TOP 10 Benefits of Shop Drawings

1. TOP 10 Benefits of Shop Drawings By Matzen Solutions

2. PRESENT DESIGN INFORMATION AND ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS CLEARLY Shop drawings display a scaled outline of how the final product will be assembled, with supporting information of what materials are to be used, the dimensions of the product, hidden components represented by dashed lines, the intended weight of the product, the joints and connections in the product, product specific treatments such as 'galvanizing steel' and more. A set of steel fabrication drawings for example would contain the drawing of the steel component with top or bottom views showing the specific connection details, and even a 3D detail to give a better perspective.

3. CREATE DUPLICATES OF THE SAME PRODUCT Because shop drawings give very specific instructions and information, it allows the manufacturing process to be duplicated a number of times in order to create a number of the exact same product every time. This can be useful when there is a requirement for a multiple of the same component, roof joists for example. It is also useful if the manufactured component is or becomes defected for some reason. In this case, it's exact duplicate replacement can be rolled and formed. When there is a contractor scheme for a development of new houses, duplication can save time and money when all the houses planned to be built are the same.

4. DOCUMENTATION Shop drawings can be used as documentation to be later referred to if something is amiss, for example if a structural steel column was delivered on site and found to be too tall, the technical designer can refer back to the drawing to pinpoint the cause and time of the defect. It could be the designers fault or the manufacturers fault, keeping a documentation of drawings can guide a pathway to the solution of problems that may arise and can help to determine a further action to correct the error, such as; Using the actual drawing dimensions to instruct the site installers to cut off a part of the column and ensure it matches the drawing as intended.

5. ACCOUNTING OF COMPONENTS If there is a particularly large structure, say an unusual structural steel balcony support, which requires many loose parts to be assembled on the construction site because it's too large to deliver in one piece. Then each separate component can be presented as a part that is organised into a group of drawings labelled 'Part A' and 'Part B' or for example 'BALC01-001', 'BALC01-002' and so on. This can then be supported by an overall drawing showing how the final structure is supposed to look and function when all the parts are assembled together on site.

6. ACCURATE COSTING Costs are a big part of the manufacturing business and must be taken into consideration carefully. Shop drawings help to determine accurately the cost of materials needed for manufacture. They help to prevent too much or too less of a material being ordered and consequently help to prevent time wastage and overstock of items. They can help to plan a schedule of orders to be in line with a current or future project and to maximize storage periods. Usually the manufacturer might order the exact measurement of materials required plus 10% to cover any problems that might arise during production.

7. CORRECTIONS BEFORE ISSUE As said before; one of the best advantages of creating shop drawings using a CAD software like Revit is that you can see the Model in 3D and it's building information. This means a designer can pinpoint any clashes, voids or anything irregular in the model before it is constructed on site. You can literally take the model and conduct a visual walk-through of it from any angle, any corner and any room. CAD software allows you to dissect a model and get insight into how a building is being constructed and how it fits together. An experienced designer with good eyes can locate any possible errors and fix them and therefore provide accurate building costs, accurate manufacturing of materials and accurate site construction and save a lot of time in the process.

8. PORTABILITY Because of the nature of modern day electronically stored information, shop drawings can be carried around anywhere and can be accessed at any time. Copies of the drawings can be stored as a backup in a shared network or cloud storage and can be accessed from multiple devices that have access to the network. Imagine the ease for an architect who can walk around site and inspect construction elements while comparing it to a drawing on his/her tablet versus leaving the drawings in the "cabin" and relying on memory and experience to walk around and spot any defects.

9. TRAINING To a budding architectural graduate who knows how to draw nice pictures of buildings; shop drawings are an astounding source of information and knowledge to absorb. A trainee can look at the construction information on a shop drawing learn how to really make a building work. Looking at a piece of technical drawing and trying to understand it is probably better than reading an informational book. Because the technical drawing shows you exactly what's going on and how something is going to work.

10. UNIFORMITY The backup of shop drawings from previous projects can help to standardize the sheet presentation and drawing style of a shop drawing. It is professional practice to have a uniform style of presentation to the client/contractor and shop drawings can help to develop that. A uniform style of presentation can also act as branding promotion. For example, when you receive documents from a company, there is uniform style and layout of the document which is unique to the company and the style alone can be enough to enable others to recognize the prestige of a well established company, more about this in number 10 below.

11. DRAWING SHEETS CAN ACT AS PROMOTION As well as presenting the manufacturing/construction of an element, the drawing sheet itself can be used to promote the company that produced the drawing. Generally, shop drawings tend to contain a 'title box' either in the side or the corner of the sheet. This box can not only display information about the drawing such as scale, date, drawn by, checked by, drawing number and other information. But it can also house the company logo and contact information of the originator of the drawings

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