctions such as improper forming, glue flow, or pasteboard tension.
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Install attachments to machines for gluing, folding, printing, or cutting.
For this role the labels do not surface obvious candidates, so the work would start with the highest-stakes tasks below and find the AI angle in conversation.
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Examine completed work to detect defects and verify conformance to work orders, and adjust machinery as necessary to correct production problems.
-
Observe operation of various machines to detect and correct machine malfunctions such as improper forming, glue flow, or pasteboard tension.
-
Install attachments to machines for gluing, folding, printing, or cutting.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders" (51-9196.00).
What AI can already do
0 of 14 tasks, unaided
No tasks here are labelled as something an LLM can do unaided. Switch to 'With tools' above to see what changes when AI is paired with the right context.
What still needs a person
14 of 14 tasks
Examine completed work to detect defects and verify conformance to work orders, and adjust machinery as necessary to correct production problems.
Observe operation of various machines to detect and correct machine malfunctions such as improper forming, glue flow, or pasteboard tension.
Install attachments to machines for gluing, folding, printing, or cutting.
Cut products to specified dimensions, using hand or power cutters.
Place rolls of paper or cardboard on machine feed tracks, and thread paper through gluing, coating, and slitting rollers.
Monitor finished cartons as they drop from forming machines into rotating hoppers and into gravity feed chutes to prevent jamming.
Adjust guide assemblies, forming bars, and folding mechanisms according to specifications, using hand tools.
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.
Measure, space, and set saw blades, cutters, and perforators, according to product specifications.
Fill glue and paraffin reservoirs, and position rollers to dispense glue onto paperboard.
Disassemble machines to maintain, repair, or replace broken or worn parts, using hand or power tools.
Stamp products with information such as dates, using hand stamps or automatic stamping devices.
Remove finished cores, and stack or place them on conveyors for transfer to other work areas.
Lift tote boxes of finished cartons, and dump cartons into feed hoppers.
Tasks via O*NET "Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders" (51-9196.00).
What AI can already do
0 of 14 tasks, with tools
Even with tools, no tasks here are labelled as something AI can do today. The work is judgment, presence, or context-heavy enough that the academic labelling sees no leverage.
What still needs a person
14 of 14 tasks
Examine completed work to detect defects and verify conformance to work orders, and adjust machinery as necessary to correct production problems.
Observe operation of various machines to detect and correct machine malfunctions such as improper forming, glue flow, or pasteboard tension.
Install attachments to machines for gluing, folding, printing, or cutting.
Cut products to specified dimensions, using hand or power cutters.
Place rolls of paper or cardboard on machine feed tracks, and thread paper through gluing, coating, and slitting rollers.
Monitor finished cartons as they drop from forming machines into rotating hoppers and into gravity feed chutes to prevent jamming.
Adjust guide assemblies, forming bars, and folding mechanisms according to specifications, using hand tools.
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.
Measure, space, and set saw blades, cutters, and perforators, according to product specifications.
Fill glue and paraffin reservoirs, and position rollers to dispense glue onto paperboard.
Disassemble machines to maintain, repair, or replace broken or worn parts, using hand or power tools.
Stamp products with information such as dates, using hand stamps or automatic stamping devices.
Remove finished cores, and stack or place them on conveyors for transfer to other work areas.
Lift tote boxes of finished cartons, and dump cartons into feed hoppers.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Process, plant and machine operatives, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons