Writing Of Proposals and Instruction Books for Manufacturing Companies

The writing of proposals is very important to most manufacturing companies. A contract usually precedes the start of any manufacturing operation. The contract may be between the company and a government agency, between the manufacturer and a supplier of parts and materials, or between the manufacturer and the company that is buying the finished product. A contract proposal is prepared in which the product and the standards to which it is supposed to adhere is submitted to the purchaser. The two parties to the contract then work out the final purchase terms. Contract proposals probably rank next in number to reports and manuals.

1. When the writing of a proposal has been authorized, the manager reviews what is required, issues a project work order, and assigns various people to work on it.
   
   
2. Meet with the project engineer and other responsible personnel in order to obtain additional data.
   
   
   
   
3. Based on information from steps 1 and 2, review the preliminary outline and list of illustrations. Revise this preliminary outline to make a working outline.
   
   
4. Deliver the list of required illustrations to the illustration section and discuss how they will be produced.
   
   
5. Begin writing the instruction book. During the writing procedure, prepare sketches, revise existing production draw-ings, and describe requirements for illustrations. Identify illustrations by figure number and title and forward them to the illustration section.
   
   
6. As writing continues, the illustrator will submit roughs of illustrations for preliminary check.
   
   
7. Make arrangements with the photography section for necessary photographs.
   
   
8. Review completed draft. Edit copy for technical accuracy, format, content, and correct references to illustrations and paragraphs.
   
   
9. Submit corrected draft to the editorial section for preliminary review.
   
   
10. Following conferences with the copyeditor, prepare final draft and forward it to the editorial section.
    
    
11. After receiving the reviewers' copies of the final draft, check and incorporate reviewers' comments into the master copy.
    
    
12. Review the manuscript completely, rechecking all illustration and paragraph references, format, and paragraphing for technical accuracy.
    
    
13. Send the completed manuscript to the editorial section.
    
    
14. When galley proofs have been received from the printer, review carefully, correct, and forward the corrected galleys.
    

Who are the staff members we have been mentioning? The production editor is in charge overall and sees that the particular instruction book is worked on, completed, and delivered on schedule. Copyeditor is another name for the technical editor, who edits the written part of the instruction book and, in general, reviews it for style, accuracy of expression, grammar, and punctuation. The product engineer is in direct charge of the device or system for which the instruction book is intended.

You are probably most concerned with what the writer does when handed an assignment to put an instruction book together. The procedures may be listed as follows:

1. Collect and study available production drawings (schematics, wiring, and assembly diagrams). Obtain related written information already in existence (development reports, test information industry. Actually, this industry has no identifiable plants, buildings, offices, or factories as such. Rather, it exists in a myriad of companies, governmental agencies, laboratories, colleges, and universities in the form of individuals and departments whose sole function is to produce objective, understandable information for laypeople, regardless of the subject at hand. Consequently, technical writing is not limited to topics connected with science, technology, and engineering. The ability of technical writers to convert raw data into utilizable information has received widespread recognition as a special skill and a talent. Companies that must sell the products they manufacture now realize the importance of having technical writers on their staff. Service organizations likewise must inform the public about their activities in order to sell what they have to offer.
   
   
2. The writer prepares a preliminary outline of the instruction book based on predetermined specifications. He or she will include not only what must be written, but also a proposed list of illustrations.
   
   
3. The manager calls a conference including the writer, illustrator, copyeditor, production editor, and, if possible, the project engineer.
   
   
4. All of these people consider the following: scope and con-tents of the outline, date on which the equipment the instruction book is supporting must be delivered, where the instruction book fits into the overall schedule for all publications, existing workload in the department, amount of work required to complete the instruction book, time required to have it printed and reproduced, and the deadline date for each section of the book.
   
   
5. The manager informs the person or department that originally ordered the instruction book when it can be delivered.
   
   
6. The production editor draws up a schedule for the work to show how the various people will contribute to it.
   

A table of contents of a typical industrial manual that accompanies every manufactured item usually includes: a general description, a theory of operation, instruction on installation, adjustment, and operation, and finally several drawings of the item. An instruction manual must be prepared to tell the customer how to install and operate the purchase safely. Often troubleshooting suggestions are included. The people who prepare these manuals are among the most skilled in the technical writing profession, for they must be thoroughly familiar with the equipment and they must write in a clear, concise, simple, and unequivocal manner as the installers and operators are oftentimes people with a limited education and vocabulary. It is the writer's responsibility to oversee the manual from inception to final printing. Approximately one-third of all those who are employed as technical writers work exclusively on instruction and maintenance manuals.

Here, for example, are some representative projects in which you may participate:

• Developing brochures, press release materials, and other pieces that explain technical products and processes.
  
  
• Preparing feature articles for trade and technical magazines that describe new technologies.
  
  
• Writing speeches and presentations that will be delivered by organization executives at various meetings.
  
  
• Preparing the company's annual report.
  
  
• Developing audiovisual presentations.
  
  
• Preparing position and technical papers for presentation to governmental agencies.
  

Today's corporate managers and executives seldom have time to get involved in the actual nitty-gritty of speech writing and preparation details. They will decide on the theme and the main topics to be stressed, and they may offer guidelines as to how they wish to present and embellish their speech. But the rest is up to the publicity department to "give the boss what he wants." If the speech is deemed important enough, outside resources and assistance may be enlisted for the preparation.