A skill matrix for rubber product makers: who can do what, and who is the single point of failure

Ask the plant head of a rubber unit who can run the internal mixer on the night shift. You will usually hear one name and then a pause. 'And maybe one other, if he is not on leave.' That pause is the whole case for a skill matrix. It converts memory into a sheet anyone can read, and it shows exactly where one absence would stop the plant.

This guide covers building one for any plant in the rubber goods group: moulding, hose, belt, gasket, seal, silicone and custom parts.

Columns are tasks grouped by area. Include only tasks that need training and sign-off. Shifting bales does not need a column. Weighing curatives certainly does.

• Compound room: bulk weigh-up, curative weigh-up, two-roll mill, internal mixer, batch release.
• Forming: compression press, transfer or injection press, mould change, extruder, braider, calender.
• Curing: autoclave charging and unloading, post-cure oven, belt press section cure.
• Finishing: knife trimming, cryogenic or barrel deflashing, lamp sorting, cut-to-length and crimping.
• Test and tool room: Shore hardness and gauge checks, burst test, mould cleaning, die sharpening, first-off approval.

0 means not trained.
1 means in training and working only with a trainer alongside.
2 means able to work a proven job with an in-charge within call.
3 means able to work alone on any shift and clear small faults.
4 means able to work alone and cleared to coach and assess others.
Beside each score goes the date it was confirmed and who confirmed it.
A row at the foot of each column counts people at level 3 or 4, shift by shift.
Any shift count of one or zero is shaded red and becomes a training priority.

• An operator happy on a two-plate compression mould may be lost on a three-plate transfer tool with a pot and plunger.
• Milling natural rubber stock does not carry over to fluorocarbon or silicone, which scorch, stick and band on the rolls differently.
• A braider cleared on a single-wire line is not ready for a four-spiral hydraulic hose.
• Splicing fabric belting and steel cord belting are separate skills with separate columns.
• An inspector sharp on die-cut gaskets can still misjudge lip seals under the lamp.

Where a skill does not transfer, give it its own column. Otherwise the sheet reports cover that the floor does not have.

1. 1

   Agree the task list with area heads

   Spend an hour with the compound room, press, curing and finishing in-charges. Write tasks the way the floor talks about them, not in job description language.

2. 2

   Fill the first version from demonstrated skill

   Ask each in-charge to rate the crew, then test a sample. Ratings from memory tend to flatter favourites and undersell quiet workers.

3. 3

   Show each shift separately

   A plant with three mill men on days and none at night has a night problem, not a skills shortage. The split makes that obvious.

4. 4

   Mark every lone expert

   Wherever a shift relies on a single person at level 3 or above, raise a flag. Those names form the plant's real risk list.

5. 5

   Turn red cells into a plan

   For every flag, name a learner, a trainer and a target month, and enter it on the training calendar rather than a wish list.

6. 6

   Tie scarce levels to pay steps

   When reaching level 3 on a scarce task brings a pay step, people start asking to be trained. Without that, the sheet is just a wall chart.

7. 7

   Update at every sign-off

   Write in each new level the same day it is earned. A matrix refreshed annually is wrong for most of the year.

A printout in a drawer changes nothing. Pin a laminated grid near the time office, with coloured dots for each level and a marker hanging on a string. In-charges glance at it while drawing up the roster. Operators check it to see who has been cleared for what. A tidy spreadsheet can sit behind it, but the wall copy is the one that changes behaviour.

A matrix earns its keep only when someone reads it. Monthly, the plant head sits with HR over three questions. First, the red cells and whether any have moved. Second, anyone who has not gained a level in a year, and why. Third, the people holding level 4 in many columns, because they are both the plant's backbone and its biggest exposure if they resign.

Open it again when planning festival leave, when quoting an unfamiliar job and on the day a resignation lands. That last moment is when a current matrix pays for all the effort.

• One 'press operator' column hiding compression, transfer and injection work.
• Levels handed out for long service instead of proven skill.
• A single sheet for the whole plant, so night-shift gaps vanish into the total.
• Contractor-supplied hands missing, even though they mould and trim daily.
• A file kept in the office that no in-charge opens when drawing up the roster.

For extruder and braider cover in hose plants, see competency work for hose makers. Belt plants can read succession planning for conveyor belt makers on naming juniors for splicers and press leads. A ready layout sits in the rubber skill matrix template. Our skills and talent service helps set levels and assessments that in-charges can actually run.