Perform manual service or maintenance tasks
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 | 9 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Repairing and Maintaining Electronic Equipment (4.A.3.b.5) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 9 occupations that perform it.
- Test, maintain, or repair electrical power distribution machinery or equipment, using hand tools, power tools, and testing devices.
- Inspect facilities and equipment for signs of disrepair, and perform necessary maintenance work.
- Perform some food preparation or service tasks, such as cooking, clearing tables, and serving food and drinks when necessary.
- Provide assistance to staff members by inspecting rooms, setting tables, or doing laundry.
- Clean common areas, change light bulbs, and make minor property repairs.
- Maintain or arrange for maintenance of fitness equipment or facilities.
- Maintain equipment used in a particular sport.
- Clean, fuel, service, and perform safety checks on all equipment, and repair and replace parts as necessary.
- Refill aircraft potable water tanks.
- Refuel aircraft using hoses connected to fuel trucks.
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
9 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Aircraft Service Attendants
- Athletes and Sports Competitors
- Biomass Power Plant Managers
- Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers
- Fitness and Wellness Coordinators
- Food Service Managers
- Loading and Moving Machine Operators, Underground Mining
- Lodging Managers
- Property, Real Estate, and Community Association Managers
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Maintain tools or equipment”. 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.