Clean equipment, parts, or tools to repair or maintain them in good working order
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 | 29 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Performing General Physical Activities (4.A.3.a.1) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 29 occupations that perform it.
- Prepare, install, maintain, or repair equipment used for hydrologic study, such as water level recorders, stream flow gauges, and water analyzers.
- Maintain or repair lab equipment.
- Clean, oil, or adjust mechanical parts to maintain machines' operating efficiency and to prevent breakdowns.
- Clean and maintain tools, test equipment, and motor vehicles.
- Scrape and clean units or parts, using cleaning solvents and equipment such as buffing wheels.
- Repair, replace, and clean equipment and components such as circuit breakers, brushes, and commutators.
- Replace and clean electrical or electronic components.
- Clean, strip, prime, and sand structural surfaces and materials to prepare them for bonding.
- Clean and lubricate parts.
- Clean, lubricate, and perform other routine maintenance work on equipment and vehicles.
- Perform scheduled maintenance, and clean units and components.
- Perform routine maintenance such as cleaning and oiling parts, honing cylinders, and tuning ignition systems.
- Clean sides of whitewall tires.
- Clean door closer parts, using caustic soda, rotary brushes, or grinding wheels.
- Clean internal compartments and moving parts, using rags and cleaning compounds.
- Reassemble units after repairs are made, making adjustments and cleaning and lubricating parts as needed.
- Clean, lubricate, or adjust parts, equipment, or machinery.
- Clean machines and machine parts, using cleaning solvents, cloths, air guns, hoses, vacuums, or other equipment.
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
29 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians
- Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary
- Camera and Photographic Equipment Repairers
- Coin, Vending, and Amusement Machine Servicers and Repairers
- Commercial Divers
- Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers
- Control and Valve Installers and Repairers, Except Mechanical Door
- Electric Motor, Power Tool, and Related Repairers
- Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Powerhouse, Substation, and Relay
- Electronic Equipment Installers and Repairers, Motor Vehicles
- Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians
- Helpers--Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers
- Home Appliance Repairers
- Hydrologic Technicians
- Industrial Machinery Mechanics
- Maintenance and Repair Workers, General
- Maintenance Workers, Machinery
- Mechanical Door Repairers
- Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines
- Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuners
- Outdoor Power Equipment and Other Small Engine Mechanics
- Rail Car Repairers
- Refractory Materials Repairers, Except Brickmasons
- Riggers
- Signal and Track Switch Repairers
- Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers
- Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers
- Tire Repairers and Changers
- Watch and Clock Repairers
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Clean tools, equipment, facilities, or work areas”. 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.