As the Advanced Air Mobility industry races to support the testing of production-representative prototypes and aircraft certification and entry into service deadlines are rapidly approaching, the timely development and management of accurate, high-quality, technical information is critical.
If you need to expedite your document development, smooth out your workload fluctuations, or extend the capabilities of your internal tech pubs and training teams, partner with Flatirons Aerospace Technical Publications (ATP) technical experts who have successfully supported new product introductions for over 25 years.
Our worldwide ATP team of highly skilled technical authors works closely with engineers and developers at some of the world’s largest aerospace OEMs to develop clean sheet technical documentation throughout the entire product development lifecycle—from inception, test, certification, production, entry into service, and continued airworthiness maintenance. We have helped some of the industry’s most innovative OEMs be more agile, efficient, and customer-focused by utilizing Flatirons Solutions to support certification, adopting new specs (like S1000D), maintaining revision control, and managing workload.
Flatirons ATP engineers, authors, and illustrators work at all levels of the aviation content ecosystem and understand the best practices required to deliver accurate content compliant with industry specs and easy to share and extend with partners in the aviation ecosystem. We are experts in iSpec 2200, Spec 2300, S1000D, Mil-Spec, DITA, and more. We work with many types of maintenance, technical operations, and flight ops documentation and manual types, with a production volume approaching 500,000 digital ‘pages’ per year, including:
- Flight Manuals
- Maintenance Manuals
- Service Information
- Installation Procedures
- Service Bulletins
- Test Procedures
- Training Manuals
- Work Cards
- Operations Manuals
- Certification Information
Our experienced ATP team works with the industry’s largest Aerospace and Defense manufacturers. Our team has a full understanding of the unique requirements of complex aircraft systems and experience documenting virtually all major aircraft sub-systems, including:
Avionics
- Communications Systems (Datalink, Radio, Satellite)
- Data Management / Recorders
- Displays
- Electrical Power Systems
- Inflight Entertainment
- Inflight Internet
- Integrated Flight Deck
- Interior Electronics
- Navigation Systems
Control Systems
- Flight Controls
- Fuel Controls
- Actuation¬ Mechanical
Components
- Brakes
- Pneumatics
- Wheels
Structural / Airframe Systems
Optimize your S1000D Publication Process with Flatirons Manufacturer Edition
Suppose your in-house technical data authoring is already in full swing. In that case, the Flatirons Manufacturer Edition suite of products is ideal for AAM aircraft manufacturers that seek to preserve their current investment, empower their Technical Publications teams, and optimize their S1000D publication management process.
The Flatirons Manufacturer Edition is designed to simplify multi-spec, multi-format delivery requirements. For example, suppose your data development program is currently on track. In that case, you can develop new S1000D content and publish it to a common library without converting your existing iSpec 2200, Spec 2300, or PDF manuals into S1000D. By supporting the mixing of data spec types, our Manufacturer Edition allows you to link S1000D content across different specification editions, link to iSpec 2200 and Spec 2300, or even to unstructured content like PDFs without having to convert all your manuals to a single specification.
You can increase efficiency by seamlessly searching and linking across manuals published in different specification formats. And, if you require assistance, Flatirons can convert your legacy data to the latest specification of choice and migrate your data into our Manufacturer Edition using custom migration code, standard config kits, proprietary builders, and manual formatting services.
The result?
- Reduced IT and training costs
- Stringent Revision Control
- Increased information consistency
- Faster revisions
- Better collaboration between regulators, partners, programs, and customer operators
To ensure that your previous investments are fully preserved and utilized, we offer API integration points that seamlessly link to your existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), parts and tooling database systems, and others so you can continue to access reusable source material.
For additional functionality, the Flatirons Manufacturer Edition is configurable to meet AAM Manufacturer’s requirements by adding the following modules:
1. Flatirons Insight module: Simplifies and Drives Business Process Adherence
ATP workflow, like initiating authoring requests, specifying requirements, monitoring progress, publications revision management, and reviewing/approving manuals. Insight also enables users to model their paper or email-based processes into a digital and automated workflow process for in-house use.
2. Flatirons Pinpoint and Pinpoint module: Publishes and electronically displays maintenance instructions to technicians or MROs who maintain your equipment
With Flatirons Pinpoint, you get the industry-leading Interactive Electronic Technical Publications (IETP/IETM) viewer and portal product designed to run under various deployment conditions, like online and off-line usage, server-based, and stand-alone deployments supported on both desktop and mobile devices. It allows you to update content easily with minimum production delays.
As an OEM, you can expand your aftermarket business through the built-in shopping cart functionality for parts and services and through the portal mode, where you can introduce subscription and payment schemes to access your data. With Pinpoint, you can publish data as-is or author changes, add supplements, and make quick revisions. You can decide when and with whom you want to share this data in your ecosystem. The application can be delivered to your end user in different formats, from a hosted SaaS application to a local deployment or shipping a zip file on a memory stick to your maintenance team.
The latest release of Pinpoint is the 7th generation of Flatirons IETP viewers. Flatirons was one of the first companies to introduce IETPs to the Aerospace Marketplace in 1993 and has steadily improved and added feature that provides value to our customers.
The latest version of Pinpoint includes several key enhancements designed to adapt to new challenges:
- Intuitive and familiar user interfaces that appeal to a new generation of technicians
- Tools to provide in-line tutorials and videos to close experience gaps
- Easy access to reference data (text within text expansion – embedded references)
- Hot Links to related data
- 3D graphic and video support
- Collaboration tools: Video conferencing with subject matter experts
- Consistent formatting of Cautions and Warnings to protect technicians from potential hazards.
- NOTE: Flatirons is continuously innovating and is actively working on incorporating AI and data analytics to continue to reduce time spent troubleshooting and finding corrective action.
3. Flatirons eTaskcard module: Puts Mobile Electronic Maintenance Task Execution at Your Fingertips
The Flatirons eTaskcard module is a digital technical operations product that provides OEMs with features for auto-generating work cards using current maintenance manual source material. Combining the world’s most innovative tech ops solution with a robust mobile viewer and electronic sign-off, eTaskcard provides line maintenance and MRO technicians with a powerful tool for driving productivity improvements and eliminating the cost and waste of printing work packages on paper.
Do More with Flatirons
Our Flatirons Manufacturer Edition addresses the technical publications challenges of a complex equipment program. It is tailored to aerospace and defense OEMs’ 21st-century technical information requirements, subject to increasingly complicated equipment lifecycles and diverse compliance and cost reduction demands.
Contact us today to schedule a demonstration of our industry-leading cloud-based software solutions and discuss how our Technical Authoring/Illustration Services can enhance your organization’s internal technical publishing capabilities.
