Paperboard products assembler

Paperboard products assemblers construct the components or parts made from paperboard according to strictly laid down procedures. They assemble products such as tubes, spools, cardboard boxes, paper plates and craft boards.

The following job titles also refer to paperboard products assembler:

cardboard products assembly operator
cardboard products assembly worker
paperboard products assembly operative
cardboard box constructor
corrugated box cutter
cardboard products assembly operative
paperboard products assembly operator
paper plate maker
paperboard products maker
paperboard products constructor
craft board maker
cardboard box assembler
corrugated box assembler
cardboard box maker
corrugated box maker
paperboard products assembly worker
corrugated box constructor

A high school diploma is generally the minimum required to work as a paperboard products assembler.

ISCO skill level is defined as a function of the complexity and range of tasks and duties to be performed in an occupation. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 the lowest level and 4 the highest, by considering:

• the nature of the work performed in an occupation in relation to the characteristic tasks and duties
• the level of formal education required for competent performance of the tasks and duties involved and
• the amount of informal on-the-job training and/or previous experience in a related occupation required for competent performance of these tasks and duties.

Paperboard products assembler is a Skill level 2 occupation.

These occupations, although different, require a lot of knowledge and skills similar to paperboard products assembler.

corrugator operator
nailing machine operator
absorbent pad machine operator
tissue paper perforating and rewinding operator
laminating machine operator

These occupations require some skills and knowledge of paperboard products assembler. They also require other skills and knowledge, but at a higher ISCO skill level, meaning these occupations are accessible from a position of paperboard products assembler with a significant experience and/or extensive training.

pulp control operator
automated assembly line operator
machine operator supervisor
industrial robot controller
metal production supervisor

This knowledge should be acquired through learning to fulfill the role of paperboard products assembler.

• Types of paper: The different criteria used to determine differences in paper types such as coarseness and thickness, and the different fabrication methods and wood types from which the types of paper stem.
• Quality standards: The national and international requirements, specifications and guidelines to ensure that products, services and processes are of good quality and fit for purpose.

These skills are necessary for the role of paperboard products assembler.

• Troubleshoot: Identify operating problems, decide what to do about it and report accordingly.
• Perform test run: Perform tests putting a system, machine, tool or other equipment through a series of actions under actual operating conditions in order to assess its reliability and suitability to realise its tasks, and adjust settings accordingly.
• Work safely with machines: Check and safely operate machines and equipment required for your work according to manuals and instructions.
• Wear appropriate protective gear: Wear relevant and necessary protective gear, such as protective goggles or other eye protection, hard hats, safety gloves.
• Monitor conveyor belt: Monitor the flow of the work pieces on the conveyor belt as they are processed by the machine to ensure optimal productivity.
• Operate paper folding machine: Perform folder operations, such as setting up and adjusting the feeder for delivery. Prepare the folder machine for special processes like perforating, scoring, trimming, softening, and binding of paper products.
• Monitor automated machines: Continuously check up on the automated machine’s set-up and execution or make regular control rounds. If necessary, record and interpret data on the operating conditions of installations and equipment in order to identify abnormalities.
• Supply machine: Ensure the machine is fed the necessary and adequate materials and control the placement or automatic feed and retrieval of work pieces in the machines or machine tools on the production line.
• Operate die-cut machines: Operate machinery to cut paper products into a pattern, which is folded and glued into a certain shape.

This knowledge is sometimes, but not always, required for the role of paperboard products assembler. However, mastering this knowledge allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

• Styles of boxes: Different styles of boxes in Europe. These are defined by a 4-digit code and specified by the European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers (FEFCO). The styles are more an example of complicated and special box designs.
• Printing on large scale machines: Methods, processes, and restrictions related to printing on machines that produce large quantities and sizes of graphic print materials.
• Types of boxes: The field of information which distinguishes different kinds of boxes, based upon sets of flaps and telescope box sections. Fabricate the Regular Slotted Container (RSC, and other slotted ones) the most common box style, where the flaps are all of the same length, and major flaps meet in the middle while minor flaps don’t.
• Manufacturing of daily use goods: The manufacturing of items used in the daily life, personal use or daily practice. These products include protective safety equipment, drawing equipment, stamps, umbrellas, cigarette lighters, baskets, candles, and many other miscellaneous articles.

These skills and competences are sometimes, but not always, required for the role of paperboard products assembler. However, mastering these skills and competences allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

• Ensure compliance with environmental legislation: Monitor activities and perform tasks ensuring compliance with standards involving environmental protection and sustainability, and amend activities in the case of changes in environmental legislation. Ensure that the processes are compliant with environment regulations and best practices.
• Mix ink: Tend a computer-guided dispenser that mixes different shades of ink to obtain the desired colour.
• Operate corrugator: Set up and monitor the machine that corrugates face paperboard to form corrugated paperboard material for containers. The machine runs paper sheets through splices and corrugating rolls, where steam and heat is applied and flutes are formed. Glue is applied and the flute is fused with two lineboards to produce a single corrugated board.
• Inspect quality of products: Use various techniques to ensure the product quality is respecting the quality standards and specifications. Oversee defects, packaging and sendbacks of products to different production departments.
• Record production data for quality control: Keep records of the machine’s faults, interventions and irregularities for quality control.
• Remove processed workpiece: Remove individual workpieces after processing, from the manufacturing machine or the machine tool. In case of a conveyor belt this involves quick, continuous movement.
• Maintain recycling records: Maintain records and process facts and figures about type and volume of different recycling operations.
• Verify product specifications: Check heights, colour and other attributes of finished product against specifications.
• Apply a protective layer: Apply a layer of protective solutions such as permethrine to protect the product from damage such as corrosion, fire or parasites, using a spray gun or paintbrush.
• Perform machine maintenance: Perform regular maintenance, possibly including corrections and alterations, on a machine or machine tool to ensure it remains in a proper productive state.
• Prepare production reports: Prepare reports on wood technology production and progressive development of wood based materials.
• Coordinate shipments of recycling materials: Coordinate and oversee shipments of recycling materials. Communicate with processing companies and shipping brokers.
• Consult technical resources: Read and interpret technical resources such as digital or paper drawings and adjustment data in order to properly set up a machine or working tool, or to assemble mechanical equipment.
• Test edge crush: Use the Mullen Test or Edge Crush Test to determine the stacking or crushing of a piece of corrugated board, testing the force or weight needed to crush the containerboard standing on an edge.
• Keep records of work progress: Maintain records of the progress of the work including time, defects, malfunctions, etc.
• Develop assembly instructions: Develop a code of letters and numbers to label diagrams for assembly instructions.
• Set up the controller of a machine: Set up and give commands to a machine by dispatching the appropriate data and input into the (computer) controller corresponding with the desired processed product.

8143 – Paper products machine operators

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References

1. Paperboard products assembler – ESCO