Control pumps or pumping 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 | 11 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Controlling Machines and Processes (4.A.3.a.3) |
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.
- Attach hoses and operate pumps to transfer substances to and from liquid cargo tanks.
- Operate or maintain off-loading liquid pumps or valves.
- Turn valves to increase or decrease water levels in locks.
- Activate fuel pumps and fill fuel tanks of vehicles with gasoline or diesel fuel to specified levels.
- Manipulate controls, levers, and valves to start pumps, auxiliary equipment, or conveyors, and to adjust equipment positions, speeds, timing, and material flows.
- Pump water to clear machinery pipelines.
- Turn valves or handles on equipment to regulate pressure or flow of water, air, steam, or abrasives from sprayer nozzles.
- Adjust valves and equipment to obtain specified performance.
- Turn valves and start pumps to start or regulate flows of substances such as gases, liquids, slurries, or powdered materials.
- Operate engines and pumps to shut off wells according to production schedules, and to switch flow of oil into storage tanks.
- Start pumps and adjust valves or cables to regulate the flow of products to vessels, using knowledge of loading procedures.
- Direct or assist workers placing shore anchors and cables, laying additional pipes from dredges to shore, and pumping water from pontoons.
- Turn valves or disconnect hoses to eliminate water, cleaning solutions, or vapors from machinery or tanks.
- Operate power-driven pumps that transfer liquids, semi-liquids, gases, or powdered materials.
- Pump two or more materials into one tank to blend mixtures.
- Start compressor engines and divert oil from storage tanks into compressor units and auxiliary equipment to recover natural gas from oil.
- Move controls and turn valves to start compressor engines, pumps, and auxiliary equipment.
- Open valves to return compressed gas to bottoms of specified wells to repressurize them and force oil to surface.
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.
- Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants
- Bridge and Lock Tenders
- Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment
- Conveyor Operators and Tenders
- Dredge Operators
- Gas Compressor and Gas Pumping Station Operators
- Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers
- Sailors and Marine Oilers
- Ship Engineers
- Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders
- Wellhead Pumpers
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Operate pumping systems or equipment”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
| Activity | Jobs |
|---|---|
| Operate pumping systems or equipment | 17 |
| Operate pumps or compressors | 7 |
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.