Methods used to control drawing quality control?

[tedg]

The A&E firm I work for has recently grown quite a bit. About 5 years ago we were about 50 people and now we're pushing 80 people. We have cadd operators of all degrees, some with minimal training all the way up to senior drafter/designers. The cadd operators work within their departments but help out wherever they can. We have a pretty decent set of cadd standards to follow also.
That said, we have a problem with newer, in-experienced people generating poor cadd work. They either look bad and hard to read or just don't follow the normal way we do things. Unfortunately the company isn't set up where the drafters report to any lead drafter who knows what's going on. They basically work for architects or engineers that aren't aware how serious cadd problems can get.

Does any one have any ideas I can bounce off my superiors for checking and controlling these problems before they get too big and go out the door? cadd test upon hiring? QC department? Better procedures?

We don't want to cram procedures down their throat but some things shouldn't be left to interpretation.

Thanks for any advice and input.

Ted

[Wanderer]

<tic> if you point out the flaws, they'll just make you cadd manager... run away while you still can.

The A&E firm I work for has recently grown quite a bit. About 5 years ago we were about 50 people and now we're pushing 80 people. We have cadd operators of all degrees, some with minimal training all the way up to senior drafter/designers. The cadd operators work within their departments but help out wherever they can. We have a pretty decent set of cadd standards to follow also.
That said, we have a problem with newer, in-experienced people generating poor cadd work. They either look bad and hard to read or just don't follow the normal way we do things. Unfortunately the company isn't set up where the drafters report to any lead drafter who knows what's going on. They basically work for architects or engineers that aren't aware how serious cadd problems can get.

Does any one have any ideas I can bounce off my superiors for checking and controlling these problems before they get too big and go out the door? cadd test upon hiring? QC department? Better procedures?

We don't want to cram procedures down their throat but some things shouldn't be left to interpretation.

Thanks for any advice and input.

Ted

[Mike.Perry]

Hi

Do you have any CAD Standards in place ?

If yes, how are they implemented / enforced ?

If no, setting up some simple CAD Standards that all users should follow would be a big! step in the right direction ( in my humble opinion ).

Have a good one, Mike

[Wanderer]

from the end of the 1st paragraph... "We have a pretty decent set of cadd standards to follow also." I think the question here is one of enforcement more than anything...

i'd suggest telling someone slightly higher up about time/money costs of inconsistent workmanship, and suggest the formation of a person or two to review/check drawings before being sent out... the authority needed for this is obviously going to be your biggest issue.

Hi

Do you have any CAD Standards in place ?

If yes, how are they implemented / enforced ?

If no, setting up some simple CAD Standards that all users should follow would be a big! step in the right direction ( in my humble opinion ).

Have a good one, Mike

[Mike.Perry]

from the end of the 1st paragraph... "We have a pretty decent set of cadd standards to follow also." I think the question here is one of enforcement more than anything...

<SNIP>

Hi

I guees I should learn to read first...

Have a good one, Mike

[Wanderer]

that's what you've got me for, isn't it?

Hi

I guees I should learn to read first...

Have a good one, Mike

[Brian Myers]

That said, we have a problem with newer, in-experienced people generating poor cadd work. They either look bad and hard to read or just don't follow the normal way we do things.

They basically work for architects or engineers that aren't aware how serious cadd problems can get.

Does any one have any ideas I can bounce off my superiors for checking and controlling these problems before they get too big and go out the door? cadd test upon hiring? QC department? Better procedures?

I don't disagree that bad CAD standards can cause your firm a loss of money, etc. which would be my first arguement, but that would be something you would need to quantify and present. Is this something you could do?

Perhaps the people you really need to get on your side are those individuals that seal the plans and have the ultimate liability. They are putting their seal on plans that are looking less professional and supplying these plans to loyal customers that are also seeing a degrade in the quality standards of work. This isn't a good thing as it could lead to the perception that your firm doesn't care about the quality of work going out the door and its not just the company these employees represent, its each individual that seals the plans that look bad as they place their "stamp of quality" on them. Architects and Engineers if anything take pride in the work they produce. If you can show that they can take more pride and provide more confidence to their clients by providing a higher standard of quality in their production environment, you're set as you'll have managements backing.

[BrenBren]

The A&E firm I work for has recently grown quite a bit. About 5 years ago we were about 50 people and now we're pushing 80 people. We have cadd operators of all degrees, some with minimal training all the way up to senior drafter/designers. The cadd operators work within their departments but help out wherever they can. We have a pretty decent set of cadd standards to follow also.
That said, we have a problem with newer, in-experienced people generating poor cadd work. They either look bad and hard to read or just don't follow the normal way we do things. Unfortunately the company isn't set up where the drafters report to any lead drafter who knows what's going on. They basically work for architects or engineers that aren't aware how serious cadd problems can get.

Does any one have any ideas I can bounce off my superiors for checking and controlling these problems before they get too big and go out the door? cadd test upon hiring? QC department? Better procedures?

We don't want to cram procedures down their throat but some things shouldn't be left to interpretation.

Thanks for any advice and input.

Ted

We have a lot of the same things occurring here. Our company has recently implemented a new quality program (we've always had one, but it was typically for our manufacturing plants, not really the design groups).

Anyway, we have a couple of teams that have been formed; an audit team, which will just audit different areas at random. There is a team that responds to anything that an end customer comments on, or if we discover something in the design phase that could create a problem that the end customer would/could comment on. This team reviews the issue and basically comes up with a way to keep it from happening again.

~shrug~ it's all pretty new, so I don't know how it will all work out, but we shall see.

In any case, I think you will need some sort of team to audit or check this work. It doesn't have to be all the time, if it is random, people will still learn that the drawings need to be right, because if they do get audited, they are going to have to redo them, or whatever your company deems appropriate action.

[Ogre]

that's what you've got me for, isn't it?

Not to hijack the thread, I just wanted to say that was cute!

[BrenBren]

Not to hijack the thread, I just wanted to say that was cute!

Not to further hijack the thread, but, newlyweds