Foundry technician

As a foundry technician you make parts by melting metal and pouring it into moulds — everything from machinery parts to large industrial components. You control the entire journey from liquid metal to a finished precise cast product. When you are fully trained you are the craftsperson behind the metal parts that machinery engines and systems around the world are built on.

A typical day at a foundry is about making molds melting metal at high temperatures and casting parts — and then checking that they meet dimensions and quality. You work with heat, machines and materials knowledge and must constantly pay attention to safety because you work with molten metal.

• 01You learn to manufacture and prepare casting molds.
• 02You learn to melt metal and control temperature and alloy.
• 03You learn to cast parts precisely according to drawing.
• 04You learn to post-process and quality-check cast parts.
• 05You learn materials science about iron, steel, and other metals.
• 06You learn to work safely with heat and heavy processes.

You start with a basic course at a vocational college and then find an apprenticeship at a foundry, where you earn a wage during training. The programme alternates between school periods and practical training at the company, and a large part of the main course takes place at the school in Holstebro, where the trade has its central training site.

As fully trained you can work in foundries and in the metal industry generally both domestically and abroad. With experience you can specialise get responsibility for production or build further with technical further education in materials production and management.

“You take something liquid and glowing and turn it into a part that lasts for decades.”