If you want to create an operating manual automatically, you need more than text modules and templates. The decisive factor is the interaction between modular content, well-maintained product data and a content management system that can control variants logically. This is how custom, order-specific operating manuals are created that only contain the content actually relevant to the specific machine.
How this works in practice is illustrated by the example of Aerzener Maschinenfabrik: The company produces up to 15,000 individual operating manuals a year, largely automatically – without the Technical Documentation team having to assemble each document manually. In the podcast “kothes trifft\ldots”, Heiko Nickel, Head of Technical Documentation at Aerzen, explains how this process is structured and what really matters.
Anyone who builds highly configurable machines knows the problem: Almost every machine is a one-off. Different media, individual throughput rates or special equipment mean that even a series product quickly becomes a variant in the documentation. This is precisely where it becomes difficult to create a suitable operating manual efficiently.
In many companies, the starting point is similar: There are standard manuals which only in parts really match the machine being delivered. Content is deleted, added or adapted manually. This takes time, ties up resources and increases the risk that unsuitable information remains in the document or important information is missing. Under such conditions, anyone wanting to create an operating manual automatically has to rethink the process from the ground up.
At Aerzener Maschinenfabrik, things used to be much more laborious too: “There was an entire wall of documents on the shelf, and you had to fish out the right sheets for the customer. Very time-consuming and not a pretty sight,” says Heiko Nickel in the podcast.
The pressure to act was correspondingly high: either further expand the team and the manual effort – or find a way to create operating manuals systematically and largely automatically. Aerzen opted for the latter, with support from kothes. We describe the entire project in our Success Story.
Anyone who wants to create an operating manual automatically needs one central foundation in the content management system, a so-called maximum manual. For each product line, it contains all relevant content, variants, options, languages and versions in a single structure.
In parallel, the order-specific data for the respective machine is created in the product configurator or in adjacent systems – for example regarding equipment, application area or drive. This configuration data is transferred to the content management system as an XML file.
There, the data meets the modular content of the maximum manual. The individual text modules are tagged with validity conditions. These identifiers determine under which conditions a piece of content appears in the operating manual – and when it does not. In this way, a filtered, custom document is created automatically, containing only the information relevant to the specific machine.
Additional documents can be pulled in from connected systems, for example drawings, EC Declarations of Conformity, circuit diagrams or operating data from the ERP system. This is how a complete, automatically generated operating manual emerges from a centrally maintained content pool and the respective order data.
The crucial point is this: The automatic creation of the operating manual is not triggered manually by the Technical Documentation team. The trigger for the entire process chain is the production order. As soon as internal approval is given that, for example, a specific blower is to be built, the process starts automatically.
The process steps:
Configuration data is transferred to the content management system as XML.
The maximum manual is filtered and populated with variables.
Supplementary documents are added.
The finished PDF is sent automatically to the print shop – including quantity, language and delivery address.
The document is archived.
A copy is made available in the cloud and the customer automatically receives a notification.
In this way, the operating manual is created, issued and provided automatically, without manual intervention for each individual order.
A common objection to automated documentation is that it only works for standardised products, not for special-purpose machines. In practice, however, it becomes clear that even for highly individual solutions, a large proportion of the operating manual can be generated automatically.
For such cases, Aerzen, for example, uses an adapted process. Based on a characteristic value, the system recognises that an order requires manual processing and routes it into a separate worklist. At the same time, the Technical Documentation team receives an email.
The crucial difference compared to the previous approach is that the editors no longer start from scratch. A large part of the document is already preconfigured automatically. Technical writers only add the genuinely individual content and then return the order to the automated process.
Of the 12,000 to 15,000 operating manuals produced each year, currently only around 10 to 20 per day end up in this manual processing. The vast majority run through fully automatically.
Anyone who wants to create operating manuals automatically needs more than a content management system. What matters is a coordinated process across several areas of the company. After all, automatic creation does not start in Technical Documentation, but with the data, characteristics and approvals that come from Engineering, Sales, Order Processing, ERP and IT.
For this reason, such initiatives fail in practice less often because of technology but unclear responsibilities, lack of coordination and inadequate backing. For configuration data to become a suitable operating manual, everyone involved must know their role in the process and fulfil it reliably. Depending on the system landscape, this includes not only Technical Documentation and IT but also Engineering, Order Processing, Sales and external partners such as print service providers or system integrators.
The decisive factor is data quality. Only if characteristics, bills of materials (BOMs), variants and order data are maintained meticulously can an order-specific operating manual be created automatically at the end. A single incorrect characteristic, a missing identifier or an incomplete data transfer can result in missing content or incorrect output.
That is exactly why such a project needs a clear mandate from top management. Automating operating manuals is not only changing documentation, but also processes, responsibilities and requirements for data maintenance.
The automatic creation of operating manuals changes the work of the Technical Documentation team significantly. Above all, repetitive activities decrease: Assembling known content, adapting variants manually, creating new jobs again and again or producing essentially identical documents multiple times in the same structure. These tasks do not disappear completely, but they move clearly into the background.
In return, the focus of technical authoring shifts. The team maintains content centrally, defines validity conditions and variant logic, safeguards the quality of modules and checks whether the automatic output functions reliably in terms of both technical content and form. Instead of working on many similar documents individually, one centrally maintained master is created per product line.
This not only relieves pressure in day-to-day operations but also improves consistency. Content no longer has to be updated in many different places in parallel. Changes are maintained centrally and are then available correctly in all relevant outputs.
Planning reliability also increases. Operating manuals are created closer to the actual delivery date and do not have to be produced long in advance for stock. This reduces outdated inventories and lowers the risk of customers receiving unsuitable or incomplete documentation.
For the Technical Documentation team, this means: less operational routine, more responsibility for structure, rules and quality.
It is important to start realistically. Not every product line and not every exception needs to be fully automated from day one. A pilot project is often the more sensible route – with a clearly defined product group, robust data and a process that can be expanded step by step.
The following points are particularly critical:
Anyone creates operating manuals automatically is at the same time laying an important foundation for the next development step in Technical Documentation. If content is maintained in modular form, compiled on an order-specific basis and output with system support, the path to digital provision is significantly shorter.
This is precisely where the next topics lie for many machine manufacturers: Digital operating manuals, content delivery solutions, structured information packages in line with VDI 2770 and, looking ahead, requirements around the digital product passport. Regulatory developments such as the new Machinery Regulation are increasing the pressure to make technical information more efficient, up to date and digitally available in future.
Anyone who starts now to automate the creation of operating manuals is therefore investing not only in more efficient processes, but also in a robust foundation for future information provision.
If you would like to explore what such an automation project might look like in your company, it is worth taking a look at our Success Story with Aerzener Maschinenfabrik. And of course, we are happy to help you assess potential, prerequisites and sensible entry scenarios for your Technical Documentation. Just drop us an email.