One challenge when working with technical information is that publications can be very large. Several hundred pages is not unusual and in some cases over a thousand pages are necessary to describe complex service procedures and part catalogs.
Authoring and assembling large books can be a painful process as the sheer size can be taxing to software. XML, DITA, and managing content objects do ease the pain, it is what industrial strength publishing software is designed to do. However, there is only so much information the average workstation can process.
Many creative solutions have been implemented to meet unique business requirements for book assembly. The business requirements and data sources vary from company to company, such as selecting lessons individually to create a complete custom course; or selecting individual part list and image pairs to create a complete part catalog. As an application expert, I have personally coded many custom solutions to support cobbling books together over the years and I know that many other equally creative solutions exist.
PTC’s Service Information Manager adds three advanced capabilities to the XML authoring and content management system:
- Translation Management
- Part List Generation
- Publication Structures
Publication Structures are the least sexy of the three and the one that truly revolutionizes the book assembly process. Publication Structures are used to assemble information objects that are to be published. Essentially each Publication Structure represents a book. You can add a table of contents, a parts list, or any other XML content object or images to the book right in the Windchill SIM web browser user interface.
Without Publication Structures, books are typically assembled manually in Arbortext Editor. Someone would still have to assemble the book manually in a Publication Structure, but the user experience is very different. To get a sense of this, in Arbortext Editor, if a writer wants to move a chapter to a different location, they would edit the document, select content, cut it, move to the new location, and then paste. In a Publication Structure, the user can drag and drop chapter or section objects in the structure without ever opening the book to edit it.
Publication Structures provide an out-of-the-box method of assembling publications for the technical documentation community without customizing. As a result, organizations are able to greatly improve the process of information delivery and are able to leverage dynamic publishing capabilities to bring products to market faster, and keep customers better informed.
Learn More
EAC information solution experts have decades of reliable XML solution experience. Explore the EAC website to learn more about our products and services or review the Product Development Information Services Brochure.
In my last blog, Hearing Voices Through Connected Manufacturing & Machine Learning I tried to convey how expensive manufacturing equipment could (and should) be telling you how it’s performing and if it’s going to malfunction. While it seems futuristic and expensive, I’ll attempt to dispel both challenges in this post.
One starting point is the reality of the Internet of Things (IoT) and its impact on manufacturing is recognized by major governments across the globe. It’s referred to as ‘Smart Nation’ in Singapore, ‘Made in China 2025’ in China, ‘Industries 4.0’ in Germany, and generally as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) by various industry leading organizations in the United States.
Regardless of what the governing bodies are doing, we’re in business to make money.
How can you do that?
Use the IIoT and all that it can do to achieve your business initiatives.
That’s when some new compelling or wiz-bang approach to things can actually make sense (or cents). What I mean is this, don’t treat the IIoT as something new or as a separate initiative. Rather, embrace the technology for what it is and how it can propel your existing business initiatives.
The ideals of my previous blog, preventive maintenance, enterprise monitoring, and increased ROI are probably already on your visions and strategy hit-list for making more money. These are exactly the core business initiatives that are possible. When these are being met, the feeling of work being ‘expensive’ shifts to understanding the value of smart, connected operations. This comes from connected systems and equipment flowing data from previously disparate systems into a data refinery directly connecting operational metrics to core business initiatives in real-time. Then you can focus on the value.
Move forward into what’s current and available if you’ve been sitting for a while.
As for this being ‘futuristic,’ well I guess you could say it is, but it’s more focused on moving forward. This is fundamentally about transforming the way you design, manufacture, connect to, and service your products. It’s a major shift into the future.
It’s not about unobtainable science-fiction — rather its attainable with modern equipment and easy add-ons to old equipment. This is enabled even further through easy access to high volume scalable process computer systems in the cloud and at the edge. It’s even become expected in newer equipment.
The advent of IoT Platforms like PTC’s ThingWorx has created systems that address all aspects of the IoT stack and support smooth and complete implementation. Starting with Industrial Connectivity to accelerate the connection of existing equipment into a central hub, you can rapidly bring equipment into the ‘connected’ state by feeding the ability to give your equipment a voice. A scalable and flexible environment for creating applications and role-centric mashups of refined information comes together in ThingWorx Foundation. Augmented Reality runs right through this system as well as predictive analytics in ThingWorx Analytics. ThingWorx Analytics are available to turn these concepts into reality and truly give the equipment in your operation a voice.
So, are you hearing voices yet? Or maybe wishing that you did? We’d love to help make this happen — whether it is through connecting the dots related to strategy, providing technology, implementing it, or even helping to retro-fit existing equipment so it can speak, let us hear your voice and we’ll help give your operation a voice as well.
If you’d like more information about connecting your products through smart manufacturing, you may find our brochure helpful.
Are you hearing voices? If not, you should be!
Well, are you hearing voices? You know, the voices telling you how to make more money, or the whispers of how you can improve your business, or maybe they’re loud and proud notices of problems before they occur. Where would such messages of insight and prosperity come from? I’m talking about the voices of all that expensive equipment you have that keeps producing your product.
As manufacturers, we all invest heavily in the equipment, maintenance, and staff to keep it running smoothly or sometimes get it running quickly after unexpected malfunctions. What would it mean to your business if your equipment could tell you how well it’s running and if something is going to malfunction before it even happens? The ability for your equipment to ‘talk’ to you could substantially impact planning, proactive maintenance, utilization, production rates, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), and most certainly the bottom line.
Business 101: businesses require a solid Return on Investment (ROI). High cap ex-equipment implies the “I” and requires production to make the “R.” We all run this daily balance of scheduling maintenance, guessing what needs to be fixed, hoping everything runs right over the third shift and talking ourselves into the thought that we’re getting the most from the equipment. Taking a long look in the mirror might challenge that thought.
Considering connectivity is cheaper and ‘nearly’ everywhere, along with easier ways to stream, collect and refine data into actionable information, the realistic impact of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) brings some futuristic opportunities to your desktop for implementation today.
Think About the Possibilities
What if your equipment could self-diagnose problems, predict failure timelines and prioritize maintenance based on enterprise-wide visibility to OEE, production demands and current performance?
How about leveraging Augmented Reality (AR) to peer into the heart of operating equipment for live feedback and real-time vision-based maintenance instruction holo-deck style?
What if you could view the rates and predicted issues of entire production lines from a single-pane-of-glass? Imagine viewing this with live interactive graphics, drill-down analytics, and mashups pulling data from existing silos of information.
While some of this seems like a ‘nice-to-have future state,’ rest assured, this is as real and available as it comes. It’s what can be implemented so you can start hearing voices. It’s ThingWorx. ThingWorx is a tool to enable developers such as yourself to rapidly connect, create, and deploy breakthrough applications, solutions, and experiences for the smart, connected world. Furthermore, ThingWorx Analytics enables you to uncover the true value of your smart connected manufacturing floor data. Learn from past data, understand and predict the future, and make decisions that will enhance outcomes.
If you’d like more information about connecting your products through smart manufacturing, explore our piece that serves as a primer on the fundamentals of ThingWorx.
Industrial Design has always been an important element of successful product development. Aesthetically and functionally pleasing products are important to customer perception and ultimately may add to increased acceptance and improved sales.
The Engineering Services Group at EAC Product Solutions solved such an industrial design challenge for a valued customer, Bob Barker Company, Inc. Bob Barker is America’s leading detention supplier and maker of the Vancell, which is a prisoner transport unit that is installed in commercial vans. They approached EAC to create a successor, which ultimately became the Vancell Elite.
Bob Barker wanted the new version of the Vancell to fit newer, redesigned van models. At the same time, they requested upgrades to several user features. They wanted to incorporate design elements to differentiate the redesign of the Vancell from its competitors. The redesign was required to invoke feelings of ruggedness, strength, and security.
With those challenging requirements, the Designers in the Engineering Services Group started by selecting diamond plate panels for the exterior of the access doors to elude to the element of ruggedness. The diamond shaped patterns were then carried through to the ventilation cutouts in wall panels for continuity of theme. A new logo, designed by Bob Barker Company, was added to the access doors as well as laser cut sheet metal brackets. The bracket was painted black with another bracket behind painted orange for a bold, three-dimensional look. A small Bob Barker decal was placed nearby to increase brand awareness. The Designers also added chrome paddle latches and bright screw heads to accent the diamond patterns and create a sense of security.
Next, a new base color was needed for the exterior of the unit. The competitor’s prisoner transport unit was painted a sterile white that easily showed dirt and wear. The old Vancell was painted a dull gray. Bob Barker Company wanted to set themselves apart from both of these units with a bold and dynamic color. Using CAD models created in PTC Creo, the Designers rendered images in different colors to help the company determine which color was best. A medium matte blue was selected.
Upon agreement of design features and colors, manufacturing drawings were released to a third-party fabrication shop. The prototype of the first transport unit was completed in time for display and demonstration at a large trade show. The Marketing and Sales team at Bob Barker Company were excited about the appearance and function of the completed Vancell Elite and confirmed that it met their requirements — rugged, strong, and secure. They also received many positive comments from prospective customers at the trade show.
The VanCell Elite difference is not only through its new and improved design, but it’s features as well. The VanCell Elite provides improved visibility for greater officer security through controlled viewing, PREA compliant segregation compartments, and an enhanced 4 Camera Viewing System and optional DVR upgrade.
Learn more about the VanCell Elite here.
If you have industrial design or engineering project, the Engineering Services Group can step in and mentor you throughout your design process or act as your engineering team. The innovative engineers and designs can help realize your ideas and transform the way you design your products. For more information, contact us here or learn more about our Design and Engineering services here.
While I’d like to think I’m a good storyteller and an artist, I’m pretty sure I’m not ‘awesome’ at either. That’s one more reason to pay attention to Augmented Reality (AR) these days.
As an engineer and a designer, I frequently find myself trying to explain a widget, a feature, or a design to someone. Often this takes lots of hand-waving, white-board markers, and innumerable sketches. This got better over time with improved drawing skills and communication techniques. It was even better still when I could put a physical model in someone’s hands by using a 3D printer for rapid prototyping. Well, things just got a lot more interesting when we started using AR through ThingWorx Studio to do virtual prototyping.
While I spend most of my time designing business strategies for the IoT and connecting products using ThingWorx as an IoT platform, the AR portion of ThingWorx is simply fun to use. One great way to employ the tool is to super-impose streaming data and information directly onto the product while looking through a mobile device. AR Prototyping, on the other hand, is the ability to superimpose alternate designs into the real world through a mobile device such that you can experience a design as it was intended. The kicker is that you can whip together a couple dozen designs, review them virtually — in person or remotely — and have a fabulous understanding of the design in less time than it takes to print even one prototype.
In the video below we’re playing with the app ThingWorx View by PTC. Watch this model of a motorcycle come to life with Augmented Reality (AR). We’ve used this technology for virtual prototyping. For some of our customers we are able to swap in and out CAD models to virtually prototype new designs and configurations.
So, if you’re like me and you want to convey a design idea in a hurry — even faster than a rapid prototype — you should really look into AR Prototyping. This has sliced-bread beat no problem.
If you want to start virtual prototyping, ask us how here! We’d love to help you transform the way you design and connect to your products.
In the last few weeks I’ve discussed the benefits and costs of customization. This week I will review deciding whether to customize or not. If you missed these posts, you can read them here:
So how can you weigh the benefits against the costs of customizing? If we examine the criteria outlined above, a general pattern emerges, which provides the key insight in making this decision:
Benefits mainly go to end users, and costs mainly go to developers and administrators.
Installations with large user bases, where the value of customizations can be maximized, are good candidates for customization. Also, organizations that have dedicated staff for maintaining the Arbortext system will have an easier time managing customized installations than organizations where maintenance and development is a part-time task for staff with other responsibilities.
In organizations that have a small number of users, it will be difficult to realize enough value in customizations to make it worth the expense of implementing them. In these instances, it makes sense to stick with a mostly out-of-the-box installation using a standard doctype like DITA or DocBook, possibly with some stylesheet adjustments to get the desired output appearance.
Consider standard features first.
With all software, you can get the most value from your investment if you maximize the use of its standard features. If you are new to the software or perhaps not leveraging everything the software offers, you should explore the best practices and benefits first to determine if customization is truly needed. With Arbortext, PTC recommends an implementation approach called “Value-ready Deployment” which leverages the value of Arbortext using standard features and recommended best practices to maximize the value to each customer before any customizations are made.
Also consider prepackaged add-ons.
EAC offers several prepackaged add-ons which add capabilities to the Arbortext platform at a lower cost than a customization. Users should be able to create aesthetically pleasing Operator Guides, Service Manuals, and Parts Catalogs quickly while providing an easy way to style documents that fit your brand. If you decide to investigate customizing Arbortext for your environment, EAC can help you explore your options with a variety of prepackaged add-ons, training, and implementation services.
Transform the way you design and publish product information. Looking to publish faster, cheaper, and better? Explore our technical publication services today.
