A skill matrix template for paper and printing units (free download)

Every print and converting floor already has a skill matrix. It lives in the in-charge's head. He knows just one minder hits colour fast on the four-colour big sheetfed machine. He knows the narrow-web die setter alone trusts himself with magnetic cylinders. He knows the cup former idles whenever its fitter goes on leave. This template drags that private map onto paper.

Paste each row below into a spreadsheet as its own line. Staff names run across as columns; every crossing cell gets a grade. The upkeep rota further down stops it fossilising.

• Level 0: not trained. Has never done the task.
• Level 1: learning. Has watched and helped; not yet doing it.
• Level 2: can do under watch. Performs it with a trained person beside them.
• Level 3: can do alone. Signed off on real work; counts as cover.
• Level 4: can teach and sign off. Trusted to train others and judge readiness.

Print these definitions across the sheet's top margin. Most quarrels over grades start when two supervisors read one digit two ways.

PREPRESS: preflight artwork, catching missing fonts, absent bleed and low-resolution images.
PREPRESS: imposition, CTP plate exposure, and scratch inspection before plates leave.
SHEETFED: pile height, sucker feet, pull-lay adjustment for an unfamiliar substrate.
SHEETFED: dampening balance, fountain-key profile, matching the customer-signed proof.
SHEETFED: lateral and circumferential register; blanket swap with underlay calliper check.
SHEETFED: unaided make-ready on a repeat docket; roller wash-up between dockets.
NARROW-WEB: photopolymer mounting on sleeves, anilox swaps, ink-pan loading.
NARROW-WEB: magnetic-cylinder die setting, matrix take-up, slitter-knife spacing.
NARROW-WEB: inspection rewinding, splice flagging, core labelling.
GRAVURE OR WIDE-WEB FLEXO: efflux-cup viscosity, tunnel temperature, hoisted cylinder change.
BINDERY: programmed guillotine cutting to the docket's trim marks.
BINDERY: guillotine knife replacement using the change bar (clearance required).
BINDERY: buckle-plate folding set-up; saddle-stitcher head and clincher adjustment.
BINDERY: hot-melt temperature and nipping on the perfect binder; thermal laminator running.
CONVERTING: bag-former width and gusset change; starch-paste mixing to working consistency.
CONVERTING: cup-former knurling, heater and blank-feed settings; envelope-machine flap gumming.
DIE CUTTING: platen make-ready with patching-up; waste stripping (clearance required).
DISPATCH: carton count audit, shipping marks, docket tally before the tempo loads.
CLEARANCE COLUMN: guillotine, platen, solvent decanting, reel trolley, first aid, each dated.
BOTTOM ROW: per shift, a headcount of grade-three-plus names beneath every task.

Strike out irrelevant rows. A digital counter shop would swap gravure and bag-forming for wide-format, eyeleting and foam-board mounting. A kraft bag unit might split converting into tubing, bottom pasting and twisted-handle fixing.

1. 1

   First fill: the in-charge with each senior

   Gather the chief minder, die setter, bag setter and bindery foreman. Walk row by row, grading every name. Budget an afternoon.

2. 2

   After every sign-off: the in-charge

   Once a person climbs a grade on a live docket, amend that cell immediately and date it. Undated cells are folklore.

3. 3

   Monthly: the owner

   Scan the bottom row. A lone grade-three name on any shift flags fragility; an absent grade four means nobody can coach that task.

4. 4

   Each season: owner and in-charge together

   Before a school or festival rush, check that each critical row has cover on every shift. Turn the gaps into a short training list with names and target dates.

A filled grid also sharpens recruitment. Before advertising for another feeder, look along the rows. Perhaps the real gap is a second person able to expose plates on nights, or a laminator hand for the cover-finishing backlog. Hiring for the empty cell, rather than the job title on last year's advertisement, shortens the time a newcomer needs before counting as cover. The same reading shows who deserves promotion. A packer quietly grading three on the folder and the stitcher is a ready candidate for the next machine vacancy. Promoting from the grid, openly, tells everyone on the floor that climbing rows pays off. It also stops the in-charge's favourites drifting upward unseen, which is what usually breeds resentment in a bindery.

Its value appears once rostering obeys it. Nobody works solo below grade three, and nobody touches a guillotine or platen without a dated clearance. Link pay steps to levels on the core rows, and publish them, so a feeder can see what reaching level 3 on make-ready is worth. GullyHR's competency frameworks connect grades, rosters and wages for owners.

• Completed once from memory, then abandoned in a drawer.
• Undated grades, leaving nobody sure whether a skill has rusted.
• Awarding grade three on someone's word instead of observed work.
• Locked in the cabin, invisible to the crew whose progress it charts.
• Clearance column ignored during Diwali carton rush.

A general, trade-neutral method appears in our step-by-step grid guide. Ways to close empty cells are covered for jobbing printers and for narrow-web label converters. Sector context: HR across printing and paper converting. To have the grid fitted to your machines, list them on the GullyHR intake sheet.