Watch operating equipment to detect malfunctions
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 | 26 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings (4.A.1.a.2) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 26 occupations that perform it.
- Observe flow of materials and listen for machine malfunctions, such as jamming or spillage, and notify supervisors if corrective actions fail.
- Observe and listen to equipment to detect possible malfunctions, such as leaks or plugging, and report malfunctions or undesirable tastes to supervisors.
- Listen for malfunction alarms, and shut down equipment and notify supervisors when necessary.
- Monitor machine cycles and mill operation to detect jamming and to ensure that products conform to specifications.
- Observe drilling or boring machine operations to detect any problems.
- Observe machine operations to detect any problems, making necessary adjustments to correct problems.
- Observe operations inside furnaces, using television screens, to ensure that problems do not occur.
- Observe machine operation to detect workpiece defects or machine malfunctions, adjusting machines as necessary.
- Detect faulty operation of equipment or defective materials and notify supervisors.
- Monitor machine operations to determine whether adjustments are necessary, stopping machines when problems occur.
- Monitor machine operations to detect malfunctions or to determine whether adjustments are needed.
- Monitor machine operation to detect problems such as defective stitching, breaks in thread, or machine malfunctions.
- Observe operations to detect defects, malfunctions, or supply shortages.
- Start metering pumps and observe operation of machines and equipment to ensure continuous flow of filaments extruded through spinnerettes and to detect processing defects.
- Note malfunctions of equipment, instruments, or controls and report these conditions to supervisors.
- Monitor power plant equipment and indicators to detect evidence of operating problems.
- Monitor and inspect equipment, computer terminals, switches, valves, gauges, alarms, safety devices, and meters to detect leaks or malfunctions and to ensure that equipment is operating efficiently and safely.
- Verify that incoming and outgoing products are moving through the correct meters, and that meters are working properly.
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
26 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders
- Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders
- Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators
- Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fibers
- Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders
- Food Batchmakers
- Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders
- Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Helpers--Production Workers
- Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders
- Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Nuclear Power Reactor Operators
- Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders
- Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers
- Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators
- Power Plant Operators
- Print Binding and Finishing Workers
- Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Sewing Machine Operators
- Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators
- Textile Winding, Twisting, and Drawing Out Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners
- Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Monitor equipment operation”. 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.