Series: Establishing Engineering and CAD SOPs

Useful information on what is require to establish and writing standard operating procedures for your Engineering organization, with special attention to CAD.

Establishing Engineering Standard Operating Procedures

What do you need to established engineering standard operating procedures (SOPs) within your Engineering organization?

If your organization follows ISO manufacturing standards (e.g., ISO 9000) or plans to, your Engineering department will need Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for key tasks. These aren’t about how to ‘Engineer’ but focus on managing documentation and design processes more effectively. SOPs ensure consistency, improve efficiency, and help your team meet compliance requirements without extra headaches. This article builds on my SOLIDWORKS World 2011 presentation and offers updated information to help your team navigate these needs.

The following are examples of procedures that will likely be necessary for your organization.

  • Drawing Standards SOP – preparing mechanical drawings per Engineering Standards (e.g., ISO 128, ASME Y14.5, BS 8888). This should include instructions on selecting templates, naming conventions, part numbering, filling out title blocks and even preferred drawing view layouts. Model-based Definition may require its own SOP too.
  • CAD Document Management SOP – processes for organizing, naming, storing, accessing and distributing CAD documents, including guidelines for 3D CAD models and cloud-based tools. This may include instructions on file and model formats, such as creating PDFs of drawings or distributing models as STEP to outside vendors.
  • Drawing Review and Approval SOP – steps for peer reviews, quality checks and approvals of drawings.
  • Revision Notation and Control SOP – marking and controlling revisions of drawings.
  • Template and Symbol Libraries SOP – maintenance and use of standardized templates, symbols, blocks and CAD customizations such as macros and data tables .
  • Design Review SOP – formal process for review of design and drawings
  • Engineering Change SOP – steps for initiating and documenting proposed changes to designs and drawings (Engineering Change Request; ECR), then their approval and implementation (Engineering Change Order; ECO), including notification and effectivity for full traceability (Engineering Change Notification; ECN).

For Engineering departments, these procedures should be tailored around their CAD application(s), PDM and PLM systems.

Structure of SOPs

Organizations that have well-documented processes should establish a template for their procedures. There are several elements that most standard operating procedures should include. Each SOP should be use a number-base layout that employs functionality of the chosen wordprocessor. This list of elements should be tailored for the Engineering department. The following is an example of the required (as applicable) elements with a brief explanation.

  1. Title and Document Information
    • Title – descriptive and specific to the task or process.
    • Document Number – unique identifier for tracking.
    • Version or Revision Number – indicates current version.
    • Effective Date – the date upon which the document becomes valid.
    • Approval Signatures – for validation and compliance.
  2. Purpose – the reason the procedure exists.
  3. Scope – extent to which the procedure applies (the processes and roles are controlled by this document).
  4. Responsibilities – define roles and responsibilities of personnel involved.
  5. Definitions – list and define specialized terms and abbreviations.
  6. Materials, Tools, and Equipment – list of required resources to complete the procedure. Include software applications that are utilized within the process described within this document.
  7. Procedure – actual procedural instructions, often in step-by-step format with clear statements with explanatory diagrams and images. Typically, this will be the bulk of the document.
  8. Troubleshooting – guidance for handling common issues or errors.
  9. References -links to related documents, manuals, or regulations.
  10. Revision History – a table that tracks changes over time with notes on updates.

Once the types of SOPs are established and a structure for the SOPs is agreed upon within your organization, the task of actually writing the procedures comes next. This could mean completely rewriting old procedures or writing new ones. Future articles in this series will address good writing practices for SOPs and specific considerations that cover CAD related needs and an organization’s processes.

Writing for Engineering Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

Good writing practices are essential for engineering SOPs. They ensure clarity, reduction of errors and can save time. But what are good practices?

Good writing practices are essential for engineering SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures). They ensure clarity, reduce errors, and can save time. Clear procedures make processes easier to follow, improve accessibility for all team members, and support compliance with industry standards. Well-written SOPs also enhance professionalism, preserve organizational knowledge, and facilitate collaboration across teams. By prioritizing clear and concise writing, engineering departments can create SOPs that are efficient, reliable, and easy to use.

Clarity

Clarity is paramount. Long sentences can unintentionally become convoluted. The following is an actual statement found in a transcript from a doctor’s dictation.

“The baby was delivered, the cord clamped and cut and handed to the pediatrician, who breathed and cried immediately.”

The Bride of Anguished English by Richard Lederer, p65.

The problems with this quote are numerous. Unless the context is completely understood, the statement is a garbled mess.

Brevity

Keep sentences short. Especially avoid run-on sentences. Additionally, avoid wordiness.

Bad example, “I’m jumping off of the road.” The additional “of” is unnecessary.

Good example, “I’m jumping off the road.”

Do you speak American? by Robert MacNeil and William Cran quoting John Simon, p22

Directness

Instructions should be stated as imperatives. An imperative sentence gives the reader a direct instruction. These sentences begin with an action verb and are followed by the object being acted upon.

Additionally, write in the third-person or even “no-person” perspective.

Recommended, “Fill in all title block fields.”

Not recommended, “All title block fields will be filled in by you.” Really? All of them by me personally?

Not recommended, “Title block fields are filled in.” Wow, when did that happen?

Sometimes imperative sentences cannot be used, such as when there is a task for a particular role. In such cases, use gender-neutral pronouns. “They,” “their,” and “them” may be employed for both plural and singular forms.1 Avoid the jargon “he/she,” as this can convolute instructions and create other avoidable grammatical issues in subsequent text.

When not using imperative sentences, use the words “shall”, “may” and “should”.

  • Shall – establishes a requirement
  • Should – states a recommendation
  • May – states a suggestion or option

“Should” and “may” are often used interchangeably. For example, in the ASME standards, they mean the same thing.

More recently, the word “must” is sometimes used in place of “shall.” Using modern English, “shall” is well-understood to mean a requirement within a set of instructions. However, “shall” has other meanings that may confuse localization and translation into other languages. That said, “must” is somewhat awkward when used in a set of instructions. The use of either term will be a matter of preference within your organization.

The word “will” may also be used to state a requirement, but only when the responsibility and timeframe are established by context.

Recommended, “Each operator shall be capable of lifting 50lbs.”

Not recommended, “Each operator will be capable of lifting 50lbs.” That’s nice, but when will that be a requirement?

Paragraphs should be kept as short as possible. That means each instruction should be numbered individually within the SOP. If you have multiple instructions for one action, then use sub-numbering.

1. Wash hands before eating.

1.1 Apply soap to hands.

1.2 Rub hands under water for 20 seconds.

1.3 Wipe dry on clean towel.

Other grammar considerations for SOPs

Use present tense. Avoid mixed tenses, especially future and past.

Recommended, “Each part number shall represent only one item.”

Not recommended, “Each part number will be used by only one item.” When will that happen?

Despite what Microsoft Word may suggest in its grammar check, the use of the passive voice is acceptable and sometimes necessary. However, using imperative statements reduces the need for the passive voice.

Acceptable, “Grease may be applied to reduce friction.”

Alternative, “Application of grease is acceptable to reduce friction.”

Imperative, “Apply grease as necessary to reduce friction.”

Avoid jargon. In particular, avoid slashed terms and legal terms, such as “he/she,” “and/or,” and “per se.”

Avoid conversational terms and personal opinions. The following are examples of inappropriate terms that I found in technical documents: “heaven forbid,” “totally,” and “roundabout.”

Lists within instructions

When you need to list several items within one instruction, you may be faced with the dilemma of how to apply commas. If your list is short enough and each item within your list is distinct, you can simply list the items within a sentence and separate them with commas. While the serial comma is now preferred for such lists, the extra comma is traditionally considered unnecessary. That said, if you have a list so long or complex that the serial comma seems necessary for clarity, use bullet points instead.

For this, “Affected departments are Engineering, Quality Control, Research and Development and Manufacturing.”

Use this:

“The following departments are affected:

  • Engineering
  • Quality Control
  • Research and Development
  • Manufacturing”

Lists that are organized into bullet points are easier to read. They also remove many grammatical issues.

CAD specific considerations

The next article in this series will discuss CAD-specific considerations you may wish to address within your standard operating procedures. This includes the following:

  • Engineering Roles
  • CAD environment
  • Network environment
  • Software in use
  • Lifecycle
  • Modelling methodologies
  • …and more.

Other resources

As noted in the previous article in this series, this information is an update to my presentation at SOLIDWORKS World 2011. That presentation is not currently available. However, I do have the PowerPoints for a couple of other previous presentations. These are available in the Files area of this blog. Please check them out.