How to become a Tobacco Machinery Operator
Official Chinese title (2022 occupational classification): 烟机设备操作工
Also called: Threshing and Redrying Operator, Leaf Conditioning Operator, Primary Processing Operator, Expanded Tobacco Operator, Reconstituted Tobacco Operator, Filter Rod Maker Operator, Cigarette Making Machine Operator, Cigarette Packing Machine Operator, Tobacco Products Transfer Operator
Operates tobacco machinery to process raw materials into all kinds of tobacco products.
Main tasks
- Blending, vacuum conditioning, hot air conditioning, tipping and untying, removing foreign matter, separating leaf from stem, redrying and packing with threshing and redrying equipment
- Conditioning and casing leaf and stem with leaf and stem processing equipment
- Making cut tobacco with cutting, heating and humidifying, drying and flavouring equipment
- Soaking, expanding and conditioning cut tobacco with expansion equipment
- Mixing stems, scraps and dust into reconstituted tobacco on production lines
- Making and moving filter rods with tow openers, filter rod makers and support equipment
- Making cigarettes and attaching filters with making and tipping machines
- Packing cigarettes into packs, cartons and cases with packing equipment
- Moving and storing leaf, filter rods, cigarettes and other items with transfer equipment
AI and this job
- Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Who does this work
- The census group Tobacco Products Processing Workers holds 0.02% of everyone employed in China; 39.8% of its workers are women (2020 Census).
- 24% are under 35, 62.1% are 35 to 54 and 13.9% are 55 or older. The middle age band is 45 to 49.
- Census figures for the whole mid group (2020 long-form sample), not for this job alone.
Related jobs
Not sure this is for you? Take the 2-minute career quiz
Questions people ask
Will AI change the work of a Tobacco Machinery Operator?
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- National Bureau of Statistics of China: China Population Census Yearbook 2020, long-form tables 4-6 and 4-7 (employed by occupation mid group, sex, age) (2020 Census long form (10% sample)), retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
Sources: Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition, public consultation draft), Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, State Administration for Market Regulation and National Bureau of Statistics; Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, 2025 enterprise pay survey information; Guangzhou Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, 2025 labour market wage prices; National Bureau of Statistics of China (www.stats.gov.cn), 2020 Population Census yearbook; Ministry of Education, vocational education major profiles (2022 revision) and undergraduate major catalogue (2025); Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, national vocational qualifications catalogue (2021); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Figures processed by Peernovo. English text, translations and the matching of occupations to ISCO-08, majors, degree fields and qualifications by Peernovo.
Descriptions and tasks are Peernovo's own words, written from the facts in the Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition). Job titles and work types are the classification's own.
Updated 4 October 2026