Mix substances to create chemical solutions
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 | 18 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Performing General Physical Activities (4.A.3.a.1) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 18 occupations that perform it.
- Mix catalysts into resins, and saturate cloth and mats with mixtures, using brushes.
- Weigh and mix pelletized, granular, or powdered thermoplastic materials and coloring pigments.
- Mix and measure compounds, or weigh premixed compounds, and dump them into machine tubs, cavities, or molds.
- Mix and test solutions, and turn valves to fill tanks with solutions.
- Mix and add detergents, dyes, bleaches, starches, and other solutions and chemicals to clean, color, dry, or stiffen articles.
- Measure, weigh, and mix chemical ingredients, according to specifications.
- Add or mix chemicals and ingredients for processing, using hand tools or other devices.
- Add or mix chemicals or ingredients for processing, using hand tools or other devices.
- Select shaping wheels for tasks, and mix and apply abrasives, bort, or polishing compounds.
- Measure and weigh amounts of crystal growing materials, mix and grind materials, load materials into container, and monitor processing procedures to help identify crystal growing problems.
- Measure and mix chemicals to prepare solutions for processing, according to formulas.
- Measure and mix ingredients to prepare glue.
- Measure, weigh, or mix cleaning solutions, using measuring tanks, calibrated rods or suction tubes.
- Stir material with spoons or paddles to mix ingredients or allow even cooling and prevent coagulation.
- Prepare etching chemicals according to formulas, diluting acid with water to obtain solutions of specified concentration.
- Measure ingredients and mix molding, casting material, or sealing compounds to prescribed consistencies, according to formulas.
- Mix ingredients according to specified procedures or formulas.
- Mix cleaning compounds or solutions.
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
18 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
- Aircraft Service Attendants
- Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders
- Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders
- Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders
- Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Etchers and Engravers
- Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Fiberglass Laminators and Fabricators
- Gem and Diamond Workers
- Helpers--Production Workers
- Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers
- Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic
- Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators
- Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Semiconductor Processing Technicians
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Prepare mixtures or solutions”. 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.