Assemble mechanical components or machine parts
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 | 14 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 14 occupations that perform it.
- Devise, fabricate, or assemble new or modified mechanical components for products such as industrial machinery or equipment, and measuring instruments.
- Assemble machines according to specifications, using hand or power tools and measuring devices.
- Assemble gear systems, and align frames and gears.
- Reassemble and test subassembly units.
- Build wheels by cutting and threading new spokes.
- Hammer required counterweights onto rims of wheels.
- Wind large springs with upward motion of arm.
- Assemble new or reconditioned appliances.
- Assemble and install equipment, using hand tools and power tools.
- Attach cross-arms, insulators, and auxiliary equipment to poles prior to installing them.
- Assemble aircraft cameras, still or motion picture cameras, photographic equipment, or frames, using diagrams, blueprints, bench machines, hand tools, or power tools.
- Assemble boilers at installation sites, using tools such as levels, plumb bobs, hammers, torches, or other hand tools.
- Disassemble and assemble machines, according to specifications and using hand and power tools.
- Assemble and embed cores in casting frames, using hand tools and equipment.
- Assemble new bicycles.
- Fasten angle iron back-hangers to ceilings and tracks, using fasteners or welding equipment.
- Attach moving parts and subassemblies to basic assembly unit, using hand tools and power tools.
- Assemble machines, and bolt, weld, rivet, or otherwise fasten them to foundation or other structures, using hand tools and power tools.
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
14 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Bicycle Repairers
- Camera and Photographic Equipment Repairers
- Coin, Vending, and Amusement Machine Servicers and Repairers
- Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers
- Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers
- Home Appliance Repairers
- Maintenance and Repair Workers, General
- Mechanical Door Repairers
- Mechanical Engineering Technologists and Technicians
- Millwrights
- Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines
- Motorcycle Mechanics
- Pourers and Casters, Metal
- Tire Repairers and Changers
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Assemble equipment or components”. 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.