Trim excess material from workpieces
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 | 27 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 27 occupations that perform it.
- Cut, trim, file, bend, or smooth parts to ensure proper fit and clearance.
- Attach, alter, and trim materials such as wire, insulation, and coils, using hand tools.
- Trim excess materials from molds, using hand shears or trimming knives.
- Trim and compress finished forgings to specified tolerances.
- Skim slag or remove excess metal from ingots or equipment, using hand tools, strainers, rakes, or burners, collecting scrap for recycling.
- Trim excess material from parts, using knives, and grind scrap plastic into powder for reuse.
- Chip or grind off excess weld, slag, or spatter, using hand scrapers or power chippers, portable grinders, or arc-cutting equipment.
- Remove excess materials or impurities from objects, using air hoses or grinding machines.
- Trim edges of books to size, using cutting machines, book trimming machines, or hand cutters.
- Cut excess material or thread from finished products.
- Dress and otherwise finish boots or shoes, as by trimming the edges of new soles and heels to the shoe shape.
- Cut excess thread or material from shoe parts, using scissors or knives.
- Trim excess threads or edges of parts, using scissors or knives.
- Trim excess material, using scissors.
- Cut timber to the right size, and shape and trim parts of joints to ensure a snug fit, using hand tools, such as planes, chisels, or wood files.
- Trim, smooth, and shape surfaces, and plane, shave, file, scrape, and sand models to attain specified shapes, using hand tools.
- Trim lumber to straighten rough edges or remove defects, using circular saws.
- Trim wood parts according to specifications, using planes, chisels, or wood files or sanders.
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
27 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
- Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters
- Coil Winders, Tapers, and Finishers
- Cutters and Trimmers, Hand
- Dental Laboratory Technicians
- Etchers and Engravers
- Fiberglass Laminators and Fabricators
- Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand
- Helpers--Production Workers
- Model Makers, Wood
- Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic
- Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Patternmakers, Wood
- Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Pourers and Casters, Metal
- Print Binding and Finishing Workers
- Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood
- Sewers, Hand
- Sewing Machine Operators
- Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers
- Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders
- Stone Cutters and Carvers, Manufacturing
- Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers
- Tire Builders
- Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
- Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Cut materials”. 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.