Getting Management to Invest in CAD Standards and Automation

Barrie Mathews, Softco Engineering Systems Inc.,
January 22, 2003

When the people who control your purse strings are not hands-on people who fully understand the technical aspects of CAD, it can be difficult for them to see the need for standards. Usually, business managers have other concerns and pressures that claim their attention, along the lines of: "When can I have the drawing? I have a meeting with the client in the morning and I've got to show them the revisions to that design we were discussing." Meanwhile, your concern is that it's already 8:30 p.m. and you still have to finalize the contract drawings being issued for tender at noon tomorrow. Some of the sheets have been prepared by others, work that should have taken minutes has taken an hour, and you're thinking that if only you had time to fully systemize the use of your resources you wouldn't be in this situation. But tomorrow will bring more time-consuming pressures; when will there ever be time to systemize?

A worry common to business people, is whether there will be enough business tomorrow to justify more investment in the company's infrastructure today. Consequently, that investment often must wait until business or profits increase enough to make it affordable to use staff time for developing more efficient work methods. Therefore, as a CAD manager, it becomes necessary for you to spell out the compelling reasons for standardization, and to clearly demonstrate how you will achieve your objectives.

Here are four guidelines to help you accomplish this difficult task:

1. Estimate a percentage of time spent actually using your CAD program versus the time spent on other matters. You can let your manager assess the accuracy of the numbers on projections like this. At today's borrowing rates, the carrying charge on $10,000 is approximately $3.50 per working day. If your billing rate is $50 per hour, then just five extra minutes of billing time per day will repay the investment. In other words, one could borrow $2,000 for every extra minute of billing delivered with the same level of staff. Anything beyond that is going to increase your profit. This assumes, of course, that your billing rate is for a contract fee rather that a charge per hour. But even if it is an hourly fee, being able to demonstrate an efficient operation is a good bargaining chip that can be used to generate more business, especially important in difficult economic times. In terms of scale, this is an easy sell.
2. Show how you can improve morale and ease stress and employee turnover. It is a known fact that the greatest losses occur because of mistakes and misunderstandings that result from working in a stressful environment. Unexpected delays due to mistakes also magnify the loss throughout the enterprise as managers have to reorganize time schedules and reissue work assignments.
3. Demonstrate that you are someone who will take responsibility for achieving the desired results. To do this, present a target objective to deliver one extra hour of billing rate per day, the means by which you will tackle it and by what date. Your biggest challenge is getting your staff to cooperate and accept change. To accomplish this you need to be well versed in how your new CAD system will operate, and you must also use your skills in diplomacy. The new system must improve your staffs' working conditions too. That means involving them in the development process, and fostering the idea that it was teamwork that got the job done. Designate one or two pilots - CAD operators - to test the new processes. Even those most resistant to change will come on board once your pilots start to do well under the new system. As the leader, you must remain objective and be free of any vested interests in the status quo.
4. Instill confidence in your project by explaining how, if for some reason you were to leave the organization, someone else be able to take it over? Also show that the system will be easily adapted to new technology, show how it can be extended, and provide a means by which your progress can be seen and measured.

If you are the CAD operator and your bosses are not familiar with the details, then you may need to illustrate what is involved in the CAD system and document specific cases where time was wasted owing to current practices. Whether you are the CAD operator, the CAD manager, or the business manager, the hardest part is simply getting started on your standardization project; once you're underway, you'll find  that the task seems far less formidable.

About the Author

Barrie Mathews is president and manager of product design and engineering at Softco Engineering Systems Inc., developers of the S-MAN AutoCAD Standards Manager.

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