As the vision of ‘3D for All’ empowers stakeholders across the organization to share, collaborate, and create content off of a single-version of the truth, another key advantage surfaces. While it is easy for any one individual to make choices about whether to consume information electronically or to ‘print a hard copy’ for review, the processes built into many organizational business models can force individuals, groups or entire businesses to consume massive amounts of tangible (and non-eco-friendly) resources in the form of printed materials.
I definitely see that there are clear benefits in the approach when we go from manual printed documentation to interactive documentation directly linked to 3D and digital Intellectual Property (IP) for reducing errors, eliminating cycle-time, and simplifying processes. The ability to transform 200 pages of manufacturing assembly instructions into a brief, step-by-step interactive 3D experience has value for both the content creators as well as the consumers of the information.
The same approach and efficiencies for Manufacturing are available to all stakeholder organizations in the company whether they be Marketing, Customer Service, Sales, Training or any other target audience.
What comes along as an additional benefit in this approach is the elimination of a commonly taken for granted resource – paper.
Like electricity, water or any other consumable resource, paper has a cost and an impact. For example, consider that the typical office worker uses about 10,000 sheets of copy paper each year. If we extrapolate this to a 1,000 person workforce, we are using 10 million sheets of paper.
The conversion of raw trees to pulp to packaged paper has an impact on the environment. Some estimates show that making one ton of paper requires four trees and emits more than 1.5 tons of CO2e, in addition to consuming other resources. This is not including the shipping, storage and other environmental side-effects. Real life mirrors the TV show “The Office” where a paper company is the central theme for not only a lot of laughs, but also a lot of raw paper sales.
A real-life example of this is NACCO Materials Handling Group, Inc. (NMHG), who uses 3DVIA Composer every day to give their non-technical users direct access to 3D CAD data to develop effective, interactive communications and documentation. Besides reducing errors, eliminating cycle-time, and simplifying processes, NACCO may also be helping us heal the planet – one-step at a time.
Every little bit helps when it comes to the environment, and Eco-Documentation may be one way that can contribute.
Do you agree that this is the path to a healthier planet?
High Tech companies (or other) looking to understand the value that 3DVIA Composer can offer should attend an upcoming e-seminar on Sept 24, 2009 at 1:00 PM ET / 10:00 AM PT. Click here to register today!
Best,
Rob
