Employers

Approximately 15,600 foundry mold and coremakers are employed in the United States. Most foundries are small operations, with fewer than 250 workers. They are located in areas that have easy access to raw materials, most notably in states such as Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. There also tends to be more jobs in large industrial cities, such as Detroit, where foundries exist solely to supply parts for automobiles. However, some small production companies and factories are located in other areas and they continue to employ molders.

Sand casting is done in both job and production foundries. Job foundries generally specialize in producing specific, small parts that are then sent to production foundries, which produce larger items from such job foundry parts.

Starting Out

A state employment office is a good source to contact for openings in foundry work. You may also go directly to a foundry's personnel office to fill out an application form. Because sand molding is often a job that is represented by a union, it is possible to find available openings through a local office of the representing union.

Sand molders who are skilled and have the necessary experience may become senior molders and work with different types of molding operations from beginning to end rather than repeating the same operation on one casting. Others may advance to supervisory positions, with the responsibility of managing a group of molders.

Molders who have worked in various foundry departments as part of their apprenticeships might be able to become a department supervisor or even advance to foundry superintendent. In order to qualify for these positions, they must have a thorough knowledge of various foundry jobs, skill in working with people, and a high level of initiative.

Visit the following Web sites for job listings: https://www.fefinc.org/job-listings.html and https://www.careerbuilder.com/jobs-molder.

Join unions to increase your chances of landing a job and receiving fair pay for your work.

A strong background in math, science, and shop is helpful in this field; take classes in these areas or join a school or community group that explores these topics.

Read Modern Casting (https://www.moderncasting.com) and Global Casting (https://www.globalcastingmagazine.com/?lang=en) to learn more about the field.