Install metal structural components
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 | 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 11 occupations that perform it.
- Position, align, and secure structural parts or related assemblies to boiler frames, tanks, or vats of pressure vessels, following blueprints.
- Install anchor bolts, steel plates, door sills and other fixtures in freshly poured concrete or pattern or stamp the surface to provide a decorative finish.
- Cut and screw together metal channels to make floor or ceiling frames, according to plans for the location of rooms or hallways.
- Install metal molding at wall corners to secure wallboard.
- Fabricate or install metal sashes or moldings for glass installation, using aluminum or steel framing.
- Install sheet metal around insulated pipes with screws to protect the insulation from weather conditions or physical damage.
- Position and secure steel bars, rods, cables, or mesh in concrete forms, using fasteners, rod-bending machines, blowtorches, or hand tools.
- Connect columns, beams, and girders with bolts, following blueprints and instructions from supervisors.
- Install outer doors and door frames at elevator entrances on each floor of a structure.
- Stretch wire, wire mesh, or chain link fencing between posts, and attach fencing to frames.
- Install various types of bolts, including truss, glue, and resin bolts, traversing entire ceiling spans.
- Install horizontal and vertical metal or wooden studs to frames so that wallboard can be attached to interior walls.
- Install pre-assembled metal or wood frameworks for windows or doors to be fitted with glass panels, using hand tools.
- Bolt aligned structural steel members in position for permanent riveting, bolting, or welding into place.
- Bolt or weld steel rails to the walls of shafts to guide elevators, working from scaffolding or platforms.
- Complete top fence rails of metal fences by connecting tube sections, using metal sleeves.
- Fasten metal or rockboard lath to the structural framework of walls, ceilings, or partitions of buildings, using nails, screws, staples, or wire-ties.
- Force structural steel members into final positions, using turnbuckles, crowbars, jacks, or 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.
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Build structures”. 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.