Kiln firers operate kilns in order to fire decorations or glazes. They determine the level and uniformity of oven temperature, regulate the temperature, and give directions to a helper in preparing firebox and lighting fires.

Tasks

Tasks include -
(a) Operating and monitoring glass-making furnaces to make glass by melting and fusing pre-mixed ingredients;
(b) Tending hot- or cold-end spray equipment used to coat glassware with surface hardener;
(c) Operating and maintaining machines that press or blow molten glass in moulds to form or shape containers, such as bottles, jars and drinking glasses;
(d) Operating hand press to mould glass into required shape;
(e) Operating drawing kiln to process molten glass into continuous sheet of flat glass;
(f) Operating and monitoring floating-glass production plant;
(g) Operating and maintaining finishing machines to grind, drill, sand, bevel, decorate, wash or polish glass or glass products;
(h) Setting and operating press machines to mould ceramic articles from moist clay;
(i) Operating machines to mix clay with water to knead it into a suitable plastic condition or semi-liquid form for making ceramic products;
(j) Operating and monitoring kilns which bake pottery, porcelain ware bricks and tiles;
(k) Operating and monitoring machines for making glaze or abrasives;
(l) Operating and monitoring machines which extrude molten glass to form fibreglass filaments;
(m) Observing finished products to identify splits, cracks, breaks, colour and other imperfections.