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A Quick Introduction to Production
Page 1
T
his section includes skill standards for
the manufacturing concentration of
Production. These skill standards were
developed by the Manufacturing Skill
Standards Council (MSSC), under the aus-
pices of the National Skill Standards Board
(NSSB).
For a detailed explanation of each aspect
of the standards, see A Quick Orientation,
one of the guidebooks included with your
binder.
Skill Standards: A Brief Explanation
The MSSC developed skill standards for six
concentrations major areas of frontline man-
ufacturing work covering families of related
jobs. The standards in this document cover the
Production concentration. The Production
concentration is defined as follows:
The skill standards are made up of two major
components. They are:
Information About the Work. This com-
ponent describes what workers need to be
able to do on the job to perform compe-
tently. It includes:
Critical Work Functions The major
responsibilities of work within a con-
centration.
Key Activities The major duties or
tasks involved in carrying out a critical
work function.
Performance Indicators Indicators of
how to determine when someone is per-
forming each key activity competently.
Information About the Worker. This
aspect of the skill standards describes the
knowledge and skills an individual needs to
perform the work described by each critical
work function, along with its key activities
and performance indicators. There are
three types of knowledge and skills:
Academic Knowledge and Skills
Academic skills such as mathematics,
reading, etc.
Employability Knowledge and Skills
Broadly applicable skills such as work-
ing in teams, analyzing and solving
problems, etc.
Occupational and Technical Knowledge
and Skills Occupational and technical
skills that tend to be specific to an
industry or concentration, such as skill
in using inspection tools and equip-
ment, knowledge of manufacturing
processes, etc.
A Quick Introduction to Production
DEFINITION
Set up, operate,
monitor, control,
and improve man-
ufacturing process-
es and schedules to
meet customer and
business require-
ments.
SAMPLE JOBS
COVERED
Operator, produc-
tion associate,
assembler, set-up
operator, fabrica-
tor, systems opera-
tor , production
lead, and process
control operator
PRODUCTION Page 2
For the academic and employability knowl-
edge and skills, the MSSC skill standards
provide:
Complexity Ratings: These ratings tells us, for
a given critical work function, the level of com-
plexity required in a particular academic or
employability knowledge and skill. For example,
if writing is required in order to perform a given
critical work function, the complexity rating
would tell us whether someone needs to write
telephone messages versus technical manuals.
These ratings were developed using the NSSB
Academic and Employability Skill Scales. For
more information on the scales and complexity
ratings, see A Quick Orientation and the Skill
Scales Companion Guide. There are two types of
complexity ratings in the skill standards:
Overall Complexity Rating: As the name
implies, the overall complexity rating gives
us a rough estimate of the overall level of
complexity required for a given knowledge
and skill. These ratings are provided for
frontline workers (represented by the sym-
bol W) and first-line supervisors (repre-
sented by the symbol S). The scale is:
L = Low; M = Moderate; and H = High
In some cases, the overall complexity rat-
ing was NA (Non-Applicable). This
means that this skill was deemed not to be
needed to perform this given critical work
function, so no complexity rating was
assigned.
Subdimension Complexity Rating: To
give users more detailed information, the
MSSC skill standards also provide an indi-
vidual rating for each subdimension in the
NSSB Academic and Employability Skill
Scale (See the Skill Scales Companion
Guide). These ratings apply to frontline
workers only. Ratings have not been devel-
oped for first-line supervisors at this time.
The scale is: L = Low; M = Moderate; and
H = High
In some cases, the subdimension complex-
ity rating was NA (Non-Applicable). This
means that this particular dimension of the
skill was deemed not to be needed to per-
form this given critical work function, so
no complexity rating was assigned.
Occupational and Technical
Knowledge and Skills
Occupational and technical knowledge and
skills are unique to a given industry sector or
concentration. In manufacturing, they
include knowledge and skills in areas such as
inspection tools and equipment, production
tools and equipment, and manufacturing
processes.
The MSSC standards describe the occupa-
tional and technical knowledge and skills
needed to perform each critical work func-
tion. The occupational and technical knowl-
edge and skills are grouped into categories,
with specific examples under each category.
Please note that the MSSC did not develop
complexity ratings for the occupational and
technical knowledge and skills. This may be a
part of future research. Page 3
Here are step-by-step instructions to help
you get started:
1. Find a critical work function that inter-
ests you. Read each of its key activities,
along with its associated performance
indicators. You will find this information
in the About the Work section on the
left-hand page.
2. Open the fold-out pages and examine
the About the Worker sections that
focus on the academic and employability
knowledge and skills.
3. Start by looking at the first academic
knowledge and skill, which is always math,
and find out the overall complexity rating
by looking across the table to the right. To
understand what this rating means, see
the Skill Scales Companion Guide.
4. To find out the subdimension ratings for
math, look further across the standards,
using the Skill Scales Companion Guide
to understand what each rating means.
Repeat process for rest of academic and
employability knowledge and skills.
5. Now, look at the occupational and tech-
nical knowledge and skills needed for
this critical work function. These are
located on the back page of the two-page
fold-out section.
Tips for Getting Started Page 4
Concentration Ar
ea:
Pr
oduction
Critical Work Function:
Critical work functions
describe the major
responsibilities
involved in
carrying out a
concentration
Performance Indicators
Performance indicators correlate to the key activities. The performance indicators
provide information on how to determine when someone is performing each key
activity competently
The different and common needs of internal and external customers are recognized.
Customer contact about product aspects and printed specifications is maintained to ensure understanding of
needs.
Customer needs are reviewed on a regular basis.
Customer specifications are up-to-date.
Customer needs are communicated effectively to others including shift-to-shift, co-workers, and managers.
Issues preventing customer needs from being met are addressed proactively.
Raw materials are checked against work order.
Tools and equipment are checked against work order.
Inventory discrepancies are communicated to the proper parties.
Necessary resources are at workstation when required.
Workers with appropriate skills are scheduled according to production needs.
Proper repairs and adjustments are made to production equipment prior to putting into service.
Set-up meets process specifications of internal and external customers.
First piece or production run meets specifications.
Set-up procedures are documented for repeatability.
Set-up meets ergonomic and other relevant health, safety, and environmental standards.
Set-up meets equipment specifications.
Process control data indicates that the manufacturing process is in compliance with standards.
Manufacturing process cycle time meets customer and business needs.
Operations are performed safely.
Product meets customer specifications.
Product and process documentation is completed, maintained and forwarded to the proper parties.
Production operations comply with all health, safety, and environmental policies and procedures.
The calibration of the testing equipment is verified.
Established sampling plan and inspection policies and procedures are followed.
Product and production processes that do not meet specifications are identified promptly.
Inspection documentation is completed accurately and forwarded to the correct parties.
Appropriate testing and inspection tools and procedures are followed.
Adjustments needed to bring the production process back into specification are identified and communicated.
Necessary adjustments are performed in a timely manner.
Documentation of compliance is legible.
Documentation of compliance is written in the appropriate format and correctly stored.
Documentati