zAB

+ + + SoftwAre development on A "new level" + + + CAtAlog produCtion todAy vS. integrAted CAtAlog produCtion + + +

eurocontrol:

Safe operation doeS not come

eaSily to everyone

22. volume – 02/2009

contents

p. 02 ___integrated catalog productionp. 03 ___the aviation industry documents foresightp. 04 ___technical documentation:

Strategies for cost reductionp. 06 ___award-winning innovation at oKS:

order-related secondary labeling in therespective customer language

p. 08 ___tanner reaches Spice-level 3

2 5 twentyfive yeArS tAnner

02 03

zAB

__________________________________________________________________________ Until now, catalog productions have been individual projects. One catalog = one project ... independent of what occurs with the catalog data before, after or at the same time. However, this equation increasingly fails to work out. Internationaliza-tion, personalization, and shortened product life cycles increase pressure to pro-duce catalogs not only more quickly but also in a systematic and ordered process. That means that catalog production must be integrated seamlessly into business processes. A clean strategy based on the model of industrialization is helpful here.

__________________________________________________________________________The scenario is well-known: The catalog must be printed and delivered by a cer-

tain date. Marketing assumes project leadership, but is especially dependent on the support of product management and product development. Because that is where product information comes from – somehow. But what does “comes from” mean? All product data – prices, technical data, graphics, texts for invitations to tender – must be laboriously researched and compiled in various systems (e.g. ERP system). How current and relevant the data is and when it is ready for publication … that is the great unknown factor in this calculation. That means: the closer the completion date for the product catalog comes, the larger the burden for product management, product development and marketing becomes.__________________________________________________________________________ overall project instead of individual project: process analysis and definition____

The first step in efficient catalog creation leads to analysis. The current work steps for catalog production are collected and documented: Who carries out which activity within the company? When and where is information relevant to the catalog created and stored? But also: Which information is still lacking and must still be generated?

Then weaknesses are determined (e.g. multiple data creation) and the processes are optimized. Here this means concretely: The current order of the activities is chek-ked and adjusted, processes are accelerated and responsibilities are determined. The result is a clearly defined production process for everyone involved.__________________________________________________________________________ from production process to business process___________________________________

Several work steps. e.g. master data collection, are already integrated in the busi-ness process. The principal task is then to fit the additional steps, e.g. the provision of pictures and technical drawings, into this flow meaningfully and with the least amount of updating effort possible.

A product information management system (PIM system) can support these optimized processes. It automatically transfers information already saved in another system; it can now be enriched with additional catalog information and translations. The catalogs are then automatically generated with fixed defined templates – in seve-ral languages, with various product ranges. __________________________________________________________________________the principle of continuous improvement______________________________________

Exactly defined processes have an additional crucial advantage: They can be measured! Stable process tracing emerges, including which work steps work ... but also which steps stall the overall process. Additional room for improvement can be derived from this. Assuming this continuous improvement process, the costs for page production can be noticeably reduced, step by step.

Obviously, process analysis and optimization, the integration into business pro-cesses and possibly the implementation of a PIM system are the initial input. However, the noticeable increase in productivity amortizes this investment rapidly. More cata-logs within a shorter time with decreasing production costs – not a hasty undertaking, but the result of consistent industrialization of creation processes. _______________t

Integrated catalog production

editorial __________________________Cooperation between the indu-

stry and service providers is changing from a project partnership to a process partnership. The latter creates benefits for both business partners. This is due to the fact that persistently successful customer-supplier relationships are consistently trimmed for value contri-bution and innovation and are subject to a continuous process of improve-ment. What is standard in industrial manufacturing today still tends to be in the early stages in the field of informa-tion processes.

Standardization and measura-bility play a central role in technical documentation, document manage-ment, software development and cata-log creation. Ultimately, they enable industrialization and a division of labor based on strengths.

In its customer relationships, TANNER consistently pursues the path of process partnerships. We gladly allow ourselves to be measured by how we boost further potential with you using strength-based division of labor and by dividing opportunities and risks, and in doing so arriving at actual busi-ness partnerships in a mutual produc-tion process.

Let’s talk about it!

_____ Sincerely,

Stefan Kügel

02 03

22. volume 02 /2009

the aviation industry documents foresight________________________________________________________

At the moment, suppliers from the aviation industry are preparing their technical documentation to fulfill the S1000D specification. This is because the industry knows: If you do not act today, you and your bids could be out in the rain tomorrow. And who would like to lose projects due to shortcomings in your technical documentation? This question also dominated the conversations with document decision makers at the Paris Air Show. HiCo Informations- und Kommunikations-Management Ges.m.b.H. from Austria and TANNER AG presented their joint concept for aviation documentation there.

________________________________________________________

S1000d: a standard gains acceptance________________________________________________________

The S1000D specification is being developed further by the ASD (Aerospace and Defense Industries Association of Euro-pe), the AIA (Aerospace Industries Association of America) and the ATA (Air Transport Association of America). More and more countries are assigning so-called country representa-tives to participate in the “S1000D Steering Committee” All of this suggests the future importance of the standard.

Originally used in military aviation documentation, S1000D is developing an ever greater sphere of importance and application. In addition to aviation-specific documentation, land and sea-based projects now factor in the current versions of the standard. However, it is presumably of more importance that the civil sector has also discovered the specification.

This development is of most use to those manufactur-ers who supply components in more than one of these fields. Thanks to the joint standard, they are able to optimize their documentation expenses dramatically. Why? Because they create the necessary documentation from a single data source and are able to manage the data modules upon which it is based within a single platform.________________________________________________________

the “what” is obvious – the question is “how”________________________________________________________

The realization seems to be as difficult as the advantages are plausible. Indeed, the current version 4.1. of the regulations is comprised of more than 2,800 pages. Without industry-spe-cific expertise, the S1000D is thus an “entry barrier” that is not to be underestimated.

For many years, TANNER has been supporting aviation suppliers in documentation products primarily in the ATA

environment. In doing so, appropriate software systems sup-port the automated creation process and a high level of reuse, therefore providing for sustainable cost savings. In addition to ATA compliant documentation, these advantages can now also be used for creation in accordance with S1000D – in fact within one system.

________________________________________________________

System and editorial competence: Hico and tanner ________________________________________________________

In HiCo Informations- und Kommunikations-Manage-ment Ges.m.b.H. from Austria, TANNER was able to gain a partner for the establishment of a powerful infrastructure in the field of documentation. Already today it is therefore pos-sible to realize projects compliant with both ATA and S1000D based on one platform. Specifically, editing and management of documentation projects based on the different standards is carried out on a mutual interface. In addition, customers, ser-vice providers and third parties can all work on documentation projects via external access at the same time. This solution is already in use for customers today.

S1000d applications

Air ground marine

Civil x x x

defense x x x

use scenarios

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________t

Use in the companyWith internal use of the system, all of the above-listed functionalities are directly available. The interface is very intuitive and aids very fast familiarization with the system.Use at the service provider Through a partnership with TANNER AG, the advantages named are also at the companies’ disposal, but investment in systems, infrastructure, maintenance, etc. is not necessary here. This aspect also of importance if an internal documentation infrastructure is already existent, e.g. for ongoing ATA-iSpec compliant projects. The scope of the services can vary here: From a documentation project to be edited and managed externally to individual partial services, different modules can be utilized.Collaboration platformThe option of also accessing the system externally specific to authorization makes work processes between the service provider and customer lean and efficient, e.g. within the scope of editorial creation and the release of data modules.

q

q

q

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

04 0504 05

Especially in difficult economic times, every Euro counts. And it's all the better if established concepts are available to cut costs. This text kicks off a multi-part article series which will discuss the topic of cost cutting in technical documentation in the next issues of ABZ. In technical documentation, TANNER has been applying cost-cutting methods and technology for its customers for years. The documented savings reach high two-digit percentages – with increasing quality and a high level of customer satisfaction.

________________________________________________________However, these savings can only be realized when the

approach is tailored to each company. This requires a lot of time and effort in the first step, but pays for itself quickly and in the long term the is no alternative. We particularly consider the fol-lowing points:

q Products and variations q Customers and marketsq Processes and proceduresq Information productsq Prospects

________________________________________________________

products and variations________________________________________________________

Does your company only manufacture a few products or a wide range of products – possibly also with many variations? Do the products tend to be simpler or are they more com-plex and in need of explanation? Do you develop and produce yourself for the most part or do you assemble your products from purchased parts? The situation is different in each com-pany. The solutions must also allow for this fact.

If requirements are less demanding, information authors are significantly relieved with sample documentation or tem-

plates, e.g. a Word-DOT. If many products are documented and variations managed, powerful support is essential. Editing systems come into play here. On the other hand, with a high percentage of purchased parts, it is important that the sup-pliers’ documentation is available in the necessary quality and can be integrated into the overall documentation with little effort.

________________________________________________________

customers and markets________________________________________________________

Does your company manufacture products which are only used and serviced by professionals? Or do you have more of an inhomogeneous target group – from a homemaker to a profes-sor, who as a rule is less talented practically? Does your compa-ny make products for the domestic market or are they exported within the EU or even worldwide?

It does not matter whether it is an exactly known or a hete-rogeneous target group. It must be clear which information is communicated to them in what way and with which detailing.

The next aspect: languages. In many companies, the greatest potential for sustainable savings lies here. If your company sells products internationally, the instructions must be available in a multitude of languages. Linguistic information can only very rarely be replaced by graphics and where easily understood products and information are concerned. The use of a transla-tion memory is always advisable here. Neatly structured and formulated initial texts are the basic requirement for efficient translations. ________________________________________________________

Technical Documentation: Strategies for cost reduction

article series, part i

q Word-Dot/DocuGlobe editing system

Costi / Manuale

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

140%

120%

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

First abbrevia-tions and Funktions-

design, tool with

SGMLTranslation costs / Manual

Costs / Manual

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

04 0504 05

________________________________________________________

processes and procedures________________________________________________________

Where and by whom is the information created that is necessary for your documentation? When is this information stable? Is it ever stable at all? When is the documentation chek-ked? Who checks which aspects? How does editing proceed? How is it ensured that the information that is already available is integrated into the correct version instead of being rewrit-ten? How are last-minute changes handled?

The research, compilation, checking and publication of information to become the “documentation end product” is a complex process with many interfaces and parameters. Invol-ved parties are in different departments distributed throughout the entire company and do not know much about one another. Jobs regarding documentation are often taken care of with a low priority and at the last minute. The results are often idle time, superfluous loops, avoidable mistakes in the documen-tation, etc.

A simple information process analysis can provide valuab-le clues here. Within this scope, we record where which infor-mation is generated, in which media and formats it is available, where it is going, where it is refined, etc. Ideally, the editing workload, deadlines and repeated editing become clearer.

________________________________________________________

information products________________________________________________________

How do you communicate with your customers? Which information products do you use in which phase of the sales approach? With which media can you reach your customers best? For pre-sales information e.g. catalogs are used, as well as image brochures, literature, flyers and data sheets. During use, the focus is on after-sales information – operating instructions, operating manuals, maintenance and service instructions. Parts catalogs and training documents also belong here.

Every company needs a strategy on how to systematically use instruments in information products. Many target groups can only be reached by a narrowly defined communication channel; everything else goes up in smoke without effect. From an economic standpoint, it is particularly interesting which information can be used more than once in various informa-tion products.

________________________________________________________

prospects________________________________________________________

How will your company’s range of products develop in the next few years? Which markets is your company opening up? Which new statutory and normative requirements will you be faced with?

Many companies are in a situation in which they are just barely managing the volume of documentation. But the requirements are growing more demanding. A reliance on pro-prietary tools and individual employees with distinct know-how and procedures can be dangerous.

Decisions in the field of documentation must be made stra-tegically and future scenarios must be taken into account. Data must be lasting, services must be scalable and processes must be transferable. Measures must be realized as long as the volu-me of documentation can be managed. An increase in person-nel parallel to the increasing requirements is not a sustainable solution.

A neutral projection of the development and thinking out-side the box help to create a solid, long-term basis here.

________________________________________________________

conclusion________________________________________________________

Technical documentation is a much more complex topic than one would think after a fleeting peek at the printed end product. And the potential for optimization is proportionately greater than it appears at first glance.

Did you recognize yourself and your company in one of these questions? In upcoming ABZs, we will elaborate on these points in detail and show you step by step how you too can face increasing requirements in a practice-oriented and cost-orien-ted manner.

If you want to know now what you can do, call or write. _______________________________________________________ t

article series, part i

06 07

________________________________________________________

OKS Spezialschmierstoffe GmbH in Munich develops, produces and sells specialized lubricants and chemotechnical products for industrial servicing and maintenance. OKS sells its products in containers such as tubes, spray cans, canisters and barrels. Various national and European laws, e.g. chemical laws and labeling obligations derived from them, are to be observed in the process. As a result, the lawmakers in the individual countries regulate among other things the fact that the storage and sale of products may only occur with labeling with the safety information in the language of the respective country. The company approached TANNER with the objective of finding a standardized solution to this problem.

Matthias Eder, Head of Administration at OKS, points out the challenges of the project: “Due to our worldwide dis-tribution, we must label products with safety information in the local language. In some target markets, a combination of different languages may also be required.

In addition, the expectations of the marketing depart-ment for the appearance of the products must be considered. Therefore, it was our idea to solve the problem with flexib-le, order-related secondary labeling,” says Matthias Eder. In this case, the containers which already have standard labe-ling must be glued over with a new label in the necessary languages.

Award-winning innovation at OKS: Order-related secondary labeling in the respective customer language

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________q

________________________________________________________

pim system as the basis for the solution________________________________________________________

At the beginning of the project, product data was stored in different systems and documents at OKS. Therefore, a product information management system (PIM system) was implemen-ted in the first step. Following the evaluation of several systems, the PIM system SKATE® from Cross Media Solutions was selected. “In particular, the good integration possibility using a stable programming interface speaks for SKATE®,” says Peter Blasitzke, responsible project manager at TANNER, in expla-nation of the system choice. Using this, access to the database is not only possible by exporting a file, but also directly with an object-oriented data model. Today, OKS consolidates product data from the other data bases at regular intervals and supplies them centrally.________________________________________________________ Secondary labeling: How it works_______________________________________________________

The technical process of secondary labeling is structured as follows.

Customer orders collected in the ERP system routinely run through a loopback. If all languages necessary for an order item are on the label, the order is picked with articles from stock. Items lacking labeling languages are saved in a so-called job ticket. This ticket contains information regarding the customer, the item number and the necessary languages. With an expan-sion to the ERP system developed by SoftM, the job tickets are provided in XML format. Following transfer to secondary labeling, the respective language-dependent product data is additionally retrieved from the PIM system and the labels are created as InDesign documents.

In order to ensure that all data in each required language is in the very limited print area of a label, TANNER has realized testing functions in the generation process. According to the relevance of a deviation, a warning or error message is sent by e-mail and if necessary, the delivery of the labeling document is prevented. In this case, manual editing of the label is necessary before it is transferred to the print application developed by TANNER.

A labeling machine from the company röco, located in Kol-bermoor, applies the secondary labels to the containers auto-matically in large quantities. According to OSK, high capacity with constant quality is achieved in this way, particularly in the

field of aerosol cans. In order to be able to trace the entire pro-cess of secondary labeling at a later time, all respective data and documents of secondary labeling are stored in an archive following completion.

Due to the enormous success of this solution, further pro-ject phases have already been planned. In these, for example, additional print systems should be included to further increa-se capacity and flexibility. A test system is also planned with which new contents and print masters are tested beforehand to optimize the automatic generation process and reduce manual intervention.

“With the new labeling system, we fulfill the statutory requirements of the individual countries." As a result, we no longer have to depend on storing a variety of local article varia-tions,” says Dr. Markus Leirer, Technical Director at OKS. “The solution is already being used in Poland, Portugal, Hungary and the Netherlands. It also helps us to overcome market entry bar-riers in certain countries and stabilizes our competitive positi-on,” adds Leirer._________________________________________________________

award-winning innovation________________________________________________________

The solution realized by OKS and TANNER has been awarded first place in the 2008 “We all take care” Award by the Freudenberg Group in the Product safety/Product responsibi-lity category.

“We all take care” is an initiative for environmental and occupational safety and for the reduction of accident rates. With this award, the Freudenberg Group has been distinguis-hing innovative projects from this field annually since 2002._________________________________________________________

about oKS________________________________________________________

OKS Spezialschmierstoffe GmbH is a lubricant specia-list active in over 50 countries. With its technical and mineral oil trade, OKS reaches commercial users as well as industrial customers. For more than 27 years, OKS has been producing and selling approximately 150 standardized high-performance products for the reduction of friction, wear and corrosion worldwide. OKS Spezialschmierstoffe GmbH is headquartered in Munich and belongs to Freudenberg Chemical Specialities KG, a member of the Freudenberg Group.

06 07

Award-winning innovation at OKS: Order-related secondary labeling in the respective customer language

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________t

TANNER

addresses_______________________________________

leGal information______________________________________________________________________________________

Published byTANNER AGKemptener Straße 99D-88131 Lindau (b)T +49 8382 272-0F +49 8382 272-900E info@tanner.dehttp://www.tanner.de

Editor in Chief: Dr. Sven Bergert _________________________________________ This issue was edited and created with the collaboration of: Elmar Dutt, Andreas Hett, Stefan Kügel, Melanie Meyer

_________________________________________ Images: NREY/shutterstock, fotoexpert/shutterstock, iStockphoto

Reprinting in whole or in part requires permission in writing. TANNER AG assumes no liability for unsilicited manuscripts and photographs which have been submitted. __________________________________________ABZ is published six to eight times a year and is distributed to interested parties free of charge. There is no right to redress in law.

TANNER reaches SPICE-Level 3 TANNER AG Kemptener Straße 99, d-88131 lindau (B)phone +49 8382 272-119fax +49 8382 272-900e-mail: info@tanner.de____________________________________________

Braunschweig branch officeCarl-miele-Straße 4, d-38112 Braunschweigphone+49 531 215-7858fax +49 531 231-7531e-mail: braunschweig@tanner.de____________________________________________Duisburg branch officeBismarckstraße 142, d-47057 duisburgphone +49 203 2988-668fax +49 203 3466-443e-mail: duisburg@tanner.de____________________________________________Erlangen branch officenürnberger Straße 24-26, d-91052 erlangenphone +49 9131 970028-15fax +49 9131 970028-88e-mail: erlangen@tanner.de____________________________________________Frankfurt-Eschborn branch officemergenthalerallee 77, d-65760 eschbornphone +49 6196 77933-95fax +49 6196 77933-98e-mail: frankfurt@tanner.de____________________________________________Hamburg branch officelübecker Straße 1, d-22087 Hamburgphone +49 40 702918-75fax +49 40 702918-83e-mail: hamburg@tanner.de____________________________________________Munich branch officefreisinger landstraße 74, d-80939 münchenphone +49 89 321957-37fax +49 89 321957-34e-mail: muenchen@tanner.de____________________________________________Paderborn branch officeBalduinstraße 1, d-33102 paderbornphone +49 5251 879718-11fax +49 5251 879718-88e-mail: paderborn@tanner.de____________________________________________Reutlingen branch officeAm Heilbrunnen 47, d-72766 reutlingenphone +49 7121 144934-0fax +49 7121 144934-20e-mail: reutlingen@tanner.de____________________________________________TANNER s.r.l. via g. mazzini, 2, 22073 fino mornasco, italyphone +39 031 40 525 00fax +39 031 40 525 01e-mail: info@tanner.it____________________________________________TANNER Vietnam Ltd.House 43d/8 Ho van Hue St. ward 9, phunhuan district, vn-70999 Ho Chi minh Cityphone +84 8 39973-452fax +84 8 39973-465e-mail: vietnam@tanner.de____________________________________________Tanner Translations GmbH+Comarkenstr. 7, d-40227 düsseldorfphone +49 211 179665-0fax +49 211 179665-29e-mail: info@translations.tanner.de

_______________________________________________________________________ TANNER has successfully passed a SPICE assessment in the area of software development and reached Level 3 in six of nine process criteria. This is a high official appreciation and evaluation of the service of software development. SPICE (Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination) is an inter-national standard for assessing and improving software development processes. “As a SPICE assessor, you gain deep insight into many companies. At TANNER, pro-cesses are continuously developed further and verifiably followed. That makes the entire organization very strong," says Thomas Mosel, Senior Project Manager at MB-technology GmbH, which carried out the SPICE assessment.

___________________________________________________________________________

What is Spice?___________________________________________________________________________

SPICE is an international standard (ISO/IEC 15504) and determines require-ments, the process and methods of software development processes. The quality of software products is highly dependent on the quality of its development process. The standard specifies six levels of maturity (from Level 0 to 5). These levels assess the effectiveness of the processes described.

The levels of maturity are assigned a total of nine process criteria. The degree of maturity is determined individually for each of these criteria. For example, the assessment covers how the project management is organized, how problems are solved, the general software design and how requirements from the customer or internally are determined and realized. The evaluation of the SPICE assessment is carried out in a strengths-and-weaknesses rating scale through which the potential for improvement becomes clear. The results now flow into the continuous improve-ment process (CIP) at TANNER.

___________________________________________________________________________

High quality standards at tanner___________________________________________________________________________

“Quality is absolutely paramount for us. Therefore, we would like to retain this high SPICE level lastingly and uniformly in all software projects,” says Bern-hard Oeckl, Quality Management Representative and Six-Sigma Blackbelt at TANNER. But TANNER not only places emphasis on continuous improvement of the process quality in software development. Since ISO certification of the QM system in 1993, the company has made a point of having a high level of qua-lity in processes, and in 2008 it received the Bavarian Quality Prize in the area of “Company-Oriented Service Provider”. A further step was the introduction of Six Sigma in 2009. A Six Sigma project for the definition of key data is also planned for the software creation process – an additional milestone in the SPICE maturity process. _______________________________________________________________t