Career Explorer Production
Human edge, steady
Coil winders, tapers, and finishers
Wind wire coils used in electrical components, such as resistors and transformers, and in electrical equipment and instruments, such as field cores, bobbins, armature cores, electrical motors, generators, and control equipment.
In the middle of the pack: more resilient than 42% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it low), and US jobs are projected to change by -4.0% by 2035, expected to shrink. The work leans on physical dexterity.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $48,220
- Job growth to 2035
- -4.0%
- Openings a year
- 1,200
- People doing it (2025)
- 12,900
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Read documents or materials to inform work processes
- Select materials or equipment for operations or projects
- Test performance of equipment or systems
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Cut materials
- Maintain operational records
- Operate industrial processing or production equipment
What the work looks like
- Operate or tend wire-coiling machines to wind wire coils used in electrical components such as resistors and transformers, and in electrical equipment and instruments such as bobbins and generators.
- Attach, alter, and trim materials such as wire, insulation, and coils, using hand tools.
- Cut, strip, and bend wire leads at ends of coils, using pliers and wire scrapers.
- Review work orders and specifications to determine materials needed and types of parts to be processed.
- Examine and test wired electrical components such as motors, armatures, and stators, using measuring devices, and record test results.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as collaborative robotics increase efficiency, allowing more output to be produced with the same amount of labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tendersHuman edge, steady, Index 45, -1.7%
- Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plasticHuman edge, steady, Index 60, +0.7%
- Adhesive bonding machine operators and tendersHuman edge, steady, Index 73, +1.3%
- Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tendersHuman edge, steady, Index 78, +2.5%
Also known as: Armature Winder, Coil Finisher, Coil Winder, Winder, Auto-Winder, Hand Winder, Motor Winder, Winder Operator.
Is this career on your child's list?
Build a free Career Playbook matched to your child, or get a 90-day Action Plan with dated next steps, written for your child by name.
Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.