What kind of work is this?

It is judgment, authorisation and strategy. O*NET files it under the work activity "Making Decisions and Solving Problems" (element 4.A.2.b.1).

Select production equipment according to product specifications

Q: Which jobs involve select production equipment according to product specifications?

24 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity, including Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Programmers, Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic, Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic, Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders.

Little of this can be handed to software today.

Software can assemble the case and recommend an answer, and that is genuinely useful. The decision stays with a person because someone has to be accountable for it. Treating the recommendation as the decision is how automation projects fail.

Key facts about this work activity
How automatable	Barely automatable
Kind of work	Judgment, authorisation and strategy
Jobs that do it	24 occupations
Tool categories that apply	Generalist agents, Models and routing
O*NET activity	Making Decisions and Solving Problems (4.A.2.b.1)

What this looks like on the job

Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 24 occupations that perform it.

Determine setup procedures and select machine dies and parts, according to specifications.
Select, align, and bolt positioning fixtures, stops, and specified dies to rams and anvils, forging rolls, or presses and hammers.
Select rolls, dies, roll stands, and chucks from data charts to form specified contours and to fabricate products.
Select, clean, and install spacers, rubber sleeves, or cutters on arbors.
Select machine tooling to be used, using knowledge of machine and production requirements.
Select cutting tools and tooling instructions, according to written specifications or knowledge of metal properties and shop mathematics.
Select and install cutting tools and other accessories according to specifications, using hand tools or power tools.
Select and install blades, tools, or other attachments for each operation.
Select, install, and adjust alignment of drills, cutters, dies, guides, and holding devices, using templates, measuring instruments, and hand tools.
Select and install torches, torch tips, filler rods, and flux, according to welding chart specifications or types and thicknesses of metals.
Select, position, align, and bolt jigs, holding fixtures, guides, or stops onto machines, using measuring instruments and hand tools.
Select and mount grinding wheels on machines, according to specifications, using hand tools and applying knowledge of abrasives and grinding procedures.
Select proper types of plates according to press run lengths.
Select appropriate pressing machines, based on garment properties such as heat tolerance.
Select saw blades, types or grades of stock, or cutting procedures to be used, according to work orders or supervisors' instructions.
Select knives, saws, blades, cutter heads, cams, bits, or belts, according to workpiece, machine functions, or product specifications.
Select files or other abrasives, according to materials, sizes and shapes of workpieces, amount of stock to be removed, finishes specified, and steps in finishing processes.
Select and install machine components, such as cutting blades, rollers, and templates, according to specifications, using hand tools.

What we would actually use

One recommendation rather than a shortlist, because a shortlist is just your problem handed back. This is what we would buy for judgment, authorisation and strategy, and what it costs.

Our pickFrom $20/mo · nothing else needed

ClaudeStart hereLong-context assistant with computer use, plus Claude Code for engineering work.From $20/mo

There is nothing here worth buying beyond a good assistant. Software assembles the case and recommends an answer, which any $20 assistant already does; the decision is yours, and no product on this page changes that.

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.

The rest of the category

Context, not alternatives to weigh up. We name the layer rather than promise a named product does your specific task.

Generalist agents

From $20/mo

From $20/mo

From $20/mo

From $24.99/mo

Models and routing

Usage-based

Open source

Usage-based

Usage-based

Matched from the kind of work, not from vendor marketing. Check any of them can reach the system your records actually live in — that connection, not the model, is where these projects stall.

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.

Job post to a shortlistDefine criteria, post the role, let an agent score applications, then you decide who advances.Hiring · 8 steps A structured interview kitGenerate a reusable question set and scoring rubric so every candidate gets the same fair shot.Hiring · 8 steps A policy people will readTurn compliance requirements into policies your team will actually follow, written in the words they already use.Documents · 9 steps

Who does this work

24 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.

Work that goes with it

O*NET groups these under “Select materials or equipment for operations or projects”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.

Related work activities
Activity	Jobs
Select educational materials or equipment	39
Select production input materials	20
Select tools, equipment, or technologies for use in operations or projects	13
Select materials or props	12
Select construction materials	12
Select resources needed to accomplish tasks	8
Select project materials	7
Select construction equipment	7

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.