"Because the red light, switch do not can " – badly
translated and incorrect operating instructions like these are not only
irritating for the end user, but can also cause difficulties and, above
all, extra costs for the manufacturer because faulty instructions are
equated with a faulty product. In addition, under German product
liability law, the manufacturer is liable for up to DM 160 million for
personal injury caused by a defective product.
"Product information is very important for all mechanical
engineering companies," explains Falko Lameter, Head of IT at
Kaeser Kompressoren." Especially when they produce the variety of
products that we do."
The company, which was established in 1919,and today has over 2,500
employees in more than 50 countries, sells all sorts of pneumatic
engineering services and products. It offers screw, reciprocating and
portable compressors as well as vacuum packages and rotary fans, all of
which are manufactured in accordance with the customers ’requirements.
Kaeser’s range of screw compressors alone consists of 14 product
lines, each of which can contain up to four different models. In
addition, Kaeser supplies different versions of these models to
different countries. At present there are more than 200,000 Kaeser screw
compressors in use worldwide.
The machines are produced by Kaeser Kompressoren on a
"just-in-time " basis. A set of operating instructions for
each compressor is also created "just in time "by the company
’s Technical Documentation department. A few years ago, Kaeser began
to use a highly developed modular concept for writing these operating
instructions.
All the text, pictures, circuit diagrams and drawings, which might be
needed for the operating instructions of a particular compressor, are
stored as individual building blocks of information. In total, Kaeser
has created more than 60,000 building blocks in 17 different languages.
A single set of operating instructions can be made up of as many as 150
building blocks, depending on the type and model."
About 80% of the modules for the operating instructions of the
different versions of one type of compressor are the same,"
explains Lameter." The most obvious thing was to use an effective
content management system to automate the process."
Lameter and his team were no strangers to the advantages of the new
XML technology for effective content management. After a comprehensive
market analysis, Kaeser came to the conclusion at the end of 1999 that
Software AG’s Tamino and Bolero would provide the best answer to the
problem. By January 2000, the two companies were developing a solution
together, which is now being tested and will be implemented in early
2001. "
There were many reasons for using XML for content management,"
says Sigismund Kräck, Sales Director at Software AG." The solution
for Kaeser benefited above all from the fact that XML made it possible
to separate the content from the layout. This meant that independent and
reusable information units could be created in different formats and yet
combined very flexibly."
For each type of compressor, the development team created an XML
document, which contains, on the one hand, the information common to all
compressors of this type, and on the other hand, a selection of
information units for the different versions. When drawing up operating
instructions, the editor calls up this schema and selects the variants.
The system automatically collects the relevant information units and
combines them "on demand "to form a set of operating
instructions, which is then printed."
At the moment we are only using a printed output format,"
explains Lameter." But next year we will begin to use XML’s
flexible output options as well, and put the operating instructions on
the Internet. This will be an enormous improvement in service for our
customers, who will be able to download operating instructions from the
Internet whenever they need them."
A further challenge, which Kaeser was able to overcome with XML, was
that of long-term archiving. The software solution that the technical
editorial staff had previously used to prepare operating instructions
worked with a proprietary format, which would make accessing operating
instructions difficult if ever the company installed a new software
solution. Furthermore, experience has shown that software solutions have
a shorter service life than the Kaeser compressors, which work for well
over twenty years."
By using XML we are banking on an open and future-proof
standard," says Lameter." This means that in twenty years ’time
it will be no problem to access today’s operating instructions."
In the next phase of the project, the content management system will
be linked to the existing SAP R/3 system, which Kaeser uses for
production planning, among other things. The company will employ the
Bolero CLIP for SAP solutions to do this." By linking the two
solutions we can automate the process even further," states
Lameter. "XML and Software AG’s technology will really enable us
to optimize our time to market."
