Clean 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 | 51 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 51 occupations that perform it.
- Inspect, clean, and assemble molds before beginning work.
- Check equipment to ensure that it meets health and safety regulations, and perform maintenance or cleaning, as necessary.
- Clean and lubricate machines.
- Scrape accumulations of metal oxides from floors, molds, and crucibles, and sift and store them for reclamation.
- Remove solidified steel or slag from pouring nozzles, using long bars or oxygen burners.
- Clean and smooth molds, cores, and core boxes, and repair surface imperfections.
- Smooth and clean inner surfaces of molds, using brushes, scrapers, air hoses, or grinding wheels, and fill imperfections with refractory material.
- Perform minor machine maintenance, such as oiling or cleaning machines, dies, or workpieces, or adding coolant to machine reservoirs.
- Clean or degrease parts, using wire brushes, portable grinders, or chemical baths.
- Clean, lubricate, maintain, and adjust equipment to maintain efficient operation, using air hoses, cleaning fluids, and hand tools.
- Clean oxides and scales from parts or fittings, using steam sprays or chemical and water baths.
- Perform equipment maintenance, such as cleaning tanks and lubricating moving parts of conveyors.
- Perform basic maintenance, such as cleaning and lubricating machine parts.
- Maintain, adjust, and clean equipment, and perform minor repairs.
- Clean ink fountains, plates, or printing unit cylinders when press runs are completed.
- Lubricate, clean, or make minor repairs to machine parts to keep machines in working condition.
- Clean machine filters, and lubricate equipment.
- Clean and maintain pressing machines, using cleaning solutions and lubricants.
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
51 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders
- Bakers
- Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders
- Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders
- Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators
- Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders
- Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fibers
- Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Fiberglass Laminators and Fabricators
- Foundry Mold and Coremakers
- Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders
- Gas Plant Operators
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand
- Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Helpers--Production Workers
- Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers
- Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers
- Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders
- Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders
- Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers
- Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers
- Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators
- Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Pourers and Casters, Metal
- Power Plant Operators
- Prepress Technicians and Workers
- Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials
- Print Binding and Finishing Workers
- Printing Press Operators
- Recycling and Reclamation Workers
- Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood
- Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Sewing Machine Operators
- Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders
- Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators
- Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders
- Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Textile Winding, Twisting, and Drawing Out Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners
- Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators
- Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
- Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
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.