Technical Writing

This sell sheet required descriptive copy, instructions on setup, and basic features and specs.

The product in this sales brochure required helping the target audience re-think how they approached solving automation problems. The simplicity of the product, its setup and use, had to be stressed. Enough performance specs had to be included to convince their customers that this was low risk solution.

I was the Product Marketing Manager for SIPEX for several years. During that time I wrote, illustrated, and produced a number of data sheets similar to this. They all are used for selling engineer to engineer and contain detailed technical specifications and applications information.

CITADEL manufacturers ruggedized PCs with touchscreens for use in warehouse inventory systems. They are typically mounted on forklifts, hostlers and motorized pallets. This user manual covered hardware and software installation and usage and troubleshooting.

This user guide was written for the electrical design engineer who is integrating this image processor chip into a laser printer engine. Detailed operating specifications and applications information are provided.

This is an operator's manual for a portable welding system. This manual covers user controls, how to set up the machine for various types of welding situations, and a troubleshooting guide. About half of the front end is warnings and legal disclaimers, in both English and French. Apparently, these things are even more dangerous than a ladder...

This Designer's Guide starts with basic information on materials and types of flexible and rigid interconnection assemblies. It provides a significant amount of application information for use by an engineer who is designing a flex circuit. 81 pages, profusely illustrated, by me.

This is the Service Manual for a welding machine. Welding machines were drop-shipped to our studios. Each machine was disassembled and photographed at each step of the process. I then wrote detailed service procedures for locating and replacing faulty components and subassemblies. Additionally, detailed parts lists and fold-out electrical interconnect diagrams were created for each Service Manual. I did a total of five of these, plus their associated Operators Manuals, under very aggressive scheduling constraints.

Hands down, a Teradyne System Description (of which I've done four), is the most challenging writing project. After a week of on-site interviews with Sales, Marketing, Applications Engineering, and Design Engineering personnel, I literally walk (stagger) out of their Headquarters building in Boston with 35 pounds of notes, detailed internal documentation, and loads of PowerPoint® presentations as source materials.

My job is to assimilate all of the source information and write a detailed outline for the System Description and identify the supporting graphics. Once the outline is approved, I write and illustrate to the outline. This one is 159 pages. Given the >$1Million price tag of these systems, the accuracy of the contents is critical to the decision-making process of their prospective customers.

Press Releases

We've worked with a number of clients to devise strategies for maximizing press releases and the benefits they offer - free publicity, credibility, paving the way for future application articles - to name a few. A well-written press release helps publication editors to keep their readers up-to-date with evolving technology, markets, and best practices.