drawing management

Hey everybody,

I would like to know how everybody organizes their drawings. Here at work it´s a bit caotic. We organize all our drawings by date but don´t usualy have anyother standards such as review, final drawing, etc. etc.

Would apreciate if anybody would like to share their standards.

In more former place of employment, a consulting engineering company, every drawing was organized by project number.

In my current job, at a specialty chemical company, drawing files are organized by process number and/or building number.

what do you mean organise them by date? sorry dont quite understand. could you give me an example of it? without the real drawing info ofcourse .

in my company it is organised by project number, i thinks its the easiest way for consulting engineering firms to do it.

We organize drawings by project name_date of last alteration_type , (type being plan file or elevation file)

I was wondering if anybody used any other type of standard to organize their drawings....

we organise our drawings by

• project number
  • structural item number
    • drawing number
      • revision status identifier

There are countless ways of doing it.

Ideally, it should follow a similar pattern to the rest of the file numbering procedures in your company's Quality Assurance Policy documents.

we organise our drawings by

• project number
  • structural item number
    • drawing number
      • revision status identifier

NBC,

what consists of a revision status identifier?

Ours is pretty straight forward.

Client

/ project number - e.g 399

/sub project number - e.g 01

drawing number - eg. one

fab 01

profile 01

machine 01

so typically our title border shall state.

Client: blah blah

Description ; la di dah

Job No: 399/01

Dwg No: Fab 01

NBC,

 

what consists of a revision status identifier?

The first issue of a drawing at tender stage would be T01; if the drawing changes in any way, it would then become revision T02, etc.

When the drawing is ready to issue for construction, its' revision status would be C01, etc.

Our folder structure goes by client number, then contract number, then drawings.

Folder Name is the project number and drawings are named according to project, cost code, type, Series #

Folder - 90001 ('9' for 2009 and '0001' for the first contract in this year)

Drawings

90001101A01

Contract - '90001'; Cost Code - '101'; Architectural - 'A'; First Elevation - '01'

90001101E01

Contract - '90001'; Cost Code - '101'; Electrical - 'E'; First in Series - '01' (can be several different type ie. utilities, panelboards, UPS, lighting, etc)

The best system I have ever seen was developed by Bechtel in nuclear power generation. You could look at any document whether it was a drawing, spec, procedure etc. and tell exactly what discipline was involved, what system it belonged to, where it was located, what sub type if any(Piping/Large Bore Supports), what series and revision level it was in. They really had their stuff together. Finest company I've ever had the pleasure working with.

Every system has its good and bad points.

The keys to any system are knowing what the system is, and sticking to it.

Company Initials (3), Year (2), project number (3)

So the first project for this year is SPX09001. Drawings are numbered SPX09001A01, ...E01, ...P01, etc.

Folder Structure

Projects Current\SPX09001\ (Drawings placed here)

Projects Current\SPX09001\ pdf files\

Projects Current\SPX09001\ xls files\

Projects Current\SPX09001\ revisions\RA\, RB\, R0\, R1\, etc

Projects Current\SPX09001\ word\

Projects Current\SPX09001\ schedule\

and so on

When project is issued for Construction

Projects IFC\2009\SPX09001\

Every system has its good and bad points.

 

The keys to any system are knowing what the system is, and sticking to it.

I couldn't agree more. The system doesn't have to be complicated. There are many small companies with smaller projects than building two 1250KW electric generating stations and, at the time, the largest man-made reservoir in the world that still benefit from having an easily identifiable system. Most systems are easy when you know what they mean and easy to organize when everyone sticks with that system.

I love a good system!

The best system I have ever seen was developed by Bechtel in nuclear power generation. You could look at any document whether it was a drawing, spec, procedure etc. and tell exactly what discipline was involved, what system it belonged to, where it was located, what sub type if any(Piping/Large Bore Supports), what series and revision level it was in. They really had their stuff together. Finest company I've ever had the pleasure working with.

Care to explain the Bechtel system?

I thought I had, but maybe an example would be helpful. It's been twenty years, but this is what I can remember.

1-CW-Z-MEB-D-001-01

1 - Unit 1

CW - Cooling Water System

Z - Controls

MEB - Mechanical/Electrical Building

D - Drawing ; P - Procedure etc.

001 - Series

01 - Revision Level

Of course it's obvious what you have - a drawing or a procedure - when you have it in your hand, but not when it is a number on a report of the Total Plant Numbering System (TPNS).

Our naming system could be considered primitive, but it is effective. We use abbreviations of the customer & their location (city/state or country) followed by the date and then another abbreviation of the type of equipment used in our layout.

The benefit here is being able to look at the file name and know who, what, when about the drawing without opening it!

An example - TYSBVGA0709NT

TYS = customer

BV = City

GA = state

0709 = month/year

NT = equipment type (multiple equipment abbreviations are sometimes used)

It works well for us, and I think that is the important thing...make it work for your company!

that all seems a bit over complicated in my opinion Ryder and joe, but its all about what works. I use a simplified version of UDS.

(project number) - (discipline desognator) - (sheet type designator)

that all seems a bit over complicated in my opinion Ryder and joe, but its all about what works. I use a simplified version of UDS.

 

(project number) - (discipline desognator) - (sheet type designator)

Yes the Total Plant Numbering System was complex, but so was the project. It was the largest Pressurize Water Reactor nuclear power electric generating station in the world at the time, 1250 kW per unit, two units. It also involved divering the Colorado River and the civil work involved to create the largest manmade reservoir at the time. They broke ground in the 70's and completed to start up of both units by 1989. The first Engineering company on the job was Brown and Root. Bechtel took over in the 80's and finished the project along with Ebasco and Westinghouse.

If you are curious....

http://www.stpnoc.com/