Technical Communication as a Marketing Tool (Part 2)

by Bill Harrison

Part 1 of this series was published in the November, 2003 edition.

My first day on the job, I reported to the Director of Engineering, my new boss. He reminded me that my new employer, Atlas Copco Wagner (ACW), needed to increase its profit margin. He assured me again, as he had done in the interview, that the technical publishing department ran very smoothly, that all development work had been done, and that I just needed to keep the stream of information flowing smoothly. I did not believe a word of it, but I assured him that the manuals looked fine, and that I would certainly keep the quality level very high. Actually, the manuals looked terrible to me. But the big trucks and scoops were impressive, and I looked forward to learning more about them.

Over the following days, my worst fears were realized. Morale in the department was very low. The phone was ringing daily with complaints from all over the world about inaccurate data in the Wagner service guides. The department had two writers, but they were so busy cranking out parts books on old computers, that they did not have time to update any of the service manuals. I asked one of the writers what action they took on these complaints. She told me about a special database, called Pubs Problems, where they entered the date, the vehicle model number, and the complaint. Sure enough, as she brought the database up on her computer, there were many entries.

The department had been without a manager for several months, and the writers were doing the best they could with limited time and resources. Both writers had a wish list of improvements that they thought would make the publishing process easier and more efficient. But the previous manager's requests for funding these improvements had been denied and had played a role in his departure from the company.

I asked the writers why they thought that the requests had been denied, and they told me a story to illustrate what they viewed as the common perception within the company as to the role of the technical publishing department: One of our service technicians had traveled to the Philippines to repair a vehicle. He looked around the maintenance shack for our Wagner service guides, but he did not see them until he visited the outhouse, where the books provided a higher purpose as toilet paper. The moral to the story was that no one read the Wagner service guides anyway, so why worry? I am usually not at a loss for words, but at first I did not know how to respond. I thanked them for the insight and mumbled something about never shooting the messenger.

The vehicles produced by ACW were inherently dangerous, despite the many safety features. The vehicles were very heavy duty for many reasons, one of which was to provide a safe haven for the driver if the roof of the mine caved in. The vehicles were also complex, with mature electro-hydraulic technologies that had been finely honed for decades.

The user documentation supplied by the drive-train manufacturers was adequate. But judging from the many complaints that I was receiving, the Wagner information that explained drive-train support and proprietary electro-hydraulic technologies was creating a lot of problems for the company. To better understand the problems that Wagner faced, I began researching the mining industry by talking with senior engineers, service technicians, and sales reps. Gradually, the grim realities began to emerge: I found that winning approval in the mining industry is no easy task. The industry is characterized by multimillion-dollar capitalizations that operate on minuscule profit margins, where costs are calculated on a per-load basis to within the fraction of a penny. The business environment is treacherous, and so is the environment within the mines, where macho workers often push equipment, on harsh terrain, to extreme limits. In many parts of the world, the land adjacent to the mine has been ruined, and can never recover, because the local economies will never be able to afford the extensive cleanup required.

Application design issues interrupted vehicle productivity and for the most part were not controllable by the mines. However, maintenance and service related issues that caused downtime were controllable if service personnel were able to perform routine maintenance efficiently. The complexity of the vehicles often presented obstacles to even the most seasoned mechanics. I felt that the many complaints that I received about the ACW service manuals were an indication that the documentation contributed significantly to the decline in market share. It seemed to me that the vehicles were probably as good or better than the competition, but the flow of information required to properly support the vehicles needed repair.

During my first week on the job I discovered some of the major internal problems that the technical publishing department faced. Through successive efforts at downsizing, the technical publishing department had dwindled from 7 people down to two writers, and myself. The writers took the view that they were over-burdened, having to produce more than twice the work as before. Also, much of their time creating parts books was taken up by waiting for their computers to process postscript files of 400-pluspages. I encouraged them to multi-task and to use the two vacant workstations while their computers were busy creating postscript files.

In many industrial manufacturing companies, margins are extremely tight on the sales of new vehicles. Therefore, emphasis is placed on the aftermarket parts business to generate enough revenue to support the company. Atlas Copco Wagner was no exception, and parts books were very important to the company. Management emphasized parts book production, because it affected the bottom line. However, just about every vehicle was altered to fit the application within a specific mine, so the parts books could not be started until the vehicle was fully assembled. Decisions about each vehicle's components were made right up to the last day of production. Many shrewd purchasing agents for our customers wrote into contracts that the documentation had to arrive by the time that the vehicle arrived, or they would withhold payment.

My second week on the job, I received a personal visit from the company's Chief Financial Officer. He was asking why a ten dollar parts and service manual disk was holding up payment on a million dollar order. He was not there to shake my hand, which was OK with me. I assured him that I would find out what was going on, and that I would never allow it to happen again.

The man was adamant and abrupt, but I felt empowered. Now I finally realized how to justify Return on Investment (ROI) for the new computer workstations, for the new software, for the new digital camera, and to upgrade the manuals from black and white to color. I was going to have to help my boss rethink his mission as a cost-cutter.

The next installment of this article will report on the development efforts required for implementing the strategy that led to the new service guides.

After receiving his BS in Graphic Design from PSU, Bill Harrison pursued his interests in graphic arts technologies and communications theory by marketing services for trade shops within the local printing industry. He worked with leading advertising agencies and graphic design firms to produce world class advertising and collateral materials. He also worked with Fortune 500 companies and government agencies to develop systems for channeling the flow of targeted information. Today he emphasizes that communications is not a one-way street, as he looks for ways to empower those who depend upon technical content.