Role design and job descriptions for Jig and Fixture Makers: splitting the owner's roles in a small shop
In many fixture shops the owner is also estimator, chief designer and troubleshooter. Role design is how you take the first of those off your own desk without losing control of price and quality.
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Share your requirementsWhy role design and job descriptions matters in jig and fixture makers
With three or four key people, roles blur. A fitter quotes on the phone, a designer is pulled to the bench to finish a rush job, and the owner approves every price. When the owner is on a customer visit, no one decides. When a customer asks for a change, the answer depends on who picked up. Hiring is then hard, because nobody can say what the new person will actually do.
Role design here is light. Four or five roles, each with a page: estimator, designer, fitter, prover, and the owner as reviewer. Each has what they decide, what they pass up and who covers. The first hand-over is usually the estimate for repeat types of fixture. Later the designer owns the design review with the customer. The owner then keeps pricing exceptions and key customers.
How to set it up
1. List what you decide every week
Write every decision you made in the last two weeks, such as price, design choice, delivery date and customer reply. Mark which others could take with guidance.
2. Define four or five roles
Write a page each for estimator, designer, fitter, prover and a coordinator if you have one. State decisions each may make alone and those they pass up.
3. Hand over one decision at a time
Start with a repeat estimate, with a price band within which the estimator may quote. Review quotes weekly for the first month, then monthly.
4. Name a cover for each role
State who steps in when the person is away and what they may not do alone. This stops everything stopping when one person is out.
5. Use the roles when you hire
Turn the pages into a job description and an interview list so the next hire knows what the job is.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Write the decisions you made in the last week and count how many another person could have made.
- Ask each key person what they think they decide alone, and compare with your view.
- Check how many quotes needed your approval last month and why.
- List roles without a named cover.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach role design and job descriptions in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
Hand over one decision at a time with a clear limit, such as a price band, review for a few weeks and then widen it. People take decisions more readily when the limits are written.
Not always. A coordinator who handles customer contact, schedule and follow-up may be enough, with you reviewing exceptions. Decide by what is currently stopping when you are away.
Respect that. Create two tracks, one in the craft and one in design, each with a grade and pay path. Not everyone wants to move up through the same door.