Onboarding and probation for Machine Tool Builders: the first ninety days of a fitter or control engineer
A new fitter or control engineer joins a long build with many stages. Onboarding has to show where they fit in a machine's journey and test their real skill before probation ends.
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Share your requirementsWhy onboarding and probation matters in machine tool builders
Most builders hand the new person a bench and a senior's name. A fitter who says he has ten years of experience may have spent them on assembly of simple units and never on guideway fitting. A control engineer may know one controller brand and not yours. This shows up late, when a spindle assembly is returned or a machine fails run-off, and by then the probation date has passed.
Good onboarding gives a first week of walking the build route from casting to dispatch, with a fixed buddy. By week two the new person does one graded task on a real machine with a senior watching. The accuracy inspector scores the work against the same list used for existing staff. The probation review uses those scores, the buddy's notes and a short talk about what the person wants to learn next.
How to set it up
1. Plan the first week as a walk through one machine's build
Let the new person follow a machine from casting machining to grinding, scraping, assembly, controls and run-off. A day at each stage, with a buddy and a short sheet of safety points for each.
2. Check the real skill in week two
Give one graded task suited to the role, such as a slide fit, a spindle mount or a drive set-up. A senior watches, and the inspector reads the result. Use the same task list for all new joiners.
3. Set three targets for the probation period
Write down three things the person must do alone by the review date. Fitters might have slide fitting, spindle alignment and a clean accuracy check. Share the targets in writing on day one.
4. Hold a review at forty-five days and at the end
Short talks with the buddy, the supervisor and the inspector. Discuss what is working and what is not. Record the outcome in the employee file. See onboarding for the structure we would set up.
5. Record the decision and the reason
Confirm, extend or part ways, with a line on why. Over time this record shows which hiring sources produce fitters who stay and which do not.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Look at the last five joiners and note whether any had a skill check before probation ended.
- Ask a fitter who joined last year what the first week was like and what was missing.
- Count how many probation reviews happened on or near the due date.
- Check if the accuracy inspector has ever been asked to score a new joiner's work.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach onboarding and probation in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
No. Start with sub-assemblies or practice fits and let the senior check them. A mistake on a customer order costs a casting, a grind or a delivery date, so the first real task should be graded and low risk.
The length is your decision and depends on your contract terms. What we would add is a skill check in the first fortnight and a targets review midway, so the final decision is never a surprise to the person or to you.
Find out in week two, not month five. Compare the graded task result with the CV. If the gap is small, plan training. If it is large, speak plainly and decide early. A short, honest talk is kinder than a long drift.