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Overview
Foundry operatives make cast metal products by operating hand-controlled foundry equipment, guiding molten ferrous and non-ferrous metals into moulds and watching the process for faults.
In job descriptions, look for mould building, filling and repair, metal heating equipment, gauges, quality records, removing finished casts, work orders, production schedules, troubleshooting and safe handling of hot metal.
Explore this occupation
Search jobsWhat the work can involve
Foundry operative work happens close to moulds, molten metal and production controls. The role guides metal into moulds, keeps the casting conditions stable, watches gauges and surfaces, and helps remove faults before quality is lost.
Skills and specialisations
Useful skills include mould construction and repair, filling moulds, handling ferrous and non-ferrous metals, using heating equipment, recording quality data, marking workpieces and following the production schedule around hot materials.
Salary context
Pay context depends on heat, shift pattern, casting size, machine responsibility, quality checks, fault response and whether the role includes mould repair or only routine tending. No salary amount is included.
Paths forward
Development can move from tending simple casting tasks to mould maintenance, quality control, furnace or smelter operation, team coordination, production planning support or more specialised metal processing.
Good to know
Read adverts for the metal type, casting process, temperature exposure, protective equipment and fault-reporting chain. A clear advert states whether the worker builds moulds, pours metal, monitors equipment or removes finished casts.
Editorial note
This guide is editorial career context, not official labour-market statistics or exact salary data for this occupation.
Map overview
Click the map to search for foundry operative jobs.
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O*NET relationships
See occupations connected to this ESCO occupation in the official O*NET–ESCO mapping. The relationship type comes from the source and is not a ranking or recommendation.
O*NET relationships: 2
Foundry Mold and Coremakers
51-4071.00
Close relationship
The occupations are closely related, but the official mapping does not treat them as exact equivalents.
Open in O*NETPourers and Casters, Metal
51-4052.00
Exact relationship
The official mapping treats the O*NET and ESCO occupations as closely equivalent.
Open in O*NETSource and method
These relationships come from the official European Commission O*NET–ESCO crosswalk.
Relationship direction: O*NET occupation to ESCO occupation.
Several O*NET occupations can point to the same ESCO occupation, and one O*NET occupation can point to several ESCO occupations.
AltoTrail preserves the source relationship type. The order is technical and does not show which occupation is best, most relevant or recommended.
AltoTrail validates and presents the source relationships without adding ranking or recommendation semantics.
Alternative labels
Occupation group
Metal moulders and coremakers (7211)
Source facts
| ESCO URI | http://data.europa.eu/esco/occupation/dc14bed4-87ca-4e6c-9f69-458e2689d2d6 |
|---|---|
| ESCO code | 7211.1 |
| ISCO group | 7211 |
| Concept type | Occupation |