Role design and job descriptions for Valve Manufacturers: who owns a leak at the bench
When a valve leaks at test, the machinist, fitter and inspector each point at another. Written roles say who checks what before the valve moves on.
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Share your requirementsWhy role design and job descriptions matters in valve manufacturers
In many valve units the roles exist only as names. The casting inspector looks at castings, but nobody has written which defects he must stop. The machinist is told to cut to the drawing, but not whether he may reject a casting with a hard spot. The fitter assembles what arrives and the bench operator is told to pass or fail. A leak then starts an argument rather than a fix.
Good role design here is short and specific. Each role lists what it checks, what it may stop, who it hands over to and what record it keeps. A one-page sheet per role, written with the people doing the job, ends most arguments. Test bench staff get a defined authority to hold a valve, backed by the owner.
How to set it up
1. Map the path of one valve
Walk a single valve from casting receipt to dispatch. Note each hand-off: inspector to machining, machining to lapping, lapping to assembly, assembly to bench. Each hand-off is a place where a role needs words.
2. Write what each role checks and may stop
For the inspector, machinist, lapper, fitter and bench operator, write three to five checks and one stop right each. Use the shop's own terms, such as blow hole, seat finish, packing fitted.
3. Ask the people doing the job to correct it
Read each sheet aloud to the person who holds the role. They will fix what is wrong and add what you missed. This also builds ownership of the sheet.
4. Define how the bench can hold a valve
Give the test operator the right to hold a valve and name who is called, so a fault is sent back with the reason written. Avoid shouting; use a short tag or sheet.
5. Link roles to pay steps and training
Use the sheets to set skill levels, for example assistant fitter, fitter, senior lapper. Our role design support turns this into a simple grade ladder.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Whether you can name who is responsible for casting defects found after machining
- How many valves were reworked in the last month and which role found each fault
- Whether the bench operator has written authority to hold a lot
- Which roles have no written hand-off today
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
No. One page is enough: what the machinist checks, what he may reject, who he tells and what he records. Short, specific sheets are read; long ones go in a drawer.
The senior fitter and the supervisor together, with you reading the draft. The senior hand knows the real checks; the supervisor knows what the customer complains about.
Not if they help write them and the sheets protect them as well as check them. A fitter who is clearly allowed to refuse a bad part is glad of the sheet.