1. Position Paper on
Value of Technical Publications in
Automotive Engineering Industry
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3. Introduction
This paper presents the value of and need for quality TWB – Leading Technical Documentation
Technical Publications in the Automotive Engineering
industry.
Outsourcing Company
TWB is a leading technical publisher with an excellent
Technical publications include a wide variety of
record of providing unmatched technical documentation
material such as design documents, analytical reports,
to many major companies.
handbooks, technical specification documents, user
manuals, requirement documents, technical reports,
white papers, online help files, classroom and web TWB is the ideal choice for leading manufacturers in the
based training material, policy manuals, lab reports, automotive industry. TWB helps customers with all their
and case studies. technical documentation needs such as design
documents, analytical reports, handbooks, technical
specification documents, technical reports and training
Modern automotive engineering is a complex process,
materials.
integrating elements of mechanical, electrical and
electronic, software and safety engineering. The key
concept behind the integration of multiple processes is TWB works closely with client teams located globally,
to automate vehicle manufacture and increase and assists them in meeting their worldwide product
efficiency. announcements and launch deadlines. TWB works
round-the-clock with client teams and help them with
quick responses that facilitate timely distribution of
This has led to rapid innovation in the development of
documents around the globe.
automotive systems. Today, customers are offered
highly customized products at low prices. This is
“Knowledge is people, money, learning, flexibility
achieved by configuring individual vehicles from a
and competitive advantage. Knowledge is more
large number of options. This necessitates the creation
relevant to sustained business than capital or labor.
of highly accurate and specific product documentation.
And yet knowledge remains the most neglected
asset of a business. TWB helps you unlock and
Further, the rapid technological progress in the share your technical knowledge with the world.”
automotive industry has led to increased complexity in
technical products. Owner and user manuals have
increased by over 100% in volume in the last decade.
This has proven to be a challenge, since globalization
has necessitated an increase in the number of
languages into which a technical document is
translated. With each additional language translation,
costs increase, directly proportional to the size and
complexity of the documentation. This makes the
creation of simple, easily comprehensible
documentation essential to the automotive industry.
This, in turn, necessitates the involvement of Technical
Documentation Specialists in the creation of these
documents.
In this paper we will discuss the importance of
technical publications to the automotive industry, to
facilitate the growth, and development of the industry.
“TWB believes that technology cannot exist
without being communicated effectively.”
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4. Automotive Industry – Technical Publications
Growth of the automotive industry in Challenges and Solutions
India
India is the 9th largest automobile industry in the world, Some of the greatest documentation challenges that
with a production of 2.3 million units in 2008 alone. In most companies in the automotive industry face today
2009, India became Asia’s 4th largest exporter of cars. include:
Automobile companies like Nissan, Volkswagen, Toyota  Increased complexity and diversity of products
and Hyundai have expanded manufacturing facilities to  Increased competition with regard to
India. Nissan and Hyundai predict an export of over documentation quality and efficiency
250,000 vehicles by 2011.  Stricter product liability regulations, placing more
importance on completeness and comprehensibility
of documentation.
Rapid technological advances in the automotive
industry have resulted in complex and diverse
technical products. The task of creating documentation
for such a wide range of products may seem complex
and daunting, since documentation has to be revised
or updated to keep pace with advancements. Quality
documentation is easy to update and maintain,
reducing the cost involved despite the massive
amounts of documentation required by the industry.
Differences in the functionality and quality of technical
“The automotive industry in India grew at a products are slowly reducing. However the complexity
compounded annual growth rate of 11.5% over the of these products is increasing correspondingly. As
past five years.” – The Economic Survey, 2008 – product complexity increases, the quality of the
2009. documentation is often the deciding factor in customer
decision making. TWB provides documentation with
professional quality.
Growth of the automotive industry
Globally Product liability regulations, like the EU product liability
directive, have impacted technical documentation
The recent economic crisis has created momentum for a enormously. Today, the demand for experts in
massive structural change in the auto industry, preparing technical documentation is high to guarantee quality
the industry for growth for the next decade. document creation, thus avoiding legal ramifications.
“Mark Oline, a Fitch Ratings Analyst predicted that
sales will rise to 11.1 million cars and trucks next Benefits
year, a 7.8 percent increase over the 10.3 million he
expects for 2009.”
For a leading vendor in the automotive industry,
association with TWB has benefited them immensely
China’s automobile market showed massive growth in in saving costs and producing professional
2010, with output and sales for January continuing from documentation along with services such as:
the growth in December 2009, to reach 1.6148 million
and 1.6642 million units respectively.
 Transferring complex technical data into easily
understandable language
Autofacts forecasts a 10% improvement in sales in the
 Protecting technical and commercial data of newly
North America, predicting sales of 13.9 million units with
an assembly forecast of 10.4 million units. developed products
 Creating, editing, reviewing, and maintaining
content
In South America, the vehicle sales reached 3 million
units in 2009, a record-breaking 12.7% increase over  Preparing training material, online Help, graphics
sales in the 2008. This growth is expected to continue, and illustrations
both in sales and assembly.
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5. Value of Technical Publications
Technical Publication for Transferring Publications for Different Levels of
Product Knowledge Technical and Product Knowledge
The purpose of technical publications is to transfer
In the automotive industry, it is necessary to create
product knowledge to the end user, in a comprehensible
several different types of documentation for different
format. The strategies of communication and levels of
purposes: design documents, technical reports,
information vary depending on the type of product.
specification documents, user manuals and training
material and so on. Each of these documents
When delivering a product, whether a hardware product addresses a different audience, each of whom has a
or a software application, it is equally important to give specific role in the automotive industry. It is important
the users information about the product’s operation and that documents be created keeping in mind the role of
maintenance. the person who will use the documentation.
In the real world scenario, technical publications are For example, a technical analyst, who is accustomed
often developed as an afterthought. This usually results to reviewing satellite images on a workstation, needs
in inaccurate and hard-to-understand material. As a to learn how to use the system and software to
result, the users dislike these materials and avoid using magnify the image, but not how to analyze the image.
them.
For users who start without technical or product
Inaccurate and hard-to-understand material also results knowledge, you need to provide instructions to use the
in the user’s inability to understand and implement high- product as well as information they need to look for as
end technologies. The users might reject the product. a result of using the product. This presents a more
difficult problem.
Different needs of the end users and the gap between
Faulty Assumptions that Result in their technical and product knowledge determines the
Problems in Documentation amount of information that goes into technical
publications.
These faulty assumptions result in incomprehensible
documents:
 The developers know the product better than anyone Attractive Publications as Useful
else: With time constraints and limited resources, Marketing Tool
many companies are tempted to let the programmers
do the documentation. The engineers and developers
Providing useful and accurate documents is critical to
know the product very well. However, the developer
ensure that the user can easily find the required
is likely to provide technology-centered information;
information. If the end users cannot find the answers
where as the end user requires task-centered
to their problems, they assume that the documentation
information.
is useless.
For engineers and developers it is almost
impossible to step back and look at the To be useful, the documentation must be clear,
application from the end users point of view. concise, and well designed. The documentation that is
accurate and complete also needs to be well
designed.
 The application is complicated; having a writer learn
about it will take too long: Learning the product
should not be a major obstacle for the writers with the Accurate and easy-to-understand technical
right technical background. documentation is the only way to provide information
to the end user, and it is also cost-effective.
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6. Conclusion
 The Importance of the Automotive Industry: The automotive industry is among the few that have shown
steady growth during the last few years, particularly with the troubled economy. The automotive industry is
important not just for its direct effects, but for its indirect effects as well. The industry has a large, complex supply
chain, which draws from both specialized component suppliers and material suppliers. The automotive industry
is one of the largest consumers of products of the aluminum, rubber, glass, plastics and steel industries. For
many industries, the automotive industry is a leading consumer, whose requirements provide an impetus to
innovations that benefit other sectors.
 Value of Technical Publications: Technical Publications are very essential for transferring product knowledge
to the end users. Providing proper material to use technology and products enables the user to accept and
efficiently use the product. Frequently, the quality of documentation is a factor which directly contributes to a
customer’s decision to purchase or reject a product. Faulty assumptions about documentation lead to inaccurate
and hard-to-understand material which discourages end users from the product itself. This also decreases the
changes of marketing the products in the global markets.
 Role of Documentation Outsourcing: The complexity involved in automotive engineering, arising from the
integration of electric, electronic, manufacturing, software, and hardware systems requires that vendors and
purchasers look at outsourcing their documentation needs to well-established Technical Publications Solutions
providers. This helps the company cut costs and at the same time deliver their products with quality documents.
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7. TWB Services
TWB is India’s leader in technical communication outsourcing and education. TWB offers a complete suite of services that allow
our customers to effectively publish their technical knowledge with their people and processes. TWB’s customers range from
Global 500 – including Cisco, Accenture, McAfee, LG, Samsung, Citrix, SAP, Siemens, AOL, Intel; Indian technology majors –
including Infosys, Wipro; Global defense majors - Pratt & Whitney, Honeywell, DRDO, HAL; and exciting technology startups.
TWB's expertise in technical communication ranges from IT Products and Outsourcing, ITES, Banking, Financial, Aerospace,
Defense, Ship Building to Hi-tech Manufacturing, and Discrete and Process Manufacturing.
TWB’s services include:
Technical Marketing Technical Product Documentation Quality
Solutions Documentation Management
 Datasheets
 Administrator’s Guide
 Datasheets  Copy Editing and Proof Reading
 API Document
 Cheat sheets  Managing Writing
 Configuration Guide
 Solution Briefs/Solution Brochures  Editing Services
 Functional Specifications Document
 Presentations – Products/Corporate  Layout and Design
Profile  Installation Manual
 Creating SLAs
 Brochures and marketing collateral  Interface Document
 Web content  Interactive Electronic Technical Manual
(IETM)
Business Documentation
 Audio and video scripts
 Maintenance Manual  Business Proposals
 Press releases
 Online Help  Legal Disclaimers
 Direct mail
 Operation Manual  Policy Manuals
 Newsletter design copy
 Product Demo  Style Guide Design
 Sales catalogues
 Product Specifications Document  Template Design
 Sales sheets
 Product Overview Document
 Quick Reference Guide
Business Communication Content Management
 Release Notes
 Short Reports  Requirement Analysis Document
 Single Sourcing
 Proposals  SDK Document
 File Version Control
 Case Studies  Troubleshooting Manual
 Document Naming Conventions
 Lab Reports  User Manual
 Consistent Document Formatting
 Memos  Open Source Documentation
 Data Transformation
 Progress/Interim Reports  Programmers Guides
 Writing for Electronic Media  Functional Specifications Document
 Use Cases Web site Development
Illustrations  Online Help /Context Sensitive Help
 Web 2.0 development
 Troubleshooting Guides
 Graphic Designing  Web content

 Info graphics  Web applications
Qualitative Analytics for
 2D & 3D animation
Decision Support Translation and Localization
 Line drawings and illustrations
Services
 Economic Business Research
Process Documentation  Industry Analysis  Software Translation Services
 Workflows  Market Opportunity Analysis  Document Translation Services
 Standard Operating Procedures  Competitive Business Analysis  Localization (L10N) Testing
 ISO Documentation  Company & Prospect Profiling  Internationalization (I18N) Testing
 CMM Documentation  Reporting Solutions
 Assessment of Unmet Market Needs Records Management
Deployment and Support  Status and Potential of Technologies
 Document Management Solutions
 Benchmarking of Strategies Vs
Competition  Record Management Storage and
 Installation and Configuration Guides
Retrieval
 Operations Manual  Forecasting
 Sales Force Effectiveness
 Market Assessments
 Competitive Intelligence
 Opinion Leadership
 Emerging Markets - evaluation and
research
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8. TWB Software Tools Expertise
Our technical proficiency in software and authoring tools includes:
Unstructured Content XML Structured Editors Multimedia /Authoring
Development
 Epic  Adobe Flash®
 Microsoft Word®  FrameMaker+SGML  Adobe Dreamweaver®
 Adobe FrameMaker®  X-Metal®  Microsoft FrontPage®
 Adobe InDesign®  Adobe Captivate®
 QuarkXPress® Macromedia Captivate
 Adobe PageMaker® Graphics/Animations
 Multimedia /Authoring /
Illustrations  Adobe Flash® Supporting tools
 Adobe Photoshop®
 Adobe Flash CS4 Professional  Adobe Fireworks®  Adobe Flash®
 Adobe Illustrator CS3  Adobe Flex®
 CorelDRAW Online Help  Adobe AIR®
 Microsoft-Expression Graphic  Adobe Dreamweaver®
Designer  Adobe Acrobat®
 Xara Xtreme (Windows & Linux)  JavaHelp
 Microsoft Silverlight®
 CuteDraw  Adobe RoboHelp 7.0
 Adobe Authorware®
 Publisher3D(for animation)  HelpScribble
 Adobe Director®
 Sketsa SVG Editor (for vector  WebWorks Publisher
 Adobe Captivate®
graphics)  PowerCHM
 Trivantis Lectora®
 Techsmith Camtasia  Doc-To-Help
 ASP.NET
 Adobe Flash CS4 Professional  WinCHM
 JSP
 Arbortext IsoDraw (technical  HelpSmith 2.1.1(Windows)
 JAVA
illustrations for 2D and 3D)  Fast-Help
 MadCap Flare Standards
Graphics/Animation  Help-Server
 NVU Help
 SCORM 1.2 / 2004
 Adobe Flash®  AICC
XML
 Adobe Photoshop®  W3C
 Adobe Illustrator®  Section 508
 Adobe Fireworks®  XMetal®  QTI XML
 Microsoft Silverlight®  Microsoft Word 2003®,
 Microsoft Word 2007®
Databases Development and Publishing
tools
CMS/ LMS
 Microsoft Access  XSLT/XSL
 Microsoft SQL Server  EDD
 Sharepoint®
 Moodle
Flowcharting  Joomla,
 WordPress
 Microsoft Visio  Media Wiki
 iGrafx  CMS Builder
 EDraw  Author-it (formerly AuthorIT)
 RFFlow  Alfresco
 Flowbreeze
 Smart Draw
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9. Industries Served
TWB services a wide range of technology and knowledge driven industries, helping them meet their markets better, these include:
 Banking, Insurance and Financial Services  ITES/ KPO/ BPO
 Consulting and Business Services  Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology
 Defense, Aerospace and Hi-Tech Manufacturing  Process Manufacturing and Allied Industries
 Education and Learning  Steel, Ship Building, Construction and Aviation
 IT, ITES  Telecom and Digital Communications
TWB has been the preferred technical documentation outsourcing company for:
The TWB Building US Office:
No: 4062, 19th Main Road, TWB
HAL 2nd Stage, 11701 Norwegian Wood Drive
Bangalore – 560008 Austin, TX 78758
India.
Landmark: Behind Carlton Towers
Telephone: Telephone:
+91.80.40741400 / +91.80.41256367 +1.512.586.8357
Corporate Enquiries: corp@twb.in
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