Apply solutions to production equipment
Little of this can be handed to software today.
This happens in the physical world, so software agents do not touch it. Automation here means robotics and machinery, which is a different market from the one mapped on this site, on a much slower clock.
| How automatable | Barely automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Physical, manual and inspection work |
| Jobs that do it | 8 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Handling and Moving Objects (4.A.3.a.2) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 8 occupations that perform it.
- Apply plastic-impregnated fabrics or coats of sealing wax or lacquer to patterns used to produce plastic.
- Add chemicals or materials to workpieces or machines to facilitate bonding or to cool workpieces.
- Dress grinding wheels, according to specifications.
- Add dyes, water, detergents, or chemicals to tanks to dilute or strengthen solutions, according to established formulas and solution test results.
- Apply solutions and chemicals to equipment, objects, or parts, using hand tools.
- Select shaping wheels for tasks, and mix and apply abrasives, bort, or polishing compounds.
- Add specified amounts of chemicals to equipment at required times to maintain solution levels and concentrations.
- Rub cement sticks on drum edges to provide adhesive surfaces for plies.
- Brush or spray solvents onto plies to ensure adhesion, and repeat process as specified, alternating direction of each ply to strengthen tires.
What we would actually use
Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.
Nothing on this site applies. Automation here is robotics and machinery, a different market on a much slower clock, and no software subscription moves it.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
How people actually do it
No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Who does this work
8 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders
- Gem and Diamond Workers
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand
- Patternmakers, Metal and Plastic
- Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders
- Tire Builders
- Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners
- Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Apply protective solutions or coatings”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.