I find it odd that thousands of management hours are spent discussing organizational and scheduling issues and very little time is spent by manufacturing personnel discussing technical issues. As a result, we see people in engineering and manufacturing making the same mistakes over and over.

In this chapter I'm going to provide suggestions to designers and engineers that seldom get feedback from shop personnel. My goal is to help designers improve the little things that add up to make manufacturing easier and more productive for all involved.

1. Avoid verbal instructions.

   Unless you are immediately available to answer questions (seldom the case) it is best to avoid verbal instructions. As much as I hate drawings scribbled on napkins, I'd rather have a napkin drawing than nothing at all. When you give a machinist or anybody else for that matter, verbal instructions and the job doesn't turn out right, don't blame anybody but yourself. There is a high probability verbal instructions will be misinterpreted.

2. Avoid napkin drawings and other carelessly scribbled drawings.

   More often than not they are either wrong or incomplete. The fact of the matter is most hard copy drawings have errors or are incomplete. My guess is that at least half of all drawings circulating in manufacturing don't provide enough information to complete a job. As simple as it would appear, it is difficult to dimension a print from scratch and provide all the information needed. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the project drawings I...