Having more technical illustrations than information is beneficial in many ways—and the solution to do so is easier than you think.
Here’s why you should be using more technical illustrations and the best way to create them.
Technical Illustrations are Easy to Understand
We all know the saying “ a picture paints a thousand words”—and in this case, it’s more than true.
It’s much easier to interpret a picture than to understand and read through lots of text. Using illustrations in tech pubs, user manuals, and service manuals reduce user errors.
Illustrations Take Away the Need for Text
Have you ever bought anything from Ikea? Sure you have! They sell their flat pack furniture all over the globe using the same manuals. That is the power of illustrations. You can drastically reduce the amount of text that is needed by producing illustrations.
Using Technical Illustrations Reduces the Need for Translation
With less text that is needed or used, you can reduce your translation costs.
So Why Doesn’t Everyone Use Illustrations?
The traditional process to create illustrations is time-consuming and can be froth with problems.
Let me illustrate it for you.
Odds are if you are using the traditional illustration process, your technical illustrators most likely work with engineers to get snapshots of CAD information to use in illustrations.
These snapshots are usually static because they are captured at only a moment in time, usually near the end of the product development process.
Because the illustrations are static, they are not always easy to interpret. This means the text is still required to properly convey the information.
If your snapshots were taken at the end of the product development process because there was ‘ less likelihood of the product changing’ – you could be delaying your shipment process.
Often a product cannot ship until the technical information that is associated with it is ready to ship with the product.
Now consider all the back and forth communication between both the engineering department and the illustration group.
Traditional illustrations are difficult to keep up to date. Commonly the illustrator needs to go back to the engineer for updates every time there is a change to the product.
If at any time there is a miscommunication, your illustrations could easily become inaccurate; exposing your organization to the risk of unsatisfied customers, frustrated field technicians, and the possibility of lawsuits.
It’s easy to see why the traditional methods to create illustrations are downright time consuming and prone to error.
So How Can You Make Technical Illustrations Easily?
The answer is Creo Illustrate.
Creo Illustrate leverages CAD data to create illustrations that, depending on your PDM/PLM setup, maintain an associative link to the original CAD data.
This means any changes you make with your CAD data can automatically update all your illustrations and possibly your publications.
With Creo Illustrate you have the ability to start creating illustrations early on in the product development process, with a guarantee that your illustrations are always kept up-to-date. Start developing product documentation during the product development process instead of after the product development process.
See Creo Illustrate in action! Watch this short video.
EAC Product Development Solutions is passionate about transforming our client’s ideas, needs and challenges into innovative, marketable products that support successful brands — That’s why we created our EAC Design & Engineering Services Team.
Our team consistently works with manufacturers, academic institutions, and engineering and design organizations throughout North America to solve all kinds of engineering challenges.
Finding, selecting, and trusting an outside engineering group is a tall order. We get it. There are a lot of questions people have as they vet potential partners. Here are answers to the top 10 questions people ask about our engineering services. We hope this helps.
1. What engineering services does EAC offer?
Our engineering services team provides mechanical engineering, product design, industrial design, proof of concept, IoT / Smart-Connected design & development, and analysis (FEA) services to help individuals and organizations realize their product ideas and get to market faster.
We are proud to say our engineering team can handle just about any engineering challenge thrown our way. Our complete engineering capabilities include CAD, detailed technical specification product requirements, design validation and optimization, IoT (Internet of Things), smart connected products, manufacturing, FEA (Finite Elements Analysis), simulation, analysis and more.
You can check out our Engineering Services Brochure for specifics on our design and engineering principles, services, manufacturing competencies, and our software competencies.
Still have questions about our engineering services and competencies? You can always send us a message here, and we will be more than happy to personally answer any inquiries you might have.
2. What is the EAC engineering services background?
This is a question we get asked a lot.
We have offered our engineering services for over 21 years and counting. Throughout the course of these years, we have completed over 400 engineering service projects on time and under budget!
It is important to us that you know our engineering services team leverages years of experience and extensive knowledge of industry standards and tools to deliver manufacturable, innovative designs. This is a distinguishing and highly valued characteristic of our company.
3. What is the EAC engineering services project process?
If you have an idea or a project request, our engineering services team will work with you initially at no cost to further scope out your vision. We do this to ensure we have all your proper project requirements and to figure out two things: 1) What you are looking to do and 2) If we are a good fit.
Once we fully understand your engineering project we build out a statement of work. Our statement of work outlines our plan and what we are going to do.
After our statement of work is defined, the team carries out the project delivery under the watchful eye of your dedicated project manager.
Throughout the duration of the project, our team will keep you updated with the daily or weekly status updates. The frequency of the updates is entirely up to you.
No matter the size and the duration of your project, we still use the same project management process for every engineering service project we complete.
4. What are the professional engineering costs?
Our professional engineering costs generally do not vary, but the amount of work we do for customers varies according to the goal. (Keep an eye out for another blog that will dive into this with more detail)
Our engineering team considers the type of project you are looking to complete, the work you need to be done, your project size, your project timeline, and much more.
Because our fees and rates fluctuate due to so many factors, we offer a Free Project Scope to address your specific engineering needs and requirements. This way you can be assured you will get the most accurate engineering project quote. We’re not trying to play our cards close to our chest. We’d legitimately like to talk through your project and provide the best, most accurate quote possible. No strings attached.
5. What similar engineering projects has EAC worked on in the past?
With over 400 engineering projects completed on time and under budget, we have a plethora of project examples to demonstrate our expertise. We’ve worked on everything from consumer products to industrial equipment. We’ve optimized designs for traditional manufacturing, various molding methods, and IoT requirements.
For example, see how our Engineering Services team helped Condux International and Core Distribution Inc.
You might also check out how our engineering services team helped Milestone AV Technologies complete a critical project 40% faster.
6. What happens to the intellectual property of my engineering project?
The intellectual property of the engineering services project EAC completes for you is entirely yours. We call this out in our statement of work.
You can think of our engineering services team as your contracted in-house engineers. The rights to everything we do are completely owned by you. If we create something for you, it is entirely owned by you.
At the end of your engineering project we gladly turn over anything and everything we used to create and solve your engineering needs.
7. Can EAC help with fabrication or fabrication partners?
Although we don’t have specific fabrication partners, we are able to help you find companies that can fabricate and produce products for you. Over the years we’ve built a long list of trusted manufacturers.
Whether you are looking for an initial prototype run, a full production run, building only a few products, or you need help transitioning and optimizing your current design for full production—we can help.
Our engineering services team is more than happy to assist you in the process, as well as guide any conversation with the production facility. If you would like our expertise, we’re happy to help.
8. Can the EAC engineers work on-site with our engineering staff?
Our EAC engineering services team can work on-site, but we do have some geographical limitations. Contact us to see if having our EAC engineering services onsite could be an option for you.
9. How many resources can EAC devote to my engineering project?
We have a staff of highly trained and educated engineers, but we are not limited to just that. The resources assigned to any specific project depend on the timelines and tasks defined in the statement of work.
If your engineering project requires additional resources and contractors our team is well equipped (and networked) to work with and manage additional help to complete your project.
10. Does the EAC engineering services team have any references?
Of course. Here are just a few examples of what our customers have had to say about our engineering services:
“EAC was able to decrease the overall weight by nearly half. They did a nice job coming up with innovative solutions to reduce the amount of machining required by the hanging fixture.”
- -Josh Siebert, Engineering Manager, Condux International
“We needed 3D modeling expertise and experience in getting a design to manufacture stage. EAC looked at the mechanics of our product in detail and produced a well-optimized design and high quality drawings.”
- – Eric Wahl, Owner, Colorado Solar Inc.
“The most valuable part of partnering with EAC goes back to having faith very early on that the technical rigor and detail was being addressed. I was assured that the EAC team was going to do the diligence necessary to create a good design because of this.”
– Mike Ardito, Director of Product Development, Milestone AV Technologies
To view other EAC customer testimonials you can always scroll to the bottom of our Design & Engineering Page.
Beyond the typical questions we get asked about our engineering services, we thought it might be beneficial for you to learn the benefits of outsourcing your projects and how hiring outside engineering help can shorten your time-to-market and give you a competitive edge.
Furthermore, don’t hesitate to contact us about Design & Engineering Services questions.
Here’s why engineering processes affect services and why streamlining information could solve the whole problem.
The Problem: Lack of Communication
Let’s be honest, engineering and manufacturing departments do not always communicate product changes to service. This is just the start of how your engineering processes affect services.
The Result: High Costs
When technicians reference outdated product information and arrive with incorrect parts, this leads to longer service visits, extraneous costs, longer downtime, and lowered customer satisfaction.
The Solution: Streamlining Information
Streamline the way you service teams access and use product information. The best way to accomplish this involves accurately transforming eBOMs (engineering bill of materials) to sBOMs (service bill of materials) and maintaining the fidelity of that information after engineering changes.
It’s time to stop letting your engineering processes affect services.
Take full advantage of the product data your organization has already created.
Structure service manuals and part information based on how a specific product is configured and serviced. Reuse engineering and manufacturing data in the service environment. Provide configuration-specific information to service technicians. Create a single point of access for your service content. Avoid text – use and repurpose graphics, animations, and CAD information when possible. And link service information to engineering information so changes propagate.
Next: Identify Your Service Needs
Identify what should go in your sBOM to ensure your sBOMs meet the needs of the service department. Examples might include what is serviceable versus what is replaceable, the status of a part, the components, models, grouped items, and more.
The Goal: Transforming Your Services
Remember: the ultimate goal is to make your customers happy. As a result of combining best practices with the right technology to support service and parts information management and publication you will see a higher customer satisfaction, improved technician effectiveness, improved brand reputation, higher profitability (due to lower revenue and service cost), time savings, and higher revenue (from repeat business and customer loyalty).
We have a team of technical communications specialists that would love to talk with you about your current state and current initiatives.
Risk… what does it mean?
For some, it is crossing the street. For others, it is starting a company with the last of their own money, or money from an expectant and hopeful investor.
But, what does it mean for companies/customers? Ultimately, I think it drives everything at a company. For some companies, often publicly traded, risk is not an option. Everything they do must have a strong business case to produce more revenue with little or no risk. Smaller companies tend to be much more willing to take risks. Sometimes it’s the only way to get the growth they so desperately want and need. In between you’ll find many companies along the willing-to-take-on-risk spectrum.
How do you convince your company or customer to take a risk?
One way is to downplay the risk. Not a good idea. It can, and likely will, bite you in the end. No, you must address risk head on. You must out weigh the risk with the potential benefits. Show examples of success. Find and present metrics from those that have gone before you. Show the potential benefit the customer/company can recognize if they accept the proposed risk. Even after all that, you may only open the door to considering an improvement project. It does not guarantee a person or company will proceed.
You must address the risk
Address the risk head on. Show how you, or your company, will mitigate risk throughout the venture. Always keep in mind the customer’s or your company’s view on risk. It could be as simple as a loss of the investment into a project. On the other end of the spectrum could be lost customers, lost revenue, or even lost jobs. By not dismissing the risk, but acknowledging it and trying to prevent it, it shows your commitment to the customer, whether internal or external. It shows you are a partner, not just someone trying to sell an idea and run.
In the end, everyone wants to grow. Very few want to take the risks needed to grow. If you’re trying to help your customer or company grow and improve, you must prove you will do everything possible to manage risk, but not dismiss its existence in the first place.
Assessments help organizations avert risk
Are you in the process of accepting risk in order to improve, grow, or move in a new direction? We offer many solutions that can help mitigate risk — solutions and services with proven track records that adhere to best practices. We also offer a Product Development System Assessment (PDSA) and Functional Group Assessment (FGA) to help align organizations, define strategic direction, and help map the best course forward. Download our PDSA brochure or FGA brochure to learn more. Please share your experience and thoughts about accepting and managing risk in the comments below.
Cheers.
The Internet of Things (IoT) poses unique challenges when it comes to protecting smart, connected devices. If devices are hacked, they could cause serious problems. It’s critical to understand what these challenges are and how you can overcome them. A secure IoT solution requires complete collaboration among the infrastructure, platform, developer, and device controller.
Some of the security challenges the IoT faces include user management in the cloud, device variety, and application vulnerability.
User Management in the Cloud
Cloud permissions are typically granted to one human using one application, there are firm boundaries around the authentication and authorization processes. When the IoT is in the cloud as well, devices can authenticate themselves as a human or on behalf of a human. This means a much more complex permission process as well as a trust model must be put in place to maintain security.
A big difference between the cloud and the IoT is that the IoT (typically) has more devices than the cloud. For a hacker to do serious damage, they don’t need to penetrate all of the devices, just a small number of them or even a single weakly protected device.
Variety of Devices
The varying types of smart, connected devices present immense opportunity for damage if a hacker successfully overtakes them. Organizations must ensure their devices and applications are secure from attackers even with knowledge of IoT operations.
Researchers have found they have could interfere with driving an automobile, the functionality of a pacemaker, and even changing the position of rifle’s aim. Your device security is critical.
Application Vulnerabilities
Hackers could go as far as gaining instant access to high-level IoT deployments. They can do this by targeting security weaknesses in the firmware and/or applications running on embedded systems. If your IoT implementation is not properly managed, a compromise of a single device could compromise your entire system.
Environments where devices are deployed through other organization’s networks are especially important. Your organization’s ability to lessen security issues among devices will decrease if you lose control leaving your applications vulnerable.
Now that you’ve read through some of the security challenges the IoT faces, you may want to take a moment and continue reading to learn how to protect your digital data, as well as security best practices: authenticate, authorize, and audit. Security risks associated with the IoT are growing, but you can take preventative action to ensure the security of your IoT devices and deployments.
Rob Black, CISSP Senior Director of Product Management at PTC wrote the White Paper, “Protecting smart devices and applications throughout the IoT ecosystem,” where he reviews IoT security best practices.
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.
