Service vehicles to maintain functionality
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 | 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 10 occupations that perform it.
- Clean and maintain tools, test equipment, and motor vehicles.
- Service and maintain aircraft and related apparatus by performing activities such as flushing crankcases, cleaning screens, and or moving parts.
- Perform routine and scheduled maintenance services, such as oil changes, lubrications, and tune-ups.
- Perform routine maintenance such as changing oil, checking batteries, and lubricating equipment and machinery.
- Maintain, repair, and overhaul farm machinery and vehicles, such as tractors, harvesters, and irrigation systems.
- Perform scheduled maintenance, and clean units and components.
- Perform routine engine maintenance on motorboats, such as changing oil and filters.
- Perform routine maintenance such as cleaning and oiling parts, honing cylinders, and tuning ignition systems.
- Identify tire size and ply and inflate tires accordingly.
- Apply de-icing fluid to aircraft from baskets lifted by truck-mounted cranes.
- Clean, refuel, and change oil in line service aircraft.
- Assist mechanics and perform various mechanical duties, such as changing oil or checking and replacing batteries.
- Change aircraft oil, coolant, or other fluids.
- 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
10 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians
- Aircraft Service Attendants
- Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics
- Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists
- Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians
- Motorboat Mechanics and Service Technicians
- Outdoor Power Equipment and Other Small Engine Mechanics
- Rail Car Repairers
- Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers
- Tire Repairers and Changers
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Maintain vehicles in working condition”. 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.