A skill matrix template for pharmaceutical manufacturers (free download)

A production officer on any tablet floor carries a whiteboard in her head. Ravi can set a die table but should not run the coating pan unaided. Salma alone calibrates the dispensing balance without a second try. Nobody on nights has done a blister changeover. Not a word of it is on paper. When she takes a week's leave, the board goes with her. A skill matrix moves that board onto paper. Below is a copyable template, then the method for filling and using it.

It fits any site in the pharmaceutical manufacturing hub. Tablet, capsule, API, packaging and herbal units want different task columns. The grid stays the same: names in rows, tasks in columns, one level per cell.

• It shows at a glance who may run a task unsupervised and who still needs a trainer beside them.
• It exposes work resting on one pair of hands, such as hardness testing or a foil roll change.
• It stops a night roster that has no qualified setter, sifter hand or coating operator.
• Each empty cell becomes a line in the training diary.
• It lets an auditor or your own quality head trace a cell back to a signed observation.

AREA ______  SHIFT ______  PREPARED BY ______  DATE ______.
LEVELS: 0 untrained. 1 observing. 2 doing under a trainer. 3 doing alone. 4 able to coach others.

NAME | TOKEN | GOWNING | DISPENSING AND WEIGHING | GRANULATION AND DRYING | COMPRESSION | COATING | BLISTER AND CARTONING | LINE CLEARANCE | BATCH RECORD ENTRIES | CLEANING AND SWAB | NEXT LESSON DUE.
______ | ______ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | ______.
______ | ______ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | ______.
______ | ______ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | ______.
______ | ______ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | ______.

COVER ROW: for each task, count the hands at level 3 or 4 on this shift.
THIN SPOTS: tasks with fewer than two such hands on any shift ______.
ACTION LINE: who, which task, trainer, date ______.
SEEN BY PRODUCTION HEAD ______  DATE ______.

Paste the lines into a spreadsheet and give each person a row. Swap columns to suit your suites. A capsule unit might add shell sorting and encapsulator set-up. An API site might add charging a reactor, centrifuge handling and dryer unloading. A packing site might add foil roll change, leaflet folding and shrink tunnel set-up.

• Dispensing: tares the balance, weighs excipient and active against the batch sheet, seals and labels each container, gets the second check without prompting.
• Granulation: charges the blender, reads the fluid-bed dryer inlet temperature, passes the sifter and reports any lump.
• Compression: fits the punch set, starts the turret, pulls samples for weight, hardness, friability and disintegration, and stops the run on a drift.
• Coating: loads the pan, sets spray rate, records weight gain and reports a twin or a chipped edge.
• Blister and cartoning: threads PVC and lidding foil, checks seal and print, counts leaflets, reconciles rejects.

Write one such line for every column before you rate anyone. Without it, two supervisors will score the same operator differently.

• Tablet press: capping, sticking and picking calls, mottling on coated cores, twin tablets, chipped edges and lubricant blending time.
• Capsule filling: encapsulator set-up, empty shell sorting, deduster and checkweigher rejects, and the metal-detector test piece.
• Wet granulation: binder addition, wet-mass endpoint, multimill screen change and double-cone blender loading.
• Packing: induction seal, desiccant insertion, sachet fill, tamper-evident band and the perforation check on strips.

1. 1

   Rate in pairs

   The production officer and the trainer rate together, from what they have seen done, never from a hunch about who is quick.

2. 2

   Tie each three to a record

   A level 3 needs a signed observation behind it. Where there is none, mark 2 until one exists.

3. 3

   Run the cover row

   Count qualified hands per task per shift. Any task with fewer than two goes on the thin spots line.

4. 4

   Pick one thin spot

   Choose the riskiest, name a trainer and fix a date. Do not try to turn every blank into a three this quarter.

5. 5

   Show people their own row

   Sit with each operator for a few minutes. A blank next to blister changeover tells her what to ask for.

• Production officer: keeps the grid for the area, edits it after every observation.
• Trainer: proposes changes of level and brings the evidence.
• Quality or training coordinator: checks that levels match the records and holds the master copy.
• HR: reads the grid for training plans, internal moves and retention talks.
• Rhythm: a monthly look, then a rebuild each quarter or when a fresh product line or press arrives.

• Rating by years served and not by tasks done alone.
• Filling the grid once and filing it.
• Marking every cell 3 because nobody wants to disappoint a colleague.
• Tying the grid to pay disputes, which makes supervisors inflate scores.

Keep the grid about growth. The competency and talent service helps draft task definitions and ladders. The tablet makers' competency page shows the method on one floor, and the learning and training service turns thin spots into a calendar.

If you want the grid cut to your own suites, describe them on the requirements form.