Any supervisor should excel at:

• Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment.
• Detecting or assessing problems whether real or potential.
• Monitoring and controlling resources and overseeing the spending of money.

Controllers are expected to be good at:

• Using either control mechanisms or direct physical activity to operate manufacturing systems.
• Working with hand operated industrial machines and power tools.
• Adjusting knobs, levers, and physical or touch sensitive buttons in industrial devices.
• Running, maneuvering, navigating, or driving vehicles or mechanized equipment, such as forklifts, passenger vehicles, aircraft, or watercraft.

• Preparing parts sketches and writing working orders and purchasing requests to be furnished by outside contractors.
• Drafting detail drawing or sketching for drafting room completion or for requesting parts fabrication by machine, sheet or wood shops.
• Reviewing project instructions and blueprints for ascertaining testing specifications, procedures, and objectives, and testing nature of technical problems such as redesigning.
• Reviewing project instructions and specifications for identifying, modifying and planning requirements fabrication, assembly and testing.
• Devising, fabricating, and assembling new or modified mechanical components for products such as industrial machinery or equipment, and measuring instruments.
• Discussing changes in design, method of manufacture and assembly, and drafting techniques and procedures with staff and coordinating corrections.
• Setting up and conducting tests of completed units and components under operational conditions for investigating proposals for improving equipment performance.