How to Structure Your Engineering Department: For Companies with $0M - $5M Revenue
Introduction
Your millwork engineering department is the backbone of your business. It's not just about producing submittal drawings that mirror the client's design intent. It's about detailing the materials, fabrication, and assembly methods you'll employ. Beyond these primary tasks, they generate detailed cutlists, CNC machine programming, and other pivotal documents to streamline production. Yet, in many millwork organizations, these departments often shoulder additional roles like IT support, material takeoffs, and project management tasks.
Having managed engineering departments ranging from 3 to 85 engineers, I've garnered insights and strategies. In this four-part series, I'll share my blueprint for structuring an engineering department, catering to businesses of all sizes.
For Companies with $0M - $5M Revenue:
Clarify Responsibilities & Establish Processes
At this stage, you're probably realizing the need for a dedicated engineer or team. Or perhaps, you already have one but lack established processes or clear job descriptions. You're not alone! This is a common starting point and a significant milestone.
The primary focus here should be on delineating clear responsibilities and processes. Engineering departments, especially in smaller organizations, often become the default for technical and IT-related tasks. They might also take on extensive roles in supporting project management and production, especially when roles aren't clearly defined.
“Engineering departments, especially in smaller organizations, often become the default for technical and IT-related tasks.”
This can be problematic. Your engineers are invaluable, possessing unique skills vital to your organization. Overburdening them with tasks that others can handle detracts from their primary responsibilities. To ensure they remain focused and efficient:
Define Their Inputs
Determine the information essential for successful engineering and the format you expect it in.
Create a checklist of requirements before they start any project or task. This roadmap guides them to the desired outcome.
Define the inputs for each process stage, ensuring your team has the necessary tools for efficient task completion.
Document the Process
Begin with an outline of your current workflow, using it as a foundation.
Understand the design lifecycle: it usually starts with a project handoff, followed by estimating/sales requesting shop drawings.
Break it down into stages: Submittals, Redlines & field dimension incorporation, and Engineering & production release.
Focus on the work between these milestones. If we segment it into these stages, then we need three sets of documentation.
Outline specifics on responsibility for each step in the process.
For a deeper dive into these initial steps, refer to my blog series, "A Simple Blueprint to Successfully Manage a Millwork Design Team."
As you work through these steps, it's crucial to streamline your engineers' responsibilities. Preserve as much of their capacity as possible for tasks uniquely suited to their skill set. Anything that can be delegated to other team members should be. The more your engineers can concentrate on drafting and programming, the more successful they will be. By ensuring they focus on their core competencies, you not only optimize their productivity but also enhance the overall efficiency and output of your organization.
Ready to solve the talent shortage and elevate your millwork business? Contact DuckWorks today to discover how our outstaffing services can revolutionize your drafting resources and drive success.
