Abstract:

Over the past four years, an industrial partnership between an engineering manufacturing company (Thales Optronics, Glasgow, UK) and staff within a university engineering school (Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK) has produced research and practical outcomes in the area on multimedia conversion of technical documentation systems. The genesis of this relationship was founded within doctoral work into the crossover of design and media production skills normally associated with multimedia and web based publishing, with the increasing need for engineering companies to address issues arising from the production and use of paper based project documentation / client support. This research dialogue has inevitably required an understanding of the mindset and cultural behaviours within manufacturing industry, and the design processes engineers are taught and apply, as well as the internal organisation of a large scale (global) manufacturing company.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the benefits of using a multimedia-based approach to assembly, repair and maintenance over traditional paper based technical publications. The study offers to serve as a strategic look at the future of technical documentation and how time and cost savings can be achieved by adopting a multimedia approach to training, test and debug of a wide range of key products of varying complexity. The data gathered highlights the benefits of using such an approach to train both new and existing personnel by multimedia methods, such that the reuse costs diminish with time. The research study also demonstrates the ability to use multimedia to provide guidance and support to technically qualified people whose practical and academic abilities are varied. A controlled experiment that requires investigative and repair skills has been designed that has enabled data to be collated on the abilities of two groups of students to follow a process verbatim and perform a series of detailed tests. The instructions were presented to the students in both traditional paper and multimedia formats. The results show the benefits of the multimedia approach to training and learning on this type of detailed fault investigation task.

The issue, which this paper explores, is the process of using a multimedia based solution to provide technical support data that enables the user to assemble/ disassemble a product correctly that also incorporates fault diagnosis and repair information. The content of the multimedia product incorporates rich interactive and audio/ visual multimedia to create effective engineering documentation for the client / end user, and the use of the same media to train new engineering students to think about problem solving and fault investigation processes. The present generation of university students is experiencing a revolution in information access and the growth of sophisticated mobile communication technologies. Combining necessary core engineering skills and knowledge, with how to communicate information to the end user using different approaches, will it is suggested by the authors, produce the next generation of effective engineers.

Keywords:

multimedia, engineering, simulation, industrial, documentation, knowledge.