We now know what a Technical Engineer does (SEE: A day in the life of a Technical Engineer), but have you ever heard of a Technical Detailer?
Technical detailers prepare drawings of structural steel, masonry support, Brick slip Feature Lintels and feature brick masonry support based on architects / engineers drawings. They prepare general arrangement and fabrication drawings. They liaise with builders, merchants, architects and engineers as well as deal with fax, e-mail and telephone enquiries.
Donna is one of Keystone’s technical detailers (pictured left). Donna deals will all types of lintel drawings and specialises in wind posts and brick slip feature lintels (SEE ALSO – Brick Slip Feature Lintels). I followed her on her typical work day (n.b. there isn’t really such thing as a ‘typical’ day at Keystone!)…
9am: Donna begins the day by checking her emails – mostly from engineers. This morning she received emails confirming steel connection details for a structural steel project, liaising with structural engineers and amending details to suit. Connection details, Donna explains, are the details and drawings of where the steel beams meet and connect at junctions (pictured below).
10am: A customer query comes in about an onsite project – how to erect a large structural steel corner. She goes through all of the connection details to help the customer.
10:30am: Donna begins drawing plans and elevation views of a building for a heavy duty arch lintel using AutoCAD. She tells me that the design of the lintel has been created by a senior Keystone technical engineer.
11am: During an already very busy morning, Donna receives a query for a stainless steel wind posts. She does a quotation and a confirmation drawing of connection details and dimension sizes for the customer.
12pm: An order comes in for Brick Slip Feature Lintels. Donna begins by detailing the brick arrangement on the elevation view, using AutoCAD. An elevation view is a drawn picture of the building as it will look when constructed, as opposed to a floor plan (floor plans pictured below). She then calculates brick dimensions, what cut of brick slip is required along with the lintel design. Finally, Donna sends on all of this information to the customer for confirmation.
1pm: Time to take a well-earned lunch break!
2pm: Donna’s Stainless Steel Windpost order query from this morning has been confirmed. She begins detailing a production drawing for windposts with both top and bottom connection details including all bolts and wall ties. After this is completed, Donna organises a delivery date so that the order can be processed. Finally, the production drawing is passed on to the factory floor for manufacture.
3:30pm: The elevations and sections for the brick slip feature lintel from earlier are confirmed by the customer, so Donna can proceed with the production drawing for this project. She liaises with the brick cutter to estimate a delivery date for the customer. Donna tells me that Brick slip feature lintels detailing can normally take up the good part of a day, depending on the quantity and complexity of the brick elevation!
4:30pm: Donna receives a customer order from a keystone technical engineer for a Glazed Gable Apex Square Bay sun lounge, requiring two heavy duty apex frames for a feature vaulted ceiling. She draws up floor plans, sections and apex frames before detailing for production. The completed production drawings are sent to the Factory floor for fabrication.
5:30pm: Home time!
Want to know more about careers at Keystone? Find out more here.