Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders

Highest risk
Imminent Risk
Low High

Explore safer careers (5)

Lower estimated automation risk

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Why it fits

Experienced operators can move into shift lead or production supervision roles.

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Why it fits

Adhesive and cure-process familiarity supports chemical-equipment operation with safety training.

Quality Control Analysts
58% automation risk | Moderate Risk
Pays better Higher growth
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Why it fits

Process-quality knowledge can support a lab or quality path with added testing and documentation skills.

Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers
74% automation risk | High Risk
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Why it fits

Adhesive bonding workers know defects, cure quality, material handling, and production checks.

Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
70% automation risk | High Risk
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Why it fits

Uses similar machine-tending, material-feed, setup, and product-dimension checks.

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
2.6/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

82% (Imminent Risk)

Imminent Risk (81-100%): This occupation appears highly exposed to end-to-end replacement by AI, software, robotics, or other computer-controlled systems. Roles in this range often involve predictable, repeatable, or rules-based work with limited need for human judgement, trust, creativity, or adaptation to messy real-world conditions. This does not mean every job will disappear immediately, but it is a strong signal to consider safer alternatives or start building more resilient skills.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Decision-making and problem solving

Quite important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
Jobs that also use this strength

Coordinating others’ work

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
Jobs that also use this strength

What users think

Based on 14 votes

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Pay & outlook

Wages

Low paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders was $45,210 ($22 per hour).

The median annual wage for Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders was 8.7% lower than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders' job openings is expected to rise 1.0% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Significantly lower range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 12,170 people employed as 'Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 12 thousand people are employed as 'Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders'.

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Job description

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.

O*NET-SOC code: 51-9191.00