Weld metal components
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 | 12 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 12 occupations that perform it.
- Bolt or arc weld pressure vessel structures and parts together, using wrenches or welding equipment.
- Perform minor plumbing, welding, or concrete mixing work.
- Connect pipe pieces and seal joints, using welding equipment, cement, or glue.
- Attach pipes to walls, structures, or fixtures, such as radiators or tanks, using brackets, clamps, tools, or welding equipment.
- Bend steel rods with hand tools or rod-bending machines and weld them with arc-welding equipment.
- Fasten seams or joints together with welds, bolts, cement, rivets, solder, caulks, metal drive clips, or bonds to assemble components into products or to repair sheet metal items.
- Cut, bend, or weld steel pieces, using metal shears, torches, or welding equipment.
- Operate cutting torches and welding equipment, while working with conduit and metal components to construct devices associated with electrical functions.
- Bolt or weld steel rails to the walls of shafts to guide elevators, working from scaffolding or platforms.
- Weld metal parts together, using portable gas welding equipment.
- Weld sections of track together, such as switch points and frogs.
- Use equipment designed to join sheet metal, such as spot welders.
- Bell, bead with power hammers, or weld pressure vessel tube ends to ensure leakproof joints.
- Assemble pipe sections, tubing, or fittings, using couplings, clamps, screws, bolts, cement, plastic solvent, caulking, or soldering, brazing, or welding equipment.
- Fasten roof panel edges or machine-made moldings to structures by nailing or welding.
- Weld small pipes or special piping, using specialized techniques, equipment, or materials, such as computer-assisted welding or microchip fabrication.
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
12 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Boilermakers
- Carpenters
- Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers
- Fence Erectors
- Helpers--Electricians
- Pipelayers
- Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
- Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators
- Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers
- Sheet Metal Workers
- Structural Iron and Steel Workers
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Join parts using soldering, welding, or brazing techniques”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
| Activity | Jobs |
|---|---|
| Operate welding equipment | 23 |
| Solder parts or workpieces | 9 |
| Solder parts or connections between parts | 8 |
| Braze metal parts or components | 3 |
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.