Repair production equipment or tools
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 | 29 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Repairing and Maintaining Mechanical Equipment (4.A.3.b.4) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 29 occupations that perform it.
- Perform offshore oil or gas exploration or extraction duties, such as conducting underwater surveys or repairing and maintaining drilling rigs or platforms.
- Disassemble and assemble motors, and repair and maintain electrical components and machinery parts, using hand tools.
- Troubleshoot, maintain, and make minor repairs to equipment.
- Repair, maintain, and replace parts on dies.
- Repair or replace machine parts, using hand tools, or notify engineering personnel when corrective action is required.
- Make minor electrical and mechanical repairs and adjustments to machines and notify supervisors when major service is required.
- Repair, replace, and maintain furnace equipment as needed, using hand tools.
- Maintain, adjust, and clean equipment, and perform minor repairs.
- Lubricate, clean, or make minor repairs to machine parts to keep machines in working condition.
- Perform machine maintenance, such as cleaning and oiling equipment, and repair or replace worn or defective parts.
- Repair or replace worn or defective parts or components, using hand tools.
- Repair or replace worn or defective needles and other components, using hand tools.
- Make adjustments or minor repairs, such as tightening leaking gland or pipe joints.
- Test and repair or replace electrical equipment, such as circuit breakers, station batteries, cable trays, conduits, or control devices.
- Perform or arrange for repairs, such as complete overhauls, replacement of defective valves, gaskets, or bearings, or fabrication of new parts.
- Maintain, repair, and lubricate equipment, using hand tools and power tools.
- Repair or replace damaged equipment.
- Clean, maintain, and repair equipment, using hand tools, or request that repair and maintenance work be performed.
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
29 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders
- Chemical Plant and System Operators
- Coil Winders, Tapers, and Finishers
- Commercial Divers
- Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Gas Plant Operators
- Glass Blowers, Molders, Benders, and Finishers
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand
- Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Helpers--Production Workers
- Hydroelectric Plant Technicians
- Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers
- Medical Appliance Technicians
- Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders
- Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers
- Power Plant Operators
- Prepress Technicians and Workers
- Print Binding and Finishing Workers
- Recycling and Reclamation Workers
- Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators
- Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders
- Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Textile Winding, Twisting, and Drawing Out Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Repair 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.