XREF's in a new office

[Guest]

I have recently made a move to manage a smaller drafting department in a manufacturing environment.

For the most part, the drafting department is disorganized. I have been making changes to make things more efficient in the department, such as standardizing Layers, Blocks & drawing templates amongst many other things.

For the most part the drafters have been receptive to most of the changes that I have implemented, but I feel as though I am running into a brick wall, with suggesting XREF’s.

I know that not all of the drafting disciplines benefit from the use of XREF’s, but in this case I truly believe that it would be beneficial to implement the use. The current method is to place all of the drawings into one drawing, which makes things quite confusing when someone else looks at them.

I made a list of Pro’s & Con’s. I would like to get other opinions of my list.

XREF PRO’S

1. Drawing sizes are reduced.
   
2. Allows multiple users to work on individual components of a project.
   
3. Ease of use for using/finding the most recent & older versions of a drawing.
   
4. In most cases, drawings will be updated in 1 place and will be redefined automatically with any and all drawings which it is referenced to.
   
5. XREF’s are easy to learn to use.
   

XREF CON’S

1. XREF’s is something that is new to learn.
   
2. More drawings will be required to make XREF’s function properly.
   

I do have the option of forcing the use of XREF’s onto my employees, but I would prefer it if they willingly would accept the fact that it would be more efficient if we used them.

I would appreciate anyone’s thought or opinions on this.

Thanks in advance,

 

[BlackBox]

It sounds as though your department is very fortunate to have a thoughtful leader that is both concerned with efficiency and morale.

 

I am a big fan of XREFs, and have been using them for years.

 

The ability for multiple users to work on a project at once has both led to my production team to be more efficient, and more profitable, as we will discuss the scope of an changes to the plan set, and distribute work accordingly.

 

For example, one person can go into our plan master and add a new water main horizontally, and another person can go into the profile master and add it vertically, then someone can come in behind them and add the appropriate labels to the actual plan sheets (which reference the before mentioned masters).

 

Hope this helps!

[CyberAngel]

If you explain the advantages properly, they should see that xrefs will make their jobs simpler. My predecessor didn't use xrefs. I don't know how he kept track of all the changes he had to make in each drawing in each project. I would add to point 4 of the Pro list that making a change in only one place reduces errors, and that should make management happier. That should make everyone happier. For point 2, I would emphasize that you will reduce bottlenecks, especially when a deadline is looming.

 

On the minus side (and your people may have realized this), if you make your department too efficient, someone's job might become superfluous. You've got to come up with a way to organize all those new drawings; you may need some kind of version control as well.

 

The reason for the resistance in your people may be adjustment burnout. Even if their work is getting easier, they may feel that the changes are coming too fast and that they will never end. If that's the case, you could make a list (or a style manual, which you need anyway) and show them that the process is finite.

[Guest]

Thanks for the input.

 

Renderman I have also been using XREF's for years as well, and I am a big fan of them as well. I agree with the point you make, which is why I want to implement them.

CyberAngel I think that the burn out for changes, may be the issue. Your comment on the minus side is well noted, at this point. Although in becoming more efficient, we will also be able to provide more support in other areas in which the current department is lacking in, so this would then become a moot point. For the point of controlling versions ect., there is a method to the madness, which will keep things very simple.

At this point, I am going to send the Pro/Con list to my employees to let them think about the issue a bit, so that when I approach them about the issue we can have a reasonable conversation.

[BlackBox]

You're welcome.

[CyberAngel]

Good luck!