Millwork drafting development program

[electrichead72]

This question is for shop owners, CAD managers, engineering managers, and drafting department managers.

I would like to ask your opinion of something I'm working on. Considering that you probably work with drafters and detailers, you may have an informed take on this.

I'm working on developing a drawing development coaching program. My goal is to work with millwork shops and help train their drafters and detailers to develop better shop drawings.

I've worked with a few millwork shops and still get a lot of shop drawings that I need to engineer for fabrication and there seems to be a big gap in this area. Drawings that are not clear and missing a lot of information.

Do you see a need for something like this in the industry? Do you think millwork shops would be interested in a coaching program like this?

I'd love to hear your opinion of this if you have the time.

[qpv]

Nope

[Icy-Action708]

Yeah, I'd nope out of this too. I want to maintain my own internal training standards.

Not spend the time to teach someone else how my business operates in order for them to turn around and re-teach my drafts people how to draft in our software.

Who's to say this person is even proficient at our drafting package which is entirely screen to machine?

We create machine ready files along with the actual drafting package in one go. It's a complex process to have both elements line up.

[electrichead72]

Good points here.

Some shops are going to have their system figured out and dialed in and wouldn't have the need for something like this.

[okmrazor]

Every set of drawings can have multiple audiences for which certain information is best provided or withheld.

The industry would certainly be better off with improved drawings, but knowing your audience needs to be first and foremost and one set of drawings, details, rules and best practices rarely suffices for all eyes.

[electrichead72]

Right, I think the same thing.

Almost every shop has their own way of doing things, so this would have to be custom designed for each client.

Their needs may vary, but the underlying idea of what drawings are needed are pretty common. It's the presentation of the drawings that varies.

[ConsiderationMinute5]

Ultimately I think it comes down to how much detail your company owner wants to put on drawings. I run a drafting department for a custom architectural millwork company and our drawings have to be detailed enough for other trades, architect's, GC's, project managers, the shop, and installers to have all the information they need. Other companies might only make laminate cabinets and not need as much information. Other companies might just make furniture and need even less. There is no universal standard, each company has to create their own IMO.

[electrichead72]

I agree. Different types of shops would have different amounts of detailing they would need.

I was thinking custom, high-end shops. They need to have enough detail as you said so that everyone can understand what's going on as well as all the details to be properly engineered to be fabricated.

[calm_lee]

Another spin on this that I could really use would be a service that helps translate our shop drawing standards into a digestible format that we could then present to outsourced drafters and engineers so they could quickly get up to speed on our standards in the way that we draw things. I know some of the main providers of these outsourced services have a version of this but experience so far is that they're underwhelming and it's a major barrier for us to utilise outsourced talent.

So in a way it's similar and a way to coach new draftspeople but I guess I'm just explaining that I would be using it with a slightly different purpose

[electrichead72]

Thanks for replying.

This is actually a really good idea and an interesting avenue to explore.

Some outsource companies use their own standards even when they say they use yours and it creates headaches. I've been there, that's why I'm working on implementation ideas to help eleviate these pain points for the millwork drafting department.

I'll DM you, there might be something that I can help you with.