Occupation Details
Pourers and Casters, Metal
Operate hand-controlled mechanisms to pour and regulate the flow of molten metal into molds to produce castings or ingots.
Quick Navigation
Interests
Realistic
Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.
Conventional
Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.
Work Values
Relationships
Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment. Corresponding needs are Co-workers, Moral Values and Social Service.
Support
Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees. Corresponding needs are Company Policies, Supervision: Human Relations and Supervision: Technical.
Independence
Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy.
Salary & Job Outlook
Starting Salary
$37,090.00
New York StateMedian Salary
$50,320.00
New York StateExperienced Salary
$52,040.00
New York StateNational Average for Comparison
New York State Job Market Outlook
Jobs Right Now (2018)
45,560
professionals in NYFuture Job Growth (2030)
53,780
+822 jobs/yearNew Jobs Every Year
5,892
new opportunities yearlyGrowth Rate
0.2%
projected increasePreparation: Experience, Training, and Education
The list below outlines the prior educational experience required to perform in this occupation.
Some Training - Certificate or hands-on training
Experience Requirements
Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.
Education Requirements
These occupations usually require a high school diploma.
Training Details
Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Transferrable Skills and Experience
These occupations often involve using your knowledge and skills to help others. Examples include orderlies, counter and rental clerks, customer service representatives, security guards, upholsterers, tellers, and dental laboratory technicians.
School Programs
School Programs information is not available for this occupation.
Licensing & Certification
State License and Certifications Requirements are not currently associated with this occupation.
Skills
The list below includes the skills required by workers in this occupation; skills are what allow you to learn more quickly and improve your performance.
Operations Monitoring
Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
Operation and Control
Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
Active Listening
Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Critical Thinking
Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Monitoring
Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Quality Control Analysis
Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
Judgment and Decision Making
Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Skill level is measured on a seven point scale, where one means 'some competence required for this occupation' and seven means 'a high level of expertise required for this occupation'.
Knowledge
The list below includes knowledge items, the principles and facts required by this occupation.
Production and Processing
Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Mechanical
Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Education and Training
Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Public Safety and Security
Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
English Language
Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Knowledge level is measured on a seven point scale, where one means 'some competence required for this occupation' and seven means 'a high level of expertise required for this occupation'.
Work Environment
The list below includes the physical and social factors that influence the nature of work in this occupation.
Hover over or tap each factor to see its description.
Work Styles
Included in the list below are the personal work style characteristics that can affect how well a worker is likely to perform in this occupation.
Achievement/Effort
Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
Adaptability/Flexibility
Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
Attention to Detail
Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Dependability
Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Independence
Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
Initiative
Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
Integrity
Job requires being honest and ethical.
Persistence
Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles.
Self-Control
Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Stress Tolerance
Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations.
Tools & Technology
This list below describes the machines, equipment, tools, software, and information technology that workers in this occupation will use.
Tools
- Acetylene torches
- Automatic extractors
- Automatic ladles
- Bandsaws
- Chain falls
- Cold chamber die casting machines
- Coordinate measuring machines CMM
- Deburring tools
- Depth gauges
- Dross hoes
- Electric arc furnaces
- Electric overhead transfer EOT cranes
- Electric tilt furnaces
- Foundry molds
- Foundry tongs
- Go/no-go gauges
- Hand ladles
- Hand scrapers
- Handheld pneumatic grinders
- Heat resistant suits
- High temperature thermometers
- Hot chamber die casting machines
- Jib cranes
- Lubricant reciprocators
- Mallets
- Metal sledgehammers
- Oxygen furnaces
- Power metal shears
- Precision bench scales
- Protective ear plugs
Technology
- Husky Injection Molding Systems Shotscope NX
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
Duties
Duties are job behaviors describing activities that occur on multiple jobs. The generalized and detailed work activities described in the list below apply to this occupation.
- attach or mark identification onto products or containers
- adjust production equipment/machinery setup
- maintain or repair industrial or related equipment/machinery
- signal directions or warnings to coworkers
- operate forklift
- move or fit heavy objects
- use hand or power tools
- operate ore refining/foundry equipment/machinery
- operate hoist, winch, or hydraulic boom
- cast metal objects
- construct molds
- collect samples for testing
- load or unload material or workpiece into machinery
- perform safety inspections in manufacturing or industrial setting
- examine products or work to verify conformance to specifications
- monitor the quantity of assembly output
- monitor production machinery/equipment operation to detect problems
Tasks
The list below outlines specific tasks that a worker in this occupation is called upon to do regularly.
- Examine molds to ensure they are clean, smooth, and properly coated.
- Pour and regulate the flow of molten metal into molds and forms to produce ingots or other castings, using ladles or hand-controlled mechanisms.
- Pull levers to lift ladle stoppers and to allow molten steel to flow into ingot molds to specified heights.
- Read temperature gauges and observe color changes, adjusting furnace flames, torches, or electrical heating units as necessary to melt metal to specifications.
- Collect samples, or signal workers to sample metal for analysis.
- Load specified amounts of metal and flux into furnaces or clay crucibles.
- Add metal to molds to compensate for shrinkage.
- Turn valves to circulate water through cores, or spray water on filled molds to cool and solidify metal.
- Skim slag or remove excess metal from ingots or equipment, using hand tools, strainers, rakes, or burners, collecting scrap for recycling.
- Remove metal ingots or cores from molds, using hand tools, cranes, and chain hoists.
- Stencil identifying information on ingots and pigs, using special hand tools.
- Assemble and embed cores in casting frames, using hand tools and equipment.
- Position equipment such as ladles, grinding wheels, pouring nozzles, or crucibles, or signal other workers to position equipment.
- Transport metal ingots to storage areas, using forklifts.
- Remove solidified steel or slag from pouring nozzles, using long bars or oxygen burners.
- Repair and maintain metal forms and equipment, using hand tools, sledges, and bars.
Learning Resources
More information on this occupation may be found in the links provided below.
Machine setters, operators, and tenders?metal and plastic
Visit this link for additional information on this career from the Occupational Outlook Handbook; a publication produced and maintained by the United States Department of Labor.
Learn More