Clear equipment jams
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 | 11 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Repairing and Maintaining Electronic Equipment (4.A.3.b.5) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 11 occupations that perform it.
- Clear or dislodge blockages in bins, screens, or other equipment, using poles, brushes, or mallets.
- Extract or lift jammed pieces from machines, using fingers, wire hooks, or lift bars.
- Monitor sawing machines, adjusting speed and tension and clearing jams to ensure proper operation.
- Remove clogs, defects, or impurities from machines, tanks, conveyors, screens, or other processing equipment.
- Dislodge and clear jammed materials or other items from machinery and equipment, using hand tools.
- Dislodge and clear jammed materials or other items from machinery or equipment, using hand tools.
- Clear jams, and remove defective or substandard materials or products.
- Stop equipment and clear blockages or jams, using fingers, wire, or hand tools.
- Stop or reset machines when malfunctions occur, clear machine jams, and report malfunctions to a supervisor.
- Remove jammed materials from machines and readjust components as necessary to resume normal operations.
- Correct machinery malfunctions by performing actions such as removing jams, and inform supervisors of malfunctions as necessary.
- Clear machine jams, using hand 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
11 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
- Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders
- Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders
- Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders
- Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders
- Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood
- Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Maintain tools or equipment”. 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.