AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Pourers and Casters, Metal?

Task-level automation exposure for Pourers and Casters, Metal: 16 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

E-E-A-T Verified

Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

10% weighted task index

16 of 16 tasks scored

Median Salary

$51,810 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Low

4,560 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

-5.0% employment change

400 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 23 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$38,800 – $71,880

Highest medians

Tennessee $71,880

Massachusetts $62,820

Florida $62,090

Indiana $61,430

Ohio $60,770

Lowest medians

Kentucky $38,800

Virginia $39,420

Mississippi $43,370

California $44,150

Utah $45,140

State figures come from the 51-4052 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.

What the score is made of

Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.

Automation potential 10%

Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.

Physical work 92%

Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.

Judgment & influence 0%

Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.

Routine administration 0%

Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.

Rewritten by O*NET 0%

Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.

Consequence of error 21/100 Low

O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.

Constituent Task Mix

16 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.

High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 0%

0 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 0%

0 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 100%

16 tasks

How would you survive?

Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.

Simulate Upskilling →

Constituent Tasks

#12007 · Core · 10% 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.

physical manipulation — Hands-on production flow control

Place materials into molds. Adjust equipment controls to regulate flow of production materials or products.

#12008 · Core · 24% automatable

Read temperature gauges and observe color changes, adjusting furnace flames, torches, or electrical heating units as necessary to melt metal to specifications.

visual inspection — Instrument monitoring needs physical sensor presence

Monitor instruments to ensure proper production conditions. Adjust temperature controls of ovens or other heating equipment.

#12016 · Core · 5% automatable

Remove solidified steel or slag from pouring nozzles, using long bars or oxygen burners.

physical manipulation — Hands-on cleaning of equipment in unstructured settings

Clean production equipment.

#12009 · Core · 18% automatable

Examine molds to ensure they are clean, smooth, and properly coated.

visual inspection — Physical inspection of production machinery in situ

Inspect production equipment.

#12006 · Core · 8% automatable

Collect samples, or signal workers to sample metal for analysis.

physical manipulation — Manual product sampling

Collect samples of materials or products for testing. Signal others to coordinate work activities.

#12015 · Core · 4% automatable

Load specified amounts of metal and flux into furnaces or clay crucibles.

physical manipulation — Hands-on loading of materials into equipment

Load materials into production equipment.

#12010 · Core · 7% automatable

Position equipment such as ladles, grinding wheels, pouring nozzles, or crucibles, or signal other workers to position equipment.

physical manipulation — Embodied signaling in shared physical workspace

Mount attachments or tools onto production equipment. Signal others to coordinate work activities.

#12011 · Core · 6% automatable

Skim slag or remove excess metal from ingots or equipment, using hand tools, strainers, rakes, or burners, collecting scrap for recycling.

physical manipulation — Manual trimming of workpieces

Trim excess material from workpieces. Skim impurities from molten metal.

#12019 · Core · 9% automatable

Transport metal ingots to storage areas, using forklifts.

situated mobility — Driving forklifts requires real-world navigation and control

Move products, materials, or equipment between work areas. Operate forklifts or other loaders.

#12017 · Supplemental · 4% automatable

Assemble and embed cores in casting frames, using hand tools and equipment.

physical manipulation — Mechanical assembly needs hands and tools

Assemble mechanical components or machine parts.

#12012 · Supplemental · 10% automatable

Turn valves to circulate water through cores, or spray water on filled molds to cool and solidify metal.

physical manipulation — Physical valve/control manipulation for coolant

Adjust equipment controls to regulate coolant flow. Apply parting agents or other solutions to molds.

#12014 · Supplemental · 15% automatable

Pull levers to lift ladle stoppers and to allow molten steel to flow into ingot molds to specified heights.

physical manipulation — Hands-on production flow control

Adjust equipment controls to regulate flow of production materials or products.

#12018 · Supplemental · 5% automatable

Remove metal ingots or cores from molds, using hand tools, cranes, and chain hoists.

physical manipulation — Removing workpieces from molds is physical

Remove workpieces from molds.

#12021 · Supplemental · 11% automatable

Repair and maintain metal forms and equipment, using hand tools, sledges, and bars.

physical manipulation — Manual shaping and fitting of physical templates and molds

Repair templates, patterns, or molds. Maintain production or processing equipment.

#12013 · Supplemental · 4% automatable

Add metal to molds to compensate for shrinkage.

physical manipulation — Manual placement of materials into molds

Place materials into molds.

#12020 · Supplemental · 12% automatable

Stencil identifying information on ingots and pigs, using special hand tools.

physical manipulation — Engraving requires controlled hand tool operation

Engrave designs, text, or other markings onto materials, workpieces, or products.

Embed this calculator on your site ↓

Bloggers & authors: Embed this interactive calculator directly in your articles or comparison guides. It loads dynamically via a responsive iframe (auto-resizing to prevent double scrollbars) and provides a direct, high-value tool for your audience.

<div class="giniloh-calculator-embed" data-calculator="pourers-and-casters-metal"></div>
<script src="https://giniloh.com/embed.js" async></script>

Community Sentiment

Do you agree?

Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?

Method

How this was scored

1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.

Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.

Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast

See the full method →

Best AI Proof Jobs in a Changing Market

Worried robots are coming for your paycheck? You’re not alone—but the real story is far more hopeful. This guide cuts through the scare headlines to reveal exactly where smart, sustainable career opportunities exist right now. We’ve curated a list of true ai proof jobs—roles in healthcare, skilled trades, and cybersecurity that not only survive automation but thrive because of human judgment and empathy. You’ll get specific, money-making data on projected growth (the BLS says wind turbine technicians, for instance, will grow 44% by 2032), real salary ranges from active job listings, and a simple self-assessment quiz to identify your own most resilient path. Plus, we name companies hiring today and the niche job boards they use. Stop worrying and start planning—your secure career is closer than you think.

Read Article ->