Mark products, workpieces, or equipment with identifying information
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 | 28 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events (4.A.1.b.1) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 28 occupations that perform it.
- Mark identifying information on tubing or cable assemblies, using etching devices, labels, rubber stamps, or other methods.
- Mark and tag components so that stock inventory can be tracked and identified.
- Attach name plates and mark identifying information on parts.
- Wrap, weigh, label, and price cuts of meat.
- Weigh meats and tag containers for weight and contents.
- Mark identifying data on workpieces.
- Mark identification numbers or symbols onto patterns or templates.
- Remove finished or cured products from dies or molds, using hand tools, air hoses, and other equipment, stamping identifying information on products when necessary.
- Mark or tag material with proper job number, piece marks, and other identifying marks as required.
- Stamp heat-treatment identification marks on parts, using hammers and punches.
- Receive and mark articles for laundry or dry cleaning with identifying code numbers or names, using hand or machine markers.
- Hang, fold, package, and tag finished articles for delivery to customers.
- Inspect garments, and examine repair tags and markings on garments to locate defects or damage, and mark errors as necessary.
- Record required alterations and instructions on tags, and attach them to garments.
- Record operational data on tags, and attach tags to machines.
- Mark samples and finished patterns with information, such as garment size, section, style, identification, and sewing instructions.
- Mark identifying information on patterns, parts, and templates to indicate assembly methods and details.
- Mark identifying information such as colors or codes on patterns, parts, and templates to indicate assembly methods.
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
28 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Aircraft Structure, Surfaces, Rigging, and Systems Assemblers
- Butchers and Meat Cutters
- Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Cutters and Trimmers, Hand
- Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers
- Electromechanical Equipment Assemblers
- Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fibers
- Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Fabric and Apparel Patternmakers
- 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
- Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers
- Model Makers, Wood
- Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders
- Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Patternmakers, Metal and Plastic
- Patternmakers, Wood
- Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials
- Sewing Machine Operators
- Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers
- Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
- Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Mark materials or objects for identification”. 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.