Rockwell puts parts catalog, documentation on disk p. 52

By: Mark Fitzgerald PRINTING PRESS OPERATING instructions, maintenance manuals and parts catalogs are going electronic at Rockwell Graphics.
Using search and retrieval software from Interleaf Inc., Rockwell is putting all three books on a single CD-ROM disk.
Pressview links all the manuals in an on-line interactive format that allows a press operator, for example, to call up troubleshooting maintenance information, determine that a new part needs to be ordered, and click a Windows application "hot button" to check on the part's availability, price and backorder status.
"Our parts listing is in a Windows application so the picture of the part will appear. We did it in a graphics format so that if a maintenance man is not real familiar with a the press, the first screen will show an overall view of the press, with hot buttons for the unit or the press drive, plates or blankets, etc.," said Steven Benford Jr., systems engineer in Rockwell's parts catalog department.
"You click down and get more detailed graphics until you are where you need to be," Benford added. "You don't have to look up a part number." The graphics also provide different views of the press and its various components, he noted.
In addition to parts, the Pressview CD provides all the technical information about a particular press model that Rockwell traditionally has provided in hard copy form: parts descriptions, fit and assembly drawings, gearing and torque information.
In addition to graphic interfaces, Pressview's WorldView software permits full-text searches of entire databases, Benford said.
"This allows the user to search on key words or phrases, such as ink roller settings, to find the part or maintenance information he desires," Benford said.
Users can also add their own notes to documents. Some examples are part number changes, maintenance schedules and other custom information.
A more traditional ? though electronic ? table of contents format is also available on the disk so that operators who know the number of a particular part do not need to go through the graphics interface.
When the parts catalog department decided to puts its catalog on an electronic format, it turned to Interleaf because the Waltham, Mass.-based firm had previously put Rockwell's many technical publications on CD-ROM, Benford said. Ultimately, he said, the goal will be to put operational, maintenance and parts information for every model on a separate disc.
Rockwell's Pressview uses Interleaf's WorldView on-line search and retrieval package.
Rockwell also turned to Interleaf to develop PartsLink, which puts customers on-line with Rockwell's parts department.
The next step, Benford said, is multimedia.
At this year's Nexpo conference in Las Vegas, Rockwell will include a training video for its Colorliner presses in the Pressview CD-ROM.
Benford said customers "will be able to bring up the training video on a PC."