Research Rap: Making Engineering Efficient - with Electronic Reference Information

A quick peek into some research on
… the use of
electronic reference information to
increase the productivity of engineers. Few companies could argue
the need to make sure they are getting the most out of their
engineering time and investment. That is true always, but even more
so today. In this study I was able to talk to a number of large
engineering organizations that have take an enterprise-wide view of
this seemingly mundane issue, and heard very clearly that while the
topic might not be as exciting as some whiz-bang new simulation and
animation tool, the corporate rewards are very
interesting.

The Research
The research is based on
interviews with Schlumberger and BP, along with some supporting
data from a study conducted with members of the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The research pointed out some very
interesting things, namely:

• Searching for a piece of reference information is
  harder than you might think - The good news is that there
  are a tremendous number of resources that offer basic engineering
  facts, such as the tensile strength of a material. The bad news is
  that with the explosion of information on the Internet, it is
  tempting to Google the answer instead of looking it up in one of
  the engineering “bibles” that have trusted information. But
  fishing through those paper books is inefficient,
  and takes more time to pinpoint the data needed (and then
  potentially have to convert it to the desired unit of measure,
  which an electronic tool can do automatically).
• Reference information needs to be a part of the
  engineer’s daily work - Engineers spend a significant
  amount of time on their workstations. Leaving the workstation to
  look up a piece of information in a library is inefficient. Having
  this information in electronic form brings the information to them
  in the normal context of their workflow. Electronic information can
  also be interrogated more quickly (showing just the row of the
  table you need, or helping you pull a value off of a graph or
  equation without having to manually interpret or solve it), and can
  be readily integrated back into the engineer’s notebook or work
  document.
• Electronic reference information drives
  efficiency - According to the study on ASME members, use
  of an electronic (in this case the ASME eLibrary) drives
  efficiency. About three-quarters (79%) of respondents
  indicated it improved their efficiency by 10% or
  more, with about one third (34%) saying it
  improved by 20% or more. (Note that the numbers
  are cumulative, the 34% are also included in the 79%). Those are
  amazing numbers. Interviews indicated significant times savings,
  for example BP indicated it helped them speed up by finding a
  piece of information by a factor of 6-7 times.
• Projects can be justified based on cost -
  Although the strategic reason to adopt an electronic tool for
  engineering reference information is to improve efficiency, the
  simple cost savings from centralized access and
  reducing physical libraries and individual book purchases can
  likely justify the use of a tool.
• Making engineering decisions on questionable data is
  both dangerous and potentially negligent - There is
  an element of reducing corporate risk that is worthy of mention
  too. Regardless of the power of the search capability, it needs to
  be based on the right resources. Those resources should be trusted
  and validated to show proper care was taken when engineering
  decisions were made.

My Thoughts
My favorite quote from the paper came from Schlumberger. The person
I spoke with is responsible for enabling the efficiency and
effectiveness of engineers. He said: 

“Upper management probably doesn’t
care about reference information directly, however they want to
make sure they are doing everything possible to enable and empower
the engineering organization. They expect you to put what is
required in place.“

I couldn’t agree more. This is not as “sexy” of a project
as a new 3D modeling tool, but the benefits are available and
compelling. Please feel free to read the white paper, it
is titled Tech-Clarity
Insight: Engineering Reference Information in a PLM Strategy
and is available for free download from my website.

Implications for Manufacturers
The
implications are clear. Today, when headcount in Engineering is
flat (at best), companies are looking for ways to get the most out
of their engineering staffs. They are also looking to save money.
The research shows that companies can both improve
productivity and drive out direct cost by using a tool for
electronic reference information. That sounds like it is
worth a look for most companies. And the implementation time is
likely to be relatively fast, so the payback and return on
investment (ROI) are likely to be both surprising and valuable.

Next week I will discuss how engineering reference information
can complement - or perhaps even be a part of - a PLM strategy.

So that was a quick peek into some recent research on the use of
electronic tools for engineering reference information. I hope you
found it interesting. Does the research reflect reality? Do you see
it differently? Let us know what it looks like from your
perspective.