Performance management for Control Panel Makers: clear goals for wiremen, testers and engineers
Panel work is one job at a time, so performance cannot be judged by units a day. A short set of measures for wiring quality, test results and commissioning makes reviews fair and visible.
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Share your requirementsWhy performance management matters in control panel makers
Panel shops often judge people by who works the longest hours or who the owner trusts. A wireman who finishes slowly but wires clean panels looks weaker than one who rushes, until the rushed panels come back from site. Testers face pressure to shorten checks, and nobody notes it. Commissioning engineers are rarely reviewed because they are away.
Good looks like two or three measures for each role that come from records you already hold. For wiremen, faults found at test per panel. For testers, faults found at test versus faults found at site. For engineers, issues closed at site and customer feedback. A short review each quarter with one goal agreed together.
How to set it up
1. Pick measures for each role
Choose two or three per role. For wiremen, rework at test and on time completion of their section. For commissioning engineers, return visits and customer remarks. Keep measures within the person's control.
2. Start recording from existing paper
Use the test sheet, the job card and the site report. Record faults by job and by wireman, without adding a heavy new form. Check the numbers with the people concerned before using them.
3. Hold a short quarterly review
Sit with each person for fifteen minutes. Show the records, ask what held him back, and agree one thing to improve. Note it down and look at it again next quarter.
4. Protect testing from deadline pressure
Agree that a panel is not dispatched without a signed test sheet, and that pressure to shorten tests is raised with you. Give testers a clear route to say so. A performance management routine supports this.
5. Link recognition and pay to the record
Use the records when deciding step increases and bonuses, so that clean wiring and honest testing are rewarded. Explain the link openly so the team trusts it.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Take the last ten panels and count faults found at test, grouped by the wireman who built them.
- Count how many panels reached site with a fault the test sheet should have caught.
- Ask a commissioning engineer when he last received feedback from you on his site work.
- Check how many people had any review conversation in the last year.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach performance management in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
It is fair when jobs are of similar difficulty and the numbers are discussed with the person. Use it as a conversation starter, not a score, and look at trends over several panels rather than one bad job.
Use their site reports, return visits and customer feedback, and hold the review when they return. A short call after each major site is better than waiting for a yearly meeting.
No. If a revised drawing arrives after wiring starts, record the delay as a cause so it does not fall on the wireman. Fair measures separate what the person controls from what the shop controls.