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.
To read the previous post in the series, visit “How to Structure Your Engineering Department: For Companies with $15M – $30M Revenue.“
For Companies with $30M+ Revenue:
Welcome back to our blog series, where we dive into the intricacies of structuring a successful millwork engineering department. In this final installment, we focus on established companies surpassing the $30M mark, highlighting strategies to align the department with company goals, enhance cross-department collaboration, and measure and improve performance.
Support and Align with Company Goals
In the realm of millwork engineering, aligning with your company’s overarching goals is not just beneficial – it’s essential. For instance, if the business aims to reduce costs and increase efficiency, the engineering leader could start by tracking rework related to engineering errors, setting a goal to reduce these costs by a specific percentage by year’s end.
Collaborate with Other Departments
The synergy between departments is a cornerstone of efficiency and innovation. An example of this collaboration is aligning engineering material and hardware SKUs with purchasing’s database. This integration ensures engineering reports and data output are directly usable by purchasing, saving time, and reducing mistakes.
Measure and Enhance Performance
The continuous assessment and enhancement of your department’s performance utilizing data is crucial. A practical approach is tracking actual engineering hours by work order. This data allows for an analysis comparing actual labor hours, by work order type, to the estimates, providing invaluable insights to improve engineering labor estimate data for future projects.
As we conclude this series, remember that these strategies are pivotal in ensuring the longevity and success of your millwork engineering department. By aligning with company goals, fostering cross-department collaboration, and continuously measuring and enhancing performance, we pave the way for a department that is not just effective but exemplary in its field.
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