Cut metal components for installation
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.
- Measure and cut metal lath to size for walls and ceilings, using tin snips.
- Cut metal division strips, and press them into terrazzo base so that top edges form desired design or pattern.
- Cut metal division strips and press them into the terrazzo base for joints or changes of color to form designs or patterns or to help prevent cracks.
- Cut and screw together metal channels to make floor or ceiling frames, according to plans for the location of rooms or hallways.
- Cut and attach mounting strips, metal or wood moldings, rubber gaskets, or metal clips to surfaces in preparation for mirror installation.
- Cut pipes to required lengths.
- Cut, thread, or hammer pipes to specifications, using tools such as saws, cutting torches, pipe threaders, or pipe benders.
- Cut rods to required lengths, using metal shears, hacksaws, bar cutters, or acetylene torches.
- Cut, bend, or weld steel pieces, using metal shears, torches, or welding equipment.
- Measure, cut, and bend wire and conduit, using measuring instruments and hand tools.
- Measure, cut, thread and assemble new pipe, placing the assembled pipe in hangers or other supports.
- Cut prefabricated sections of framework, rails, and other components to specified dimensions.
- Cut rails to specified lengths, using rail saws.
- Cut damaged sections of pipe with cutters, remove broken sections from ditches, and replace pipe sections, using pipe sleeves.
- Cut metal or wood framing and trim to size, using cutting tools.
- Cut and fit wire mesh or fabric, using hooked rods, and position fabric or mesh in concrete to reinforce concrete.
- Cut pipe and lift up to fitters.
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.
- Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers
- Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers
- Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers
- Glaziers
- Helpers--Electricians
- Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
- Pipelayers
- Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
- Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators
- Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers
- Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners
- Structural Iron and Steel Workers
- Terrazzo Workers and Finishers
- Tile and Stone Setters
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Cut materials”. 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.