Operate welding equipment
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 | 23 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 23 occupations that perform it.
- Perform skilled repair or maintenance operations, using equipment such as hand or power tools, hydraulic presses or shears, or welding equipment.
- Fit and weld replacement parts into place, using wrenches and welding equipment, and grind down welds to smooth them, using power grinders and other tools.
- Weld or solder broken parts and structural members, using electric or gas welders and soldering tools.
- Hammer out dents and bends in frames and weld tears and breaks.
- Cut and weld metal to repair broken metal parts, fabricate new parts, or assemble new equipment.
- Weld, repair, and fabricate equipment or machinery.
- Repair shop equipment, metal furniture, or hospital equipment, including welding broken parts or replacing missing parts, or bring item into local shop for major repairs.
- Operate cutting torches or welding equipment to cut or join metal parts.
- Cut and weld steel, using underwater welding equipment, jigs, and supports.
- Design, weld, and fabricate parts, using blueprints or other mechanical plans.
- Weld piping, such as high density polyethylene (HDPE) piping, using techniques such as butt, socket, side-wall, and electro-fusion welding.
- Weld tubing and fittings or solder cable ends, using tack welders, induction brazing chambers, or other equipment.
- Assemble electrical or electronic systems or support structures and install components, units, subassemblies, wiring, or assembly casings, using rivets, bolts, soldering or micro-welding equipment.
- Position, align, fit, and weld parts to form complete units or subunits, following blueprints and layout specifications, and using jigs, welding torches, and hand tools.
- Use equipment designed to join sheet metal, such as spot welders.
- Set up or operate metalworking, brazing, heat-treating, welding, or cutting equipment.
- Assemble pattern sections, using hand tools, bolts, screws, rivets, glue, or welding equipment.
- Fit and assemble parts to make, repair, or modify dies, jigs, gauges, and tools, using machine tools, hand tools, or welders.
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
23 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
- Automotive Body and Related Repairers
- Commercial Divers
- Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers
- First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers
- Geothermal Technicians
- Helpers--Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers
- Hydroelectric Plant Technicians
- Industrial Machinery Mechanics
- Machinists
- Maintenance and Repair Workers, General
- Medical Appliance Technicians
- Medical Equipment Repairers
- Millwrights
- Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines
- Motorcycle Mechanics
- Patternmakers, Metal and Plastic
- Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters
- Tool and Die Makers
- Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners
- Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
- Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Join parts using soldering, welding, or brazing techniques”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
| Activity | Jobs |
|---|---|
| Weld metal components | 12 |
| Solder parts or workpieces | 9 |
| Solder parts or connections between parts | 8 |
| Braze metal parts or components | 3 |
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.