Pull the personnel file in a typical component plant. The job description probably reads: operate the machine as per instructions, maintain quality, keep the area clean, follow safety rules. It could describe a header operator, a gear hobbing setter, a spring coiler or a valve seat lapper. That is the problem. It says what everyone does and nothing about what this person can do.
Our overview of HR for bolt, gear and valve plants notes how setter, operator, inspector and tester roles blur. Clear role cards make grading, training and cover easier. This guide shows how to write them so they describe skill, not just tasks. GullyHR's help with role design covers the wider method.
Where duty lists let a component plant down
- They cannot separate grades. If two operators have the same description, nobody can explain why one earns more.
- They do not show cover. Nothing in a duty list reveals who sets the shaper while the hobbing setter is away.
- They hide the decisions. Whether an operator may touch an offset or must fetch the setter is the boundary that counts, and it is seldom written.
- They do not help hiring. A trade test cannot be built from 'operate machine as per instructions'.
What a skill card holds
Think of a skill card as a job description built around unaided capability. For a component plant, six things belong on it. The machines and models they run or set. The size and material range they handle, such as spur gears up to a stated module or bolts in a set diameter band. The gauges and instruments they use. The fault signs they must recognise early. Which calls they may make without asking. And who they hand over to and train.
Role and grade: Hobbing setter, Grade S2.
Machines: the hobbing machines in Bay 2, by model; shaper on request with help.
Range: spur and helical gears within the module and diameter band the plant runs most.
Sets alone: hob selection and mounting, change-gears, depth and feed, first piece.
Gauges used: span micrometer, over-pin measurement, profile chart from the inspection room.
Fault signs to catch: chatter marks, burr at tooth tip, size drift after hob wear.
Decides alone: stop the machine, change the hob, hold a lot pending inspection.
Must call: the section in-charge for any new drawing; inspection for a profile outside limit.
Trains: operators in Bay 2 on loading and size checks; one trainee setter at a time.
Hands over: written note at each shift change, with hob condition and lot status.
Practical check to reach this grade: set a repeat gear from a cold machine to an accepted first piece.
Reviewed: when a machine or product is added, and once a year.The cards to write first
Do not try to write every role at once. Begin where one person decides whether a lot passes or fails.
- Cold heading setter in fastener units, covering die and punch change, cut-off and transfer settings.
- Hobbing or shaping setter in gear plants, including the profile and run-out limits they must watch.
- Seat lapping fitter in valve plants, who decides when a seat will hold at test.
- Hydrotest bench operator, with shell and seat hold times, pressure stages and the right to reject.
- Honing operator on hydraulic cylinder tubes, covering stone choice, crosshatch finish and bore limits.
- Spring coiling setter, covering pitch tooling, free length, scragging checks and wire changes.
- Final inspector or sorter lead, with the defects, sampling and release rights for each product.
Writing a card, step by step
- 1
Start from the skill matrix
List who can run or set each machine. The card describes one level on that matrix.
- 2
Sit with the senior person
Ask the senior setter or inspector to describe a normal shift and a bad one. The bad shift reveals the fault signs and decisions.
- 3
Watch the work
Stand beside the hobber or bench for a full cycle or two. Note what the person checks, how often, and when they call someone.
- 4
Draft in plain words
Short lines, the plant's own names for machines and defects, no borrowed jargon.
- 5
Test it against a real person
Read the card to someone in the role. If they say 'I also do this', add it. If they say 'I never do that', remove it.
- 6
Attach a grade and a practical check
Every card belongs to one grade, reached by passing a short trial. That links the card to pay and promotion.
- 7
Set a review trigger
Fresh machinery, a new product family or an audit finding reopens the card, whatever the calendar says.
Who keeps the cards and how often
The plant office holds the signed originals. The section in-charge owns the content for their bay, with the senior setter or inspector as the expert. Reopen a card whenever its machine or product changes, and in any case every twelve months. Keep the cards short enough to read aloud. Unread at the bench, a card is only paper.
For trade detail, see hobbing and shaping roles. Valve plants have lapping and hydrotest roles. Cylinder shops have honing and seal-fitting roles.
