Job descriptions for industrial machinery makers: define the skill, not just the task

The fitter's job description in many machine shops runs to three lines. Assembly of machines as per drawing. Maintain discipline. Any other work assigned. It describes a helper on his first day and a lead fitter with twenty years equally well. So it helps nobody: not the recruiter, not the foreman at appraisal time, and not the fitter who wants to learn what earns the next grade.

Machine builders run on several distinct trades, as the industrial machinery and equipment overview sets out. A JD for each trade has to show what competent work in that trade involves.

• Assembly. Task: assembly of gearboxes. Skill: builds a worm gearbox to drawing, shims taper roller bearings to preload, sets backlash, and runs it in without supervision.
• Panel work. Task: panel wiring. Skill: wires a star-delta or VFD panel from the circuit diagram, glands and lugs every cable, ferrules each core, and completes megger and continuity checks before power-up.
• Controls. Task: PLC programming. Skill: writes commented ladder logic from a sequence chart, maps encoders and proximity sensors, builds the HMI screens and completes the I/O check with the wireman.
• Design. Task: design work. Skill: takes a concept to released GA and part drawings, with the bill of materials, sizing sheets and a decision note checked by a second engineer.
• Testing. Task: testing. Skill: sets up a bench performance test, records head, flow, power and vibration, and holds back any unit outside its limits without being asked.
• Field. Task: commissioning. Skill: installs, aligns and trials the machine at site, trains the customer's operators, and gets acceptance signed, calling base when scope shifts.

• Why the role exists, in a single line.
• Level, and what working unaided means at that level.
• Skills written as observable acts, each with the standard you would check.
• Tools and instruments the person must handle, from dial gauges to an insulation tester.
• Drawings and documents the person reads, and those they produce.
• Handovers: what they receive, from whom, and what they pass on.
• Share of time away at customer sites, stated honestly.
• Reporting line, and whom the person must bring on.
• The next rung, with the proof needed to climb to it.

1. 1

   Begin at the bench, not with the old JD

   Spend a shift beside a build. List what your strongest person in the role actually does, including the checks nobody asked for.

2. 2

   Split each role by level

   Helper, fitter, senior and lead each get their own skill lines. A single JD for all fitters hides the ladder.

3. 3

   Write skills as acts with a standard

   Use verbs you can watch: builds, sets, wires, tests, signs. Add the standard: to drawing, within tolerance, without supervision.

4. 4

   Name the handover

   State what arrives with the person, such as kitted parts and the build sequence, and what leaves, such as check sheets and a list of corrections.

5. 5

   State travel and site work plainly

   For field roles, give the usual share of time away and how long trips tend to run. Hiding it only moves the shock to the first month.

6. 6

   Test the draft against two real people

   Would it separate your best fitter from last month's joiner? If both fit equally, rewrite the skill lines.

7. 7

   Link it to hiring and appraisal

   Each skill line becomes a practical test task at hiring and a line on the review form.

Purpose: builds and tests complete machines of the standard range to drawing.
Level: senior; works unaided on full machines and guides two fitters.
Skill: reads GA and detail drawings, and flags errors before fitting starts.
Skill: sets bearing preload, gear backlash and coupling alignment using dial gauges.
Skill: corrects misfits by shimming, reaming or scraping, and records each correction.
Skill: completes the sub-assembly check sheet before the unit goes to test.
Instruments: dial gauges, feelers, torque wrench, spirit level and chain blocks.
Receives: released drawings, kitted parts and the build sequence.
Hands over: finished machine, signed check sheets and corrections for the design office.
Travel: occasional site visits to support commissioning.
Reports to: assembly foreman. Trains: helpers and guided fitters.
Next rung: lead fitter, after leading two builds and bringing a fitter to sign-off.

A skill-based JD pays off in three places. At hiring, each skill line becomes a test task. See how SPM builders recruit and how food machinery makers test welders. At appraisal, the same lines become the review form, as the crane and hoist review approach describes. In pay, each level gets a band.

Revisit the JDs each year, and whenever a new model or controller arrives. A fitter's set changes the day the shop starts building servo-driven machines. Our role design service can draft the full set, level by level, from what your builds actually demand.