AI Risk Logo

Pourers and Casters, Metal

Medium35.59%
Found in Industries:
Salary Range
Low (10th %)$36,220
Median$48,690
High (90th %)$68,280

AI Prompt Guides for Pourers and Casters, Metal

Unlock expert prompt guides tailored for this Pourers and Casters, Metal. Get strategies to boost your productivity and results with AI.

AI Prompt Tool for Pourers and Casters, Metal

Experiment with and customize AI prompts designed for this occupation. Try, edit, and save prompts for your workflow.

Operate hand-controlled mechanisms to pour and regulate the flow of molten metal into molds to produce castings or ingots.

The automation risk for the occupation "Pourers and Casters, Metal" stands at 35.6%, closely aligning with its base risk of 35.9%. This moderate risk level suggests that while several core aspects of the job can be automated with current or near-future technology, significant portions of the work still require human skill and adaptability. The tasks most susceptible to automation involve routine, physically demanding, and hazard-prone functions. For instance, pouring and regulating the flow of molten metal into molds, reading temperature gauges, and adjusting heating units are tasks that can be replicated by machines equipped with sensors and programmable logic controllers. Additionally, removing solidified steel or slag using long bars or oxygen burners is another repetitive task where robotics can provide both efficiency and improvement in workplace safety. Despite these automatable aspects, the occupation retains a noticeable degree of resistance to full automation due to certain manual and cognitive components. The most resistant tasks include stenciling identifying information on ingots and pigs, which often necessitates nuanced judgment and manual dexterity. Moreover, adding metal to molds to compensate for shrinkage requires on-the-spot estimation that is challenging for automated systems to handle in dynamic environments. The repair and maintenance of metal forms and equipment—a task requiring troubleshooting skills, adaptation, and the effective use of a variety of tools—also resists automation because it depends on experience, problem-solving, and sometimes creativity, which current AI and robotic solutions struggle to emulate. The primary bottleneck skills that preserve the need for human workers in this occupation are related to originality, measured at low impact levels (2.0% and 1.9%). While these percentages are not high, they signify the role of creative problem-solving and adaptability in the job, especially during unexpected malfunctions or unique production challenges. Originality in this context relates to improvising solutions, adapting processes, or making subtle adjustments during casting and pouring that automation may not manage effectively without advanced cognitive abilities. As technology progresses, some of these skills may become more automatable, but for now, their relatively low but crucial influence helps to keep the automation risk below the tipping point where full replacement of human labor becomes economically or technically viable.

Filter by Automatable Status
Read temperature gauges and observe color changes, adjusting furnace flames, torches, or electrical heating units as necessary to melt metal to specifications.
Partially Automatable
Remove solidified steel or slag from pouring nozzles, using long bars or oxygen burners.
Non-Automatable
Examine molds to ensure they are clean, smooth, and properly coated.
Automatable
Collect samples, or signal workers to sample metal for analysis.
Partially Automatable
Load specified amounts of metal and flux into furnaces or clay crucibles.
Partially Automatable
Position equipment such as ladles, grinding wheels, pouring nozzles, or crucibles, or signal other workers to position equipment.
Non-Automatable
Skim slag or remove excess metal from ingots or equipment, using hand tools, strainers, rakes, or burners, collecting scrap for recycling.
Non-Automatable
Transport metal ingots to storage areas, using forklifts.
Automatable
Assemble and embed cores in casting frames, using hand tools and equipment.
Non-Automatable
Turn valves to circulate water through cores, or spray water on filled molds to cool and solidify metal.
Automatable
Remove metal ingots or cores from molds, using hand tools, cranes, and chain hoists.
Non-Automatable
Repair and maintain metal forms and equipment, using hand tools, sledges, and bars.
Non-Automatable
Add metal to molds to compensate for shrinkage.
Partially Automatable
Stencil identifying information on ingots and pigs, using special hand tools.
Non-Automatable
Pour and regulate the flow of molten metal into molds and forms to produce ingots or other castings, using ladles or hand-controlled mechanisms.
Partially Automatable
Pull levers to lift ladle stoppers and to allow molten steel to flow into ingot molds to specified heights.
Non-Automatable

Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or MaterialsMonitoring Processes, Materials, or SurroundingsEstimating the Quantifiable Characteristics of Products, Events, or InformationGetting InformationIdentifying Objects, Actions, and EventsJudging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or PeopleProcessing InformationEvaluating Information to Determine Compliance with StandardsAnalyzing Data or InformationMaking Decisions and Solving ProblemsThinking CreativelyUpdating and Using Relevant KnowledgePerforming General Physical ActivitiesHandling and Moving ObjectsControlling Machines and ProcessesOperating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or EquipmentWorking with ComputersRepairing and Maintaining Electronic EquipmentDocumenting/Recording InformationDrafting, Laying Out, and Specifying Technical Devices, Parts, and EquipmentInterpreting the Meaning of Information for OthersCommunicating with Supervisors, Peers, or SubordinatesCommunicating with People Outside the OrganizationEstablishing and Maintaining Interpersonal RelationshipsAssisting and Caring for OthersSelling or Influencing OthersRepairing and Maintaining Mechanical EquipmentResolving Conflicts and Negotiating with OthersPerforming for or Working Directly with the PublicCoordinating the Work and Activities of OthersDeveloping and Building TeamsTraining and Teaching OthersGuiding, Directing, and Motivating SubordinatesCoaching and Developing OthersProviding Consultation and Advice to OthersPerforming Administrative ActivitiesStaffing Organizational UnitsMonitoring and Controlling ResourcesDeveloping Objectives and StrategiesScheduling Work and ActivitiesOrganizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work

Maintenance Workers, Machinery
Low32.98%
Lubricate machinery, change parts, or perform other routine machinery maintenance.
Refractory Materials Repairers, Except Brickmasons
Low9.90%
Build or repair equipment such as furnaces, kilns, cupolas, boilers, converters, ladles, soaking pits, and ovens, using refractory materials.
Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Medium34.24%
Set up, operate, or tend forging machines to taper, shape, or form metal or plastic parts.
Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Medium48.15%
Set up, operate, or tend machines to roll steel or plastic forming bends, beads, knurls, rolls, or plate, or to flatten, temper, or reduce gauge of material.
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Medium38.52%
Set up, operate, or tend grinding and related tools that remove excess material or burrs from surfaces, sharpen edges or corners, or buff, hone, or polish metal or plastic work pieces.
Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders
Medium56.08%
Operate or tend furnaces, such as gas, oil, coal, electric-arc or electric induction, open-hearth, or oxygen furnaces, to melt and refine metal before casting or to produce specified types of steel.
Foundry Mold and Coremakers
Medium45.76%
Make or form wax or sand cores or molds used in the production of metal castings in foundries.
Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Medium43.49%
Set up, operate, or tend metal or plastic molding, casting, or coremaking machines to mold or cast metal or thermoplastic parts or products.
Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Medium47.79%
Set up, operate, or tend welding, soldering, or brazing machines or robots that weld, braze, solder, or heat treat metal products, components, or assemblies. Includes workers who operate laser cutters or laser-beam machines.
Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Medium50.59%
Set up, operate, or tend heating equipment, such as heat-treating furnaces, flame-hardening machines, induction machines, soaking pits, or vacuum equipment to temper, harden, anneal, or heat treat metal or plastic objects.
Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Medium60.67%
Set up, operate, or tend plating machines to coat metal or plastic products with chromium, zinc, copper, cadmium, nickel, or other metal to protect or decorate surfaces. Typically, the product being coated is immersed in molten metal or an electrolytic solution.
Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners
Medium39.82%
Perform precision smoothing, sharpening, polishing, or grinding of metal objects.
Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fibers
Medium46.54%
Set up, operate, or tend machines that extrude and form continuous filaments from synthetic materials, such as liquid polymer, rayon, and fiberglass.
Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Medium48.23%
Set up, operate, or tend continuous flow or vat-type equipment; filter presses; shaker screens; centrifuges; condenser tubes; precipitating, fermenting, or evaporating tanks; scrubbing towers; or batch stills. These machines extract, sort, or separate liquids, gases, or solids from other materials to recover a refined product. Includes dairy processing equipment operators.
Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Medium57.80%
Set up, operate, or tend machines to crush, grind, or polish materials, such as coal, glass, grain, stone, food, or rubber.
Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand
Medium40.69%
Grind, sand, or polish, using hand tools or hand-held power tools, a variety of metal, wood, stone, clay, plastic, or glass objects. Includes chippers, buffers, and finishers.
Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Medium59.40%
Set up, operate, or tend machines to mix or blend materials, such as chemicals, tobacco, liquids, color pigments, or explosive ingredients.
Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Medium57.10%
Set up, operate, or tend machines, such as glass-forming machines, plodder machines, and tuber machines, to shape and form products such as glassware, food, rubber, soap, brick, tile, clay, wax, tobacco, or cosmetics.
Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic
Medium44.30%
Mold, shape, form, cast, or carve products such as food products, figurines, tile, pipes, and candles consisting of clay, glass, plaster, concrete, stone, or combinations of materials.
Machine Feeders and Offbearers
High66.68%
Feed materials into or remove materials from machines or equipment that is automatic or tended by other workers.

AI Readiness Accelerator

A practical course designed for small and medium businesses to master AI and automation. Learn how to identify opportunities, implement AI tools, and streamline your operations for a future-proof business. No technical background required!

Learn More

AI Prompt Guides

Unlock industry- and job-specific prompt guides to get the most out of AI tools. Our guides are tailored for your sector and role, helping you craft effective prompts for real-world results. Stay ahead with expert strategies!

Browse Guides

AI Prompt Tool

Find, try, and share expert prompts and automations for key jobs and tasks. Access a growing library from our experts and the community, and test prompts with your own data. Discover new ways to automate and innovate!

Try the Tool