How can this improve your company’s bottom line?

With 23 years equipment maintenance training at Intel Corporation, experience shows there are many hidden opportunities related to human performance.  In the home assembly business, we believe a key contributor to errors and frustration is that people don't read the instructions (in addition to other common causes).  Our method addresses these because we understand the problems and we have experience and data to support it.  By applying these same principles to your business, we can help identify these opportunities up front.  We are not animators, we are performance specialists and have a product that can improve your bottom line and make you shine!  Please see "Measureable Results" on our Home Page for example savings.  

Not everyone will immediately benefit from this new capability - simply because not everyone has a PC, laptop, or iPhone. However, mobile demand is rapidly driving and evolving the technology to favor our approach. Currently, our Flash versions can be converted to MPEG (m4v) to play on iPhones or iTouch as one example - and they look great! We strongly believe that those who can use it today will simply want it even more, and those who can't are at a disadvantage. Mobile computing (as defined by a product that will fit in your pocket) is currently Intel's biggest technology thrust for a very good reason.

Just over 2 years ago, the 3D Industry Forum, chaired by Intel Corp., defined a Universal 3D format (U3D) to deliver portability beyond just engineering design – the “jpeg” for 3D was born. Adobe included a container for these U3D objects in their Acrobat product, while Right Hemisphere, a leader in simulation software, leveraged their CAD conversion horsepower to output U3D from over 80 CAD formats. This triggered a paradigm shift that most are still trying to understand because it has potential to turn all design communication and publication workflows on edge - including SAP who sees this trend as the next big enterprise solution.

The key reasons are; cost, flexibility, and maintenance.  A professional video typically costs about $1,000 per minute (edited and narrated). Although they can be very effective in areas such as marketing, there are many drawbacks to video as compared to the interactive nature of our products. Consider the difference between a printed photograph and the equivalent web page (or PDF) containing image maps and navigation without limit to interactivity. Now combine the advantages of updating your PDF instantaneously as compared to video shooting, editing, and production for even a minor change - there is simply no comparison!  There are so many addtional advantages such as clarity, ecology, navigation, product specificity, language, technology trends, and even marketing - just too many to explain here, so let us show you how.

There are several advantages of 3D animation over paper or 2D instructions. Illustrations typically do not look like the real product. This makes it a challenge for the customer to identify parts from the drawings – especially when fishing for screws or bolts. Next, assembly tasks on paper can only be represented using arrows or text to describe. Again, this can be misleading and most often is poorly executed often frustrating the customer. Finally, if your market is international, then text simply doesn’t work unless translated to other languages; this is both costly and often inaccurate. If you don't believe us, ask someone what they think about our samples and they will be quick to share a frustrating experience - possilby even with your products.

Stereo 3D will soon be in most households.  TV's and displays are already available with sync connections to Nintendo games said to be available in 2008. 3D flatpanel displays are also emerging in 2008.  As stereo becomes commonplace, the PDF models will likely be enabled because they truly are 3D models rendered in real-time (unlike a movie clip).

How do we protect your data?

We recognize that you need to protect your CAD data.  Let us show you how we can do this without any data at all.  And then we'll tell you how much better it will be by using your CAD models.  We recognize CAD data is intellectual property so we offer several options to protect these assets. Solutions range from a Non-Disclosure Agreement to tessalation methods that intentionally introduce inaccuracies in the model, or even PDF enabled protection like any other document. Our goal is to find a solution that best protects your valuable assets.  In fact, experience in the semiconductor industry has shown there are solutions in place for protecting these assets for data as sensitive as Fab equipment - some are considered Top Secret!

First, there are no paper products used in our development or publishing process.  In fact, it's highly sustainable because revisions can be updated on-line in just minutes. Second, we believe it's possible to cut back on required paper instructions with modified business processes. For example, why would a car need paper operations manuals when you could provide animated procedures through the displays?  But if you can't accommodate this quite yet, then it boils down to reduced waste because of fewer damaged products that are returned. We call this "Lean Instructions" - taking lean manufacturing concepts well beyond the factory.

Many solutions will cost less than the cost of doing equivalent paper instructions, and much less than a professional video. Generally, there are three main factors that determine cost; number of tasks, complexity of parts, and availability of CAD data for your assembly. Our goal is to provide the lowest cost possible by continually refining development methods and by using the latest technologies available. What cost $50K ten years ago can now be done for less than $1K - mainly because of software tool improvements and pure silicon processing power. These driving forces are certain to continue well into the next decade.  Please call us to begin a partnership so we can define costs and even help project savings for your products.

Text is kept to a minimum or simply not needed because the tasks is best represented visually.  In the absense of text, translation is completely eliminated.

Yes, this is your product, so you can have the model and we will not share with anyone without your written permission.

Yes. The skills needed for working in 3D can be diverse, however, it’s quite possible your workflow can be narrowed to your specific business needs. We offer both training and consulting services to meet your future needs.

That's Yoda!  He's our mascot dog and he likes clear instructions.  He doesn't know how to read anything - he only understands what he can see or hear. The consumer doesn't always read or in the language instructions are published. That's why visual instructions target a much higher customer base than any written word.  

It's has several important meanings.  Besides the obvious "Steps 123", we see potential for a third party rating system for consumer assemblies as levels of difficulty. These generic skills would help consumers recognize what they can or cannot accomplish. Knowing this at point of sale brings a new level of trust and helps build consumer confidence with each accomplishment at home.  This confidence directly translates to increased sales - bottom line!