Senior Drafter (NW Houston | On-site | Manufacturing)

Company Profile:

The founders of Travis® Body & Trailer, Inc. began operations in 1989 after purchasing the facilities of CMC Trailers, Inc. in Houston, Texas. During the first year, Travis manufactured only the classic aluminum end dump trailer. These trailers were little changed from the older CMC designs from the 1970’s and 1980’s. Travis has grown rapidly in size and national market share since those early days. This growth was stimulated by both overall industry demand as well as by the determination of the Travis team to become number 1 in quality through both expert fabrication and innovation.

Job Purpose:

The Senior Drafter is responsible for creating, maintaining, and revising detailed engineering drawings, 3D models, bills of materials (BOMs), and technical documentation for trailer and truck body products. This position plays a critical role in supporting custom and standard product configurations through advanced CAD drafting and DriveWorks design automation. This person works closely with Production, Purchasing, and Quality teams to ensure designs are accurately documented, manufacturable, and aligned with customer requirements, company standards, and production capabilities.

Essential Job Responsibilities:

Product Design and Development

• Create and maintain detailed engineering drawings, layouts, and specifications for new and existing products.
• Develop accurate bills of materials (BOMs) in accordance with engineering and manufacturing standards.
• Design custom trailer and body configurations using CAD systems based on customer requirements.
• Utilize DriveWorks automation tools to configure, generate, and manage custom and repeatable designs, drawings, and BOMs.
• Apply sound engineering principles to ensure designs meet strength, safety, manufacturability, and quality requirements.

Engineering Change and Lifecycle Support

• Process engineering change requests (ECRs), revisions, and product updates in coordination with production and quality teams.
• Support the full product lifecycle from concept through production and post‑release support.
• Assist with root cause analysis and corrective actions related to design‑related issues.

Manufacturing and Cross‑Functional Support

• Collaborate with production, purchasing, and quality teams to resolve design and manufacturing challenges.
• Provide technical support to manufacturing to improve efficiency, fit, form, and function of products.
• Incorporate lean manufacturing principles and design‑for‑manufacturability (DFM) concepts into designs.

Customer and Sales Support

• Provide technical assistance to sales and customer service for quoting, pricing, and order clarification.
• Review customer specifications and ensure accurate translation into engineering documentation.
• Participate in technical discussions with customers as needed to support design solutions.

Documentation and Systems

• Maintain accurate part numbers, BOMs, and item data within the Infor Syteline ERP system.
• Develop and maintain DriveWorks projects, rules, and forms to support design automation and standardization initiatives.
• Develop or assist with technical illustrations for owner’s manuals, service bulletins, and marketing materials.
• Ensure engineering documentation complies with company standards and revision control requirements.

Continuous Improvement

• Identify opportunities to improve design standards, processes, and automation through tools such as DriveWorks.
• Stay current with industry trends, materials, manufacturing methods, and CAD/DriveWorks technologies.
• Support standardization efforts to improve efficiency, reduce lead time, and minimize design variability.
• Perform additional duties as assigned by management.

Essential Skills, Experience and Education:

• Associate Degree in Technical Drafting, Design Technology, Engineering Technology, or a related field required; or
• Minimum of fifteen (15) years of progressive drafting and design experience in a manufacturing environment in lieu of formal education.
• Minimum of ten (10) years of advanced AutoCad/SolidWorks drafting experience supporting manufacturing operations.
• Minimum of five (5) years of advanced DriveWorks experience supporting manufacturing operations.
• Experience in trailer, truck body, transportation equipment, fabrication, or heavy manufacturing environments preferred but not required.

Essential Physical Requirements:

• Occasionally lifting and carrying 25 lbs. unassisted
• Occasionally pulling and pushing 25 lbs. unassisted
• Repeated reaching overhead
• Occasionally kneeling, stooping, bending, and turning at the waist
• Occasionally climbing ladder above 2 ft.
• Able to wear PPE when working in the production area: safety glasses, steel-toe shoes, etc.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

Required Work Hours and Schedules:

• 8 hour shift to be scheduled Monday thru Friday between 7:00 AM– 05:00 PM
• Additional overtime as needed

Key Competencies:

Behaviors and skills essential to the specific position or work environment that are measured through the approach and results achieved for the position.

Consistently Achieves Results - Effectively manages budgets; meets planned financial targets; achieves both top and bottom line growth objectives; readily produces strategies for reducing or avoiding costs without compromising quality; meets the Customer’s satisfaction level; meets or exceeds the standards set for the position specific responsibilities.

Analytical Abilities - Makes recommendations based on solid assumptions when solving complex problems; analyzes data to obtain meaningful information; identifies conflicting or inaccurate information.

Problem Solving - Uses rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions; probes all fruitful sources for answers; can see hidden problems; is excellent at honest analysis; looks beyond the obvious and doesn’t stop at first answers.

Interpersonal Skills - Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the company; builds appropriate rapport; listens; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; truly values people; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably.

Customer Focus - Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external Customers; gets Customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; considers Customers in all business practices; establishes and maintains effective relationships with Customers.