What It Takes

Drafters help draw the future for OPPD

When a new neighborhood, business or school appears in OPPD’s service territory, someone has to map out how it will receive electrical service.

Sure, engineers create a plan with all the necessary technical details. And yes, field crews install all the required parts.

But engineers, by necessity, tend to put loads of information into their designs. That doesn’t always translate into an easy-to-read or understandable blueprint for OPPD’s field workers.

Enter the drafters, OPPD’s liaisons between the engineers who plot out the utility’s network and the crews that put every pole, wire and transformer into place.

Drafters use computer programs to simplify and clarify those plans with graphics and text. Whether it’s distribution lines, easements or entire circuits, drafters juggle a lot of assignments each day to keep new development projects moving forward.

“We try to show all the information as accurately as possible while still keeping it readable,” said Terry Winter, an OPPD drafter II. “There’s definitely an art to it.”

The job is more important than ever as OPPD works to accommodate huge new demand for electricity. With eastern Nebraska growing rapidly, OPPD expects to add 100 megawatts of load annually for the foreseeable future.

With that growth comes the need for precise tracking of all of OPPD’s poles, lines, substations and other assets in the field. Knowing the exact location of every asset can help OPPD anticipate future issues during storms and strengthen the grid.

“It’s all about accurate information,” Winter said. “The more good information you have, the better decisions you can make.”

Multitasking

Drafters draw maps in PDF files that can easily be printed into larger blueprint drawings. Crews use the drawings in the field, or reference them on laptops and tablets. Because many of the drawings are still printed, drafters have to ensure that directions and images are large enough to be legible, but also shrunk to a scale that can fit with the many other elements on a page.

“You should be able to see at a glance what everything looks like,” Winter said. “Everything has to be at the correct scale so it’s readable. We also work really hard to make sure there isn’t too much congestion on the page, so that it loses readability.”

Drafters need to be good time managers, self-motivated and self-directed. They must be open to critiques and feedback. Attention to detail and strong communication skills are crucial. A lot of engineers, managers and others check their work before it goes out to the field. Drafters talk routinely with engineers, discussing which elements are most critical in a blueprint and which can be moved.

“You have to know how to juggle,” Winter said. “You may be waiting for information on one job, and in the meantime you might get changes back from another. Things come in, things go out, and you have to be able to switch gears constantly.”

Winter, a six-year OPPD employee, came from a graphic design background, beginning at Wayne State College. After a stint in a bank call center, he took a graphic design, drafting and engineering support job at Northeast Power in Wayne, Nebraska, that helped him build experience. He also had an interest in electricity, another asset for the job.

Many backgrounds

Drafters at OPPD come from technical, artistic and architectural backgrounds, but they learn the skills they need on the job.

“You’re building something, you’re doing the layout, and that can be fun,” said Marie Heins, a veteran OPPD drafter. “It’s kind of like cartography.”

The work itself is easy to learn, Heins said, but drafters must tailor the blueprints they produce to individual needs and desires. It’s sometimes a challenge to interpret what engineers want in their notes, so good communication skills are a must. Everyone has their own preferences on how a blueprint should look and what to emphasize.

Drafting jobs are a good entry point at OPPD for someone who wants to learn new skills and then advance to other parts of the company, Heins said. Some drafters have become engineers, electrical service designers, or Geographic Information System (GIS) specialists, among other jobs.

“It’s a good starting position,” Heins said. “You start at the bottom, learn how to draft, and then you can move to other jobs.”

Drafters also help convert incompatible design files that OPPD receives from outside vendors to a useable format so that the utility’s employees can work with them.

Additionally, drafters create visuals that engineers can show to customers to give them a sense of how a layout will look once complete. During storms, drafters provide OPPD’s damage assessment team with the most up-to-date maps available to help them survey damage. They also work with the utility’s land management team to help set and pinpoint land easements necessary for new projects.

“It’s one part cartography, one part graphic design, one part drafting,” Winter said. “Having that design mindset is really important. You’re solving problems and coming up with creative solutions, within standards, of course.”

Heins studied architecture, and later art, at the University of Texas, then moved to Omaha to help her mother with a diner she owned. She worked in catering as a side job, balancing that with her work at OPPD. OPPD afforded her time to spend with her family.

“If you come in with graphical skills, you can learn how to draft,” Heins said. “As long as you’re a visual person and are motivated, you can do it.”