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Operators, technicians and supervisors leave for reasons that sit in shifts, skills and supervision. How to ask, read the pattern by shift and act on it.
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Industrial Automation and Robotics · Automation Equipment Makers
HR for Automation Equipment Makers: Special Machines, Fabrication, Fitting and Trials
Automation equipment makers build special-purpose machines, conveyors and assembly lines to a customer's brief. Each machine is close to a one-off, so fitters and designers carry knowledge that no drawing holds.
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Share your requirementsAn automation equipment maker builds special-purpose machines, assembly lines, test rigs and handling systems. A job runs from the customer brief through design and bought-out parts, to machined and welded frames, then mechanical fitting, panel wiring, PLC programming and a factory acceptance trial, before the machine is stripped, crated and installed on site. Because each build is largely unique, fitters adjust and solve problems as they go. Senior fitters know how to make a one-off run, and designers know what the customer expects. A few customers set fixed delivery dates, and delay in one trade pushes into the next. Related reading: HR for manufacturing.
- Plan
- Hire
- Onboard
- Manage
- Develop
- Perform
- Engage
- Retain
- Exit
- Improve
When HR is weak in automation equipment makers, you may see
- The best fitter's tricks are not on any drawing
- Designer and fitter point at each other
- Delivery dates squeeze the trial stage
- Trades run to separate clocks
- Few orders mean idle weeks
- Helpers see no ladder
These are the places the people side of this kind of business tends to give way. The rest of this page works through them.
Who does the work in automation equipment makers
HR here has to work for each of these groups, not only the office. The set-up below is written with all of them in mind.
- Mechanical design engineers
- Machinists and welders
- Mechanical fitters and assemblers
- Panel wiring technicians
- PLC and HMI programmers
- Trial and commissioning engineers
- Project managers
- Purchase and stores staff
Where HR strains in automation equipment makers
The best fitter's tricks are not on any drawing
A fitter who knows how to coax a one-off machine into running saves days, and the knack leaves when the fitter does.
Designer and fitter point at each other
When parts do not fit, the fitter blames the drawing and the designer blames the build, so nothing is learnt.
Delivery dates squeeze the trial stage
Late bought-out items or design changes crush the factory trial and crating into the final days.
Trades run to separate clocks
Machining, welding, fitting and wiring each plan alone, and one trade sits waiting for another.
Few orders mean idle weeks
With a handful of customers, one delayed order leaves the bay empty and good hands start looking elsewhere.
Helpers see no ladder
They learn by watching, and a promising one has no visible path to fitter or technician.
HR topics for automation equipment makers
Start with the topics that matter most here: Learning and Development; Compensation, Payroll and Benefits; Organisation Design. Then work through the rest. Each topic is written for manufacturing, not in general.
Learning and Development
Training planned from need rather than from the calendar.
Compensation, Payroll and Benefits
Salary structure, payroll inputs and a month that closes on time.
Organisation Design
Structure, reporting lines and who is allowed to decide what.
HR Strategy and Workforce Planning
How many people, in which roles, by when — and what they will cost.
Recruitment and Talent Acquisition
Requisition to joining, the same way every time.
Onboarding and Probation
A first day that is the same for the fifth joiner as the first.
Employee Administration
Records, attendance, leave and the day-to-day HR that must simply work.
Performance Management
Goals, reviews and ratings that hold up in a conversation.
Career and Succession Management
Named backups for the roles that cannot be vacant.
Employee Engagement and Experience
Communication, recognition and the conditions people actually work in.
Employee Relations
Two routes — one for complaints, one for conduct — kept separate.
Policies, Compliance and Governance
Policies a manager can apply, and obligations with owners and dates.
Health, Safety and Wellbeing
Induction, records, incident reporting and follow-through.
Retention and Attrition Management
Who leaves, when, why — and which of them mattered.
Exit and Alumni Management
Resignation to relieving letter, in a defined order.
HR Technology and Automation
Records that survive people, and approvals that do not queue.
HR Analytics and Management Reporting
A short monthly pack management actually reads.
HR Operations and Governance
An HR function that runs the same way every month.
What a working HR set-up looks like
The pieces a automation equipment makers business puts in place, in an order that makes each easier. Open any card for the detail.
Hold a one-hour review after every machine
Design, fitting and wiring staff sit together after the factory trial to note what went wrong and right, and the notes are filed for the next build.
What this coversHide
Hold a one-hour review after every machine
Design, fitting and wiring staff sit together after the factory trial to note what went wrong and right, and the notes are filed for the next build.
What this coversHideDesign, fitting and wiring staff sit together after the factory trial to note what went wrong and right, and the notes are filed for the next build. See HR documentation process.
Grade fitters and technicians by machine complexity
A scale from helper to senior fitter tied to the kind of machine each can build alone, linked to pay.
What this coversHide
Grade fitters and technicians by machine complexity
A scale from helper to senior fitter tied to the kind of machine each can build alone, linked to pay.
What this coversHideA scale from helper to senior fitter tied to the kind of machine each can build alone, linked to pay. Compensation benchmarking supports the steps.
Put designers on the floor every week
A fixed hour for designers to watch assembly and answer fitters' questions, so fit problems are found before the trial.
What this coversHide
Put designers on the floor every week
A fixed hour for designers to watch assembly and answer fitters' questions, so fit problems are found before the trial.
What this coversHideA fixed hour for designers to watch assembly and answer fitters' questions, so fit problems are found before the trial.
Plan labour across trades in one view
The project manager owns a weekly sheet of what each trade needs and has, so waiting is spotted early.
What this coversHide
Plan labour across trades in one view
The project manager owns a weekly sheet of what each trade needs and has, so waiting is spotted early.
What this coversHideThe project manager owns a weekly sheet of what each trade needs and has, so waiting is spotted early. Role design settles who owns that sheet.
Build a helper-to-fitter path
Set stages, a senior who reviews each one and a mark of recognition at each pass.
What this coversHide
Build a helper-to-fitter path
Set stages, a senior who reviews each one and a mark of recognition at each pass.
What this coversHideSet stages, a senior who reviews each one and a mark of recognition at each pass. See learning and development process.
Start by checking where you stand
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These checks take an afternoon and tell you which of the topics above to start with.
Share your requirements- Ask your senior fitter which tricks on the last machine are in nobody's drawing.
- List the last three fit problems and who took the blame.
- Find the late jobs and name the stage that held each one.
- Count helpers who have stayed more than two years.
- Ask how many times a designer stood on the shop floor last month.
- Confirm with a qualified professional the registration, record-keeping and employment duties that bind a special-machine builder like yours.
Confirm with a qualified professional. What applies to you depends on your business, your state and your arrangements, and it changes. This page describes practice. It does not state a legal position.
How GullyHR helps
The services below fit this kind of business best. Each starts by recording where you stand, and every later report compares against that. We do not promise outcomes.
- Compensation benchmarking
Fitter and technician grades with pay steps that recognise one-off machine building.
- Learning and development process
A helper-to-fitter route with stages and review by senior hands.
- HR documentation process
Build reviews and records so fitting know-how stays in the business.
- Role design and job descriptions
Clear duties and ownership across design, fitting and project management.
Start with a free conversation, or see the paid HR Diagnostic.
Our HR transformation approach
- 1
Assess
Understand the business, its workforce, current processes and HR challenges.
- 2
Identify gaps
Find the missing, weak, inconsistent or person-dependent processes.
- 3
Design
Create the structure, processes, policies, SOPs, dashboards and systems needed.
- 4
Implement
Help HR and department managers actually adopt the new system.
- 5
Automate
Digitise repetitive and approval-based workflows where it is worth doing.
- 6
Measure
Track hiring, attendance, employee cost, performance, training and attrition.
- 7
Improve
Strengthen the people-management system continuously, not once.
Blogs worth reading first
From the GullyHR blog: one on HR in manufacturing, and one on each of the topics this page points to.
HR Process
The training calendar nobody attends: fixing the learning and development process
A calendar of courses, a budget spent by March and no record of what any of it changed. What a learning and development process contains when it starts from need rather than from the catalogue.
7 min readRead article
HR Management
Salary bands for SMEs: building grades when you have never had any
Most salary structures grew one negotiation at a time. How to build grades and bands from what you already pay, without repricing everybody at once.
8 min readRead article
HR Management
Everyone reports to the founder: when and how to redesign the structure
A flat structure works until the founder becomes the only route to a decision. How to tell when you have passed that point, and how to redesign without a reorganisation.
8 min readRead articleMore on the GullyHR blog.
Questions owners ask
Run a short review after each build with the fitter present, write down the notes and have a junior work beside them. Recognise the skill with a grade.
Hold joint reviews, send designers to the floor weekly and mark each fix on the drawing. Talk about causes, not people.
Use quiet weeks for training and maintenance, keep a few part-time or returning hands for peaks and tie hiring to confirmed orders.
Keep one weekly sheet of each trade's needs and capacity, owned by the project manager and reviewed with the team leads.
Set stages, reviews and pay steps from helper to fitter, and say it out loud so they see the route.
We would ask your senior fitter about knowledge missing from the drawings, trace the last late jobs to the stage that delayed them and see how helpers move up. A fair first job is a build-review routine plus a fitter grading scheme. After we talk, the scope goes into writing.
More on HR for manufacturing
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