Skill What it means Level needed Shop Safety & PPE Works safely around molten material, hot barrels and dies, and high clamp force machines: wears the required PPE, keeps guards and gates in place, knows the burn and pinch hazards, reports unsafe conditions before running, 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 figure shot weights, scrap rates, cycle counts, regrind ratios 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 plastics and metals in use (polypropylene, polyethylene, ABS, nylon and engineered resins; aluminum, zinc and iron alloys), knows their melt temperatures and drying requirements, and verifies the lot against the work order before it goes in the machine. – 0 1 2 3 Material Handling & Staging Moves and stages resin gaylords, ingot, sand, molds, dies and finished parts safely using hand trucks, pallet jacks and overhead hoists, and keeps the staging area clear for the next job. – 0 1 2 3 Startup & Shutdown Brings the machine up to running condition and takes it back down in the right sequence: heats soaked, water and hydraulics checked, first shots run and scrapped, and at end of run the barrel emptied, dies cleared and the machine left safe. – 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 barrel and mold temperatures, injection pressure and speed, shot size, cushion, hold and cool times, and reports drift or 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 sand molds and cores or readies a permanent mold for pouring: rams or blows the mold from the pattern or core box, sets cores, vents and closes the mold, and coats or preheats a permanent mold as the job calls for. – 0 1 2 3 Melt & Pour Handling Understands what happens at the furnace and the pouring line well enough to work safely near it and assist: recognizes moisture and cold-tool hazards around molten metal, keeps the pour path clear, and helps skim, degas or transport only under direct supervision. – 0 1 2 3 Part Removal & Trimming Gets the part out and cleaned up: shakes out or knocks out castings, breaks off sprues, runners, gates and flash, trims to the line, and deburrs or grinds so the part is ready for the next operation. – 0 1 2 3 Auxiliary Equipment Sets up and tends the equipment feeding and supporting the press, meaning resin dryers and hoppers, gravimetric or volumetric blenders, chillers and mold temperature units, conveyors, granulators and part-handling robots. – 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 regrind clean and correctly identified, and blends regrind back only at the ratio the job allows so contaminated or over-ratio material never reaches the press. – 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 greasing tie bars and toggles, wiping and oiling mold faces, and cleaning filters and granulator screens, and leaves the cell clean, tools stored and waste disposed 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
Oregon publishes ten employability skills, the same statewide. Tick the three that matter most for this job.