Gunner
Gunner turns up in 2 fields: shop slang, metallurgy. Here is what it means to the people in each one.
Gunner in shop slang
An overly ambitious worker who aggressively pursues promotions and management favor.
A gunner is an employee who constantly tries to outshine their peers, often by taking on extra tasks, volunteering for overtime, or dominating meetings. While management may appreciate their drive, coworkers usually view them with suspicion. The term implies that the person is willing to sacrifice team cohesion and throw colleagues under the bus to advance their own career.
"Don't tell the gunner about the delay on the supply order, or he will run straight to the foreman with it."
Gunner in metallurgy
An operator who uses a pneumatic gun to seal a furnace taphole or apply refractory lining.
The worker responsible for operating industrial extrusion or spraying equipment on the cast house floor. This usually means driving the mud gun to plug the taphole of a blast furnace after a cast, or operating a refractory gunning machine to spray protective linings onto the hot inner walls of ladles and furnaces.
"Tell the gunner to get the mud gun ready, we're plugging the hole in two minutes."