Monitor the productivity or efficiency of industrial operations
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 | 10 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings (4.A.1.a.2) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 10 occupations that perform it.
- Perform tests and monitor performance of processes throughout stages of production to determine degree of control over variables such as temperature, density, specific gravity, and pressure.
- Collect data relating to commercial or residential development, population, or power system interconnection to determine operating efficiency of electrical systems.
- Monitor material performance, and evaluate its deterioration.
- Monitor mine production rates to assess operational effectiveness.
- Monitor production rates, and plan rework processes to improve production.
- Monitor or calibrate automated systems, industrial control systems, or system components to maximize efficiency of production.
- Monitor and adjust production processes or equipment for quality and productivity.
- Read dials and meters to determine amperage, voltage, electrical output and input at specific operating temperature to analyze parts performance.
- Monitor computer-controlled test equipment, according to written or verbal instructions.
- Develop manufacturing procedures and monitor the manufacture of their designs in a factory to improve operations and product quality.
- Design, implement, and monitor the development of mines, facilities, systems, or equipment.
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
10 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Automotive Engineering Technicians
- Chemical Engineers
- Commercial and Industrial Designers
- Electrical Engineers
- Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians
- Materials Engineers
- Mechanical Engineering Technologists and Technicians
- Mechatronics Engineers
- Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers
- Petroleum Engineers
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Monitor operations to ensure adequate performance”. 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.