Position and secure workpieces, using hoists, cranes, wire, and banding machines or hand tools.

“Position and secure workpieces, using hoists, cranes, wire, and banding machines or hand tools.” is a core task performed by Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers. Among the occupation's 30 rated tasks, workers place it 17th by importance (#14 most important). About 87% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Position workpieces or materials on equipment. in Handling and Moving Objects

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E0. No direct exposure — current language models give little or no time savings on this task.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.00. Automation potential label: T0.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Operate safety equipment and use safe work habits. · importance 4.6
• Examine workpieces for defects and measure workpieces with straightedges or templates to ensure conformance with specifications. · importance 4.3
• Weld components in flat, vertical, or overhead positions. · importance 4.2
• Check grooves, angles, or gap allowances, using micrometers, calipers, and precision measuring instruments. · importance 4.2
• Detect faulty operation of equipment or defective materials and notify supervisors. · importance 4.1
• Recognize, set up, and operate hand and power tools common to the welding trade, such as shielded metal arc and gas metal arc welding equipment. · importance 4.1
• Select and install torches, torch tips, filler rods, and flux, according to welding chart specifications or types and thicknesses of metals. · importance 4.1
• Mark or tag material with proper job number, piece marks, and other identifying marks as required. · importance 4.1
• Determine required equipment and welding methods, applying knowledge of metallurgy, geometry, and welding techniques. · importance 4.1
• Prepare all material surfaces to be welded, ensuring that there is no loose or thick scale, slag, rust, moisture, grease, or other foreign matter. · importance 4.1
• Align and clamp workpieces together, using rules, squares, or hand tools, or position items in fixtures, jigs, or vises. · importance 4.0
• Melt and apply solder to fill holes, indentations, or seams of fabricated metal products, using soldering equipment. · importance 4.0
• Connect and turn regulator valves to activate and adjust gas flow and pressure so that desired flames are obtained. · importance 4.0
• Melt and apply solder along adjoining edges of workpieces to solder joints, using soldering irons, gas torches, or electric-ultrasonic equipment. · importance 4.0

See all tasks on the Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-23599,
  title  = {Position and secure workpieces, using hoists, cranes, wire, and banding machines or hand tools.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-23599}
}