A skill matrix template for plastic moulding and extrusion units (free download)

A skill matrix is a grid. People run down the side, tasks run across the top, and each cell holds a level. On a plastics floor it answers three blunt questions. Who can I roster on this press tonight? Who should learn which task next? Which task, on which shift, rests on one pair of hands?

Paste the layout below into any spreadsheet, using one tab per shift. Tasks are grouped by machine family, so a moulding shop can delete the extrusion block and a pipe or film plant can delete the press block.

Header: unit, shift A, B or C, month, prepared by, checked by.
Person columns: name, employee code, date joined, current grade, own staff or contractor-supplied.
Material: load hopper, read dryer dew point, mix regrind and masterbatch by ratio, run the granulator.
Press, part one: run a set mould, adjust inside the written band, purge for a colour change.
Press, part two: hook up mould water and the hot-runner controller, change a small mould, change a large mould.
Press, part three: teach the sprue picker or robot, set a process from the sheet, diagnose defects.
Extrusion: winder or coiler, cutter and belling, haul-off and vacuum tank, barrel and die start-up, size or gauge change, run the line alone.
Quality: first-off check against the limit sample, weight and gauge checks, hold-tag and quarantine routine.
Safety: guard and interlock check, hot purge handling, lock-out before mould work, crane and hoist use.
Each cell: a level from 0 to 4, the date signed, and the assessor's initials.
Level 0: untrained. Level 1: learning, always paired with a trained hand.
Level 2: works alone on a running machine. Level 3: works alone and clears the usual faults.
Level 4: can train and assess others.
Footer: number of people at level 3 or 4 for each task on this shift. Shade a task when that number is below two.
Lapse rule: a level 3 or 4 left unused for a quarter falls to level 2 until re-assessed.

• Drying. Reading the dryer, knowing residence hours per resin and refusing a damp lot. Nylon and polycarbonate jobs fail here first.
• Mould water and hot-runner hook-up. Swapped hoses and a wrong zone on the controller cause hours of chasing defects.
• Robot and sprue picker teach. Often one person knows the pendant, and nights stop when that person is off.
• Regrind ratio. Who may change it, and who checks the mix on the hopper.
• Size and gauge changes on extrusion lines. Usually held by the line leaders alone, and the costliest gap when one resigns.

• Blow moulding: parison programme, die gap and mandrel position, blow pin height and pre-blow, pinch-off trimming, leak tester and top-load checks.
• Blown film: bubble start-up, frost line height, air ring and collapsing frame, nip rolls, lay-flat width, winder changeover without wrinkles.
• Printing and lamination, where attached: cylinder or plate mounting, viscosity and solvent handling, register, adhesive mixing, slitter knife setting.

1. 1

   Write tasks before names

   Walk the presses and lines with the technician and a line leader. Phrase each task so an assessor could observe it start to finish inside a shift.

2. 2

   Assess by watching, never by asking

   A level-4 person sees the task done and initials the cell. Self-reported skill fills grids with optimism.

3. 3

   Date every entry

   An undated level means nothing a year later, and the lapse rule cannot work without dates.

4. 4

   Leave honest zeros

   A zero belongs to the training plan, and says nothing bad about the operator.

5. 5

   Total the footers and shade the gaps

   The shaded tasks become the first page of next month's training plan.

Start at the footer. A shaded task on the night tab usually means one setter, one line leader or one person allowed to do a size change. The post on covering an absent technician deals with exactly that risk. Then scan across each row. Someone at level 2 in many tasks and level 3 in none has stalled, and stalled operators answer the next recruiter's call.

• Shift leads change a cell the day an assessment is passed, never in a batch at month end.
• The production head checks every tab's footer weekly and picks one gap to close.
• HR or the office copies levels into the grade and pay record monthly.
• The owner looks at the whole grid each quarter beside the hiring plan and training budget.

Operators trust the grid once levels move pay. One workable rule: a grade step when a person reaches level 3 across a defined group of tasks, confirmed by the assessor and the production head. Setting those steps against nearby units is covered in pay benchmarking for extrusion units. Without that link, the matrix reads as paperwork about operators rather than a ladder for them.

• Filled once from memory and never touched again.
• Levels that only rise, so a setter who has not swapped a mould in a year still shows level 4.
• Dozens of tasks nobody can assess, burying the few that decide output.
• Kept in a drawer instead of on the shift office wall.
• Contractor-supplied workers left off, so the grid shows a floor that does not exist.

The hub for plastics HR treats skill as the thread through attendance, handover and turnover. Extrusion units can see how levels turn into a training route in extrusion learning and development. Want the grid shaped around your own presses, lines and grades? Sketch the floor for us on the requirements page.