IMHO
I personally think that anyone that has to read drawings and those that make drawings should be educated on both. You can't read a drawing if you never made one, and you can't make one if you never read one. So learn how to read them and make them. Also learn the ANSI Standard or whatever standard you are using. This will pay for itself in the long run because you won't be scrapping material all the time. Plus the man/woman reading the drawing will know what the drawing is implying and won't have to call the Engineer, Drafter, or Designer to find an answer. Also they won't guess or assume they know the answer.
What kills everyone in this line of work is the fact that not everyone is informed about drawings, standards, etc... If a person can't read a drawing, then that person is going to cost the company money. You get a lot of these people then the company is going to really start losing money. Then they (the company) gets tired of losing money and packs up and moves to another country.
If a company has a standard and it deviates from the ANSI standard then that's, that companies prerogative, but no matter what. Every one in the company should be aware of the standard and how to process the drawings when one is given to them.
If your company wants to use the word "seven" instead of the number 7. Then you should make a rule and clear it with the entire company and never deviate from it. That’s what ISO 9000 (and up) helps do. The purpose of standards is to help all of us in this field read each other’s work. Most companies have their own way of manipulating the standard so people can’t follow their work. That’s fine just as long as those companies follow their own standard and any new person that enters the company follow it too.
I would rather see most to all companies us the standard of their choice to it fulliest extent, but that doesn't happen very often.
I’m big on standardization because I have seen it from both sides and a company without it will tumble and fight to manage all their drawings. Standardize them and you won’t have to fight the ongoing up hill battle of standardization.
I might have missed the point here, but I had to express my opinion on this.
Thanks... Best Regards,
Scott Baugh, CSWP
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