Skill What it means Level needed Shop Safety & PPE Works safely around the hot surfaces, molten or heated material and high-force machinery on the job: wears the PPE the task requires, keeps guards, gates and interlocks in place, recognizes the burn, pinch and crush hazards before running, reports unsafe conditions, and knows the response for a spill, a fire or an injury. 0 1 2 3 × Lockout / Tagout Applies lockout and tagout to isolate electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic and stored energy before a mold change, a purge, a jam clear or any reach into the machine, and verifies zero energy before starting work. 0 1 2 3 × Print Reading Reads the job packet before the run starts, meaning the part print, the work order, the setup sheet and the process parameter card, and confirms the material, cavity count, cycle target and packaging the job calls for. 0 1 2 3 × Shop Math Uses whole numbers, fractions, decimals, percentages and simple formulas to work out the job's charge, shot or batch quantities, mix proportions, yield and scrap rates, piece counts and conversions between inch and metric. 0 1 2 3 × Measurement & Gauging Measures parts and castings with scales, calipers, micrometers, depth gauges and go/no-go gauges, records the reading with its unit, and confirms it against the specification on the print. 0 1 2 3 × Materials & Resins Identifies the material families the plant runs, knows the working temperature and the drying, conditioning or shelf-life requirement for each, and checks the lot number and certificate against the work order before the material goes into the process. 0 1 2 3 × Material Handling & Staging Moves and stages the job's material, tooling and finished parts safely using the right handling aid for the weight, from hand carrying and carts up to pallet jacks and overhead hoists, and keeps the staging area clear and labeled for the next job. 0 1 2 3 × Startup & Shutdown Brings the equipment up to running condition and takes it back down in the right order: temperatures at soak, water, air and hydraulics checked, the first output run and set aside, and at end of run the material cleared out, the tooling emptied and the machine left safe and clean. 0 1 2 3 × Injection & Blow Molding Runs an injection molding machine, or a blow or rotational molding machine on the same principle, in automatic or semi-automatic cycle to a setup somebody else established: loads inserts, clears the gate, tends parts off the conveyor or robot, and keeps the press cycling to the target. 0 1 2 3 × Shot Control Reads the machine controller and checks the running process against the setup sheet, covering the job's temperatures, the injection or shot pressures and speeds, shot size and the hold and cool times, then reports drift and makes only the small adjustments the job authorizes. 0 1 2 3 × Mold & Die Changes Assists with pulling the previous mold or die and installing the next one: rigging it in, clamping to specification, hooking up water and hydraulic lines, wiring the temperature controller, and verifying the mold is safe and square before the first shot. 0 1 2 3 × Purging & Color Change Purges the barrel and hot runner between materials or colors using the specified purging compound, runs the purge until clean, and confirms the first good parts are free of streaking or contamination before the run counts. 0 1 2 3 × Die Casting Operation Runs a hot-chamber or cold-chamber die casting machine to an established setup: ladles or verifies the metered shot, applies die lubricant, cycles the die, and extracts the casting and biscuit without disturbing the die. 0 1 2 3 × Mold & Core Preparation Prepares the mold for the job's process: builds or assembles the mold from the pattern, form or tooling, sets any cores or inserts, applies the release agent or mold coating the job calls for, and closes, vents and conditions it so it is ready to receive material. 0 1 2 3 × Melt & Pour Handling Understands what happens at the melting and pouring station well enough to work safely near it and assist: recognizes the moisture, cold-tool and splash hazards around molten material, keeps the transfer and pour path clear, and skims, degasses or moves molten material only under direct supervision. 0 1 2 3 × Part Removal & Trimming Gets the finished part out of the mold or die and cleans it up: separates it from the sprue, runner, gate or surrounding mold material, trims flash to the line, and deburrs or grinds as needed without damaging or contaminating the part, so it is ready for the next operation. 0 1 2 3 × Auxiliary Equipment Sets up and tends the support equipment that feeds and services the main machine, meaning the material conditioning, mixing, cooling, temperature control, conveying and part handling units, keeps each at the setting the job calls for, and reports when one drifts or alarms. 0 1 2 3 × Cycle Monitoring Makes rounds of the assigned machines on a set interval, watches cycle time, alarms and part flow, answers call lights in order of priority, and gets help when the machine drifts off target. 0 1 2 3 × In-Process Inspection Pulls parts at the required frequency, checks them visually, dimensionally and by functional fit against the boundary sample and the print, and labels the box or tote as passing or held before it moves. 0 1 2 3 × Defect Identification Names what went wrong on a bad part, such as short shot, flash, sink, warp, splay, burn or weld line on plastic, or porosity, cold shut, misrun, shrink or inclusion on a casting, and tells the setter what the machine is doing. 0 1 2 3 × Scrap & Regrind Handling Separates, weighs and records scrap by cause, keeps reclaimed material clean, segregated and correctly identified to its lot or alloy, and returns it to the process only at the ratio the job allows so contaminated or over-ratio material never gets run. 0 1 2 3 × Fluid Power & Electrical Checks Checks hydraulic oil level and temperature, air pressure and water flow before and during a run, reads a basic schematic well enough to find the component named on it, and reports leaks, low pressure or a tripped device rather than repairing it. 0 1 2 3 × PM & Housekeeping Performs operator-level preventive maintenance on schedule, such as lubricating the listed points, cleaning and protecting the tooling and machine surfaces, and clearing or changing filters and screens, and leaves the cell clean, tools stored and waste disposed of correctly at end of shift. 0 1 2 3 × Production Records & SPC Fills in the run paperwork accurately and on time, covering cycle and shift counts, downtime and cause codes, scrap by reason and quality check results, enters it into the plant system, and plots readings on the SPC chart where the job requires it. 0 1 2 3 × Shift Handoff Hands the job over cleanly at shift change and in end-of-run meetings by saying what ran, what broke, what was adjusted and what the next crew should watch, and works alongside setters, toolroom, quality and material handlers across a mixed crew. 0 1 2 3 × Compression Molding Runs a heated-platen compression or transfer press to a setup someone else established: loads the weighed charge or preform, closes the press, runs the cure timer, and unloads and deflashes the part. 0 1 2 3 × Thermoforming Tends a vacuum or pressure thermoforming machine to the setup sheet: loads sheet or roll stock, watches the heater-zone readouts, lets the forming and trim-in-place cycle run, and unloads and stacks parts for someone else's dimensional check. 0 1 2 3 × Furnace Charging Works the melt deck to a charge sheet someone else wrote: weighs and adds sorted scrap, ingot and alloy additions to the furnace and holds the bath at the set temperature until the lab verifies chemistry. 0 1 2 3 × Investment Casting Runs the lost-wax front end of a casting job: injects and assembles wax patterns, builds the mold by dipping and stuccoing a ceramic shell to the gauged coat count or by investing a flask, and runs dewax and burnout to the published ramp. 0 1 2 3 × Potting & Encapsulation Mixes a two-part potting or encapsulating resin to the specified ratio inside its pot life, dispenses or pours it around the assembly to the fill line without trapping air, and runs the oven cure to the posted schedule. 0 1 2 3 × Composite Layup Builds an open-mold laminate to a ply schedule someone else wrote: cuts and places the reinforcement, wets it out and rolls out the air, and bags the part and runs the vacuum or infusion step before the resin's working time runs out. 0 1 2 3 × Cleanroom & Gowning Works at the press inside a controlled environment to the posted protocol: gowns in the correct sequence, brings material in only through the pass-through with a wipe-down, keeps cardboard, wood and other excluded materials outside the line, and never blocks or defeats the airflow. 0 1 2 3 ×
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