As a door and hardware expert witness and forensic consultant, I have been retained on many cases where installed panic hardware has been the source and cause of severe bodily injuries. As a hands-on contractor and installer, I have personally installed and serviced thousands of panic devices, and I have experienced, evaluated and resolved problems that arise with these pieces of specialty hardware.

The three most common problems that I have witnessed in panic hardware door related injuries are (1) Improper installation (2) Poor maintenance (3) Placement of inappropriate secondary locks.

Panic hardware is a door component that was designed to allow fast and unencumbered exit from a doorway. Panic hardware is typically found on hallway doors where fire requirements compartmentalize and separate areas to aid in the smoke, fire or heat control of a commercial building, hotel, or hospital. They are also commonly found on the exit doors of most high traffic or high density buildings such as movie theatres, large arena complexes, or restaurants. Panic hardware is appropriate almost any place where fast evacuation from a building may be the difference between life and death of the occupants (Life Safety).

The most important aspect of all panic devices is that no special knowledge is required to use them. You simply push a rod, a bar or other activator, the latch mechanism is retracted and you are able to push the door open. These types of devices function differently than a typical door lock, in that they are designed to allow exit without the use of a key or any rotary motion of any kind. They are usually installed in the path of travel toward the exit of a building or controlled corridor. These devices are supposed to be equally suitable for the usage of handicapped (ADA Compliant) or able bodied individuals.

There have been changes made to panic devices over the years to improve the ease of use for ADA compliance and improve the overall safety of the general public. Early panic devices were originally designed utilizing a horizontal pipe or flat bar attached to the door. A pair of arms that pivot on base plates at each side of the pipe or bar allow the panic device to operate and activate a latch retractor mechanism when pushed. While these devices function when properly maintained, there have been a number of injury claims relating to the malfunction of this style of door panic hardware. Poorly maintained and incorrectly replaced hardware of this style has been the cause of severe injuries in several cases where I have been retained as a door hardware expert witness.

These early devices can still be seen in many facilities across the country, and many are in good working order and maintained properly. If all of the components of this panic device are properly adjusted, well lubricated and securely attached to the door, the device will still pass the inspection requirements of most life safety checks.

A more modern style panic device is commonly referred to as a “Crash-Bar”. This piece of hardware is generally made up of a flat integral component that when pushed against, retracts a latch mechanism. Similar to the older style device employing the pipe or bar in function, the newer style crash bar is easier to push, and is generally more resistant to obstructive issues, and functions with fewer moving elements on the exterior of the device.

There are several options for the exterior side (pull side) of a door equipped with a panic device. In one instance, the panic device can be used as an exit only. There will typically be no reentry through this doorway. Some exit only doors will also have a keyed lock cylinder on the exterior side of the door that would retract the latch mechanism when the key is turned. This allows an authorized user to open the door from the exterior side of the opening. A second option for the exterior trim is the installation of a moveable handle or a handle with a keyed lock cylinder. Reentry is possible with both of these components, either by moving the lever or knob, or using a key when needed. In some more sophisticated installations, a card key reader or push button entry code reader could be used to retract the latching mechanism. Many higher security options are available, as the use dictates. In every case for exterior access, the function of all of the above reentry options are basically the same; They are all used to retract the latching mechanism of the panic device in some way, allowing entry from the pull side of the door.

Another common feature of many panic devices is the ability to “dog-down” ( hold open or restrain the device from latching). This feature can be used when a panic device is in an area that needs to remain unlatched, such as in a doorway of a restaurant or store where the fire code requires that the premises remains unlocked during normal business hours.

In a cross corridor situation panic devices are often installed in pairs. These devices, in conjunction with special rated fire doors and other hardware components are installed to attempt to stop and compartmentalize fires. This type of panic device relies upon vertical rods to hold the doors closed when high pressure from a fire builds up behind a door. Vertical rods can be surface mounted or completely concealed within a door. In some applications both a top and bottom vertical rod is attached to a latch mechanism that integrates with a strike plate or cup within the header of a door frame and floor. In other installations, the top rod is all that is currently required. Installation of these devices normally includes a lever or knob on the pull side of a door to allow reentry. As described above, there are a variety of options for entering an area secured by a panic device from the pull side.

Depending upon the conditions of the installation, panic devices can be installed individually or work in pairs. They can be fire rated or unrated. They can work as one way exit devices or allow reentry using a variety of hardware and components that allow access from the pull side of the doorway. Some panic devices are activated electronically, have built in delay circuitry, and are capable of being integrated into sophisticated monitored alarm and access systems. The most basic device is a stand- alone piece of hardware that provides egress only.

When panic hardware is improperly installed, or has been damaged by abuse or poor maintenance, the effectiveness of its intended function cannot be assured. Panic hardware that is improperly positioned or incorrectly installed can fail as a result of mechanical impairment. Misalignment of latching components can be the cause of panic device failure. In this case, the panic hardware will not properly secure the door to protect against the smoke, fire or other adverse conditions that the cross corridor opening was designed to protect. Alternatively, devices that were improperly positioned can also fail by not releasing to allow the unrestricted egress as required from an area, possibly trapping someone inside a dangerous zone.

When improper maintenance has occurred, components that need reworking or replacing are often bypassed, substituted or eliminated from a device. In some cases, protrusions from inappropriate replacement parts have lead to bodily harm such as severe cuts, bruising and in rare cases amputation of body parts. The above conditions have been observed multiple times where over sized bolts or screws were installed instead of the required part. Cover plates and end caps become damaged and sharp, and are often removed exposing interior components that can create injuries as well.

Any secondary lock that is added to a panic hardware equipped door can render the usage of that hardware completely ineffective. If the door has been barred using a mechanical barrier or chain, the door will also be unable to open using the panic hardware. In some areas where theft is of concern, sonic alarmed panic devices have been installed with a delay egress feature. Store owners or managers finding that the alarm cannot be heard or detected soon enough have chained or positioned obstructions in front of these door to attempt to stop the possibility of theft through these exits. This obstructing or barring of the egress is life threatening and often non compliant with fire codes. Most, if not all commercial buildings are regularly evaluated for life safety and fire code compliance. When a store owner or manager makes the decision to obstruct or close off a required point of egress, the store can become directly responsible for compromising the safety of the public.

While frequent thorough inspections of site conditions in every facility is prudent, many facilities opt to not budget these inspections, and maintenance is often deferred. This improper deferred maintenance has led to severe injuries creating lawsuits that could have been easily avoided. When the general public is using a building it is of the utmost importance that competent and trained hardware professionals be consulted and employed to assure the ownership of the property that all systems and hardware are functioning to the highest standards that are attainable. Being “penny wise and pound foolish” exposes many property owners to costly legal actions.

Mike Panish is a forensic expert witness and consultant in the construction industry. One of his primary areas of expertise pertains to doors and automatic door cases. He has over 30 years of hands on experience dealing with commercial, multi residential, hotel, hospital, lab and other locations where specialty door systems are needed. He has written several articles on the subject of door related claims and maintenance issues related to door and automatic door systems. He is licensed as a door and hardware contractor in the State of California. He has been involved in door cases across the United States. He has been used as

Although there are traditional ways you can opt while you look to buy computer hardware, you must also explore the dimension that online domain has brought forth. Today, there are innumerous hardware shops which operates online and facilitate online buying and selling of hardware products. The growing trend of online shopping provides you an array of options of choosing a large number of hardware products that are available under different brands and series. So, you may visit a large number of products with scrolls and clicks of the mouse.

If you favor visiting a hardware store to find out the suitable hardware product, then there are comprehensive benefits as well. Not only the fact that you can have a good look at the stuffs you are buying, there are technical staffs at your service who will intimate you with any of your latent queries.

Regardless of the fact that whether you decide to buy computer hardware online or from a dealer, there are certain things that you ought to take care of. In the following paragraph, we will discuss some of the key points that are necessary for you to remember before finalizing a deal.

1. Validation – Whether you are buying hardware articles from a retailer or via online, proper validation is an absolute necessity. This validation is in regards to whether a company selling computer hardware products is a registered one. There are few stores and websites which profess to deliver high grade products but in reality may ultimately fraud you by dumping the cheap computer hardware articles to you.

2. Reputation – Before you decide on the final buy, make sure that you have gained knowledge about the history of the company. In this regard, you may take references of the customers these companies have served and verify the record of their services as well the quality of products.

3. Reviews – It is a common fact that the online stores that sell computer peripherals and hardware accessories generally lists the impressive comments of the customers and upload them on the website. So, in order to derive the unbiased side of the story, you can rely on the reviews. These reviews which are written by professionals and experts uphold the unprejudiced views about a company, the services they render and also the customer’s comments. Thus, before you decide to purchase hardware or computer peripherals from a traditional store or via internet, make sure we have made a thorough glance over these reviews.

4. Quotes – If you wish to avail hardware articles at budget friendly price, then always ask for quotes from the company. Almost all the online hardware shops have a separate page wherein you can request a quote and they will get back to you through e-mail. So, before closing a final deal, make sure that you have availed quotes from multiple companies. High prices seldom determine quality of a product, so devote time to avail something that will suit your budget as well as leave its mark in terms of quality. The same applies when you decide to buy hardware from regular computer stores. Make sure that you have visited such multiple shops and have acquired the approximate costs and then decide accordingly.

While you wish to avail hardware products, at a low price, you need not necessarily have to compromise with quality. So while buying hardware, look around every possible niche, research every brand and finally make invest your resources to make sure that you get the best thing for your system.

Multiply that by multiple clients, and you’ve got an awful lot of hardware that becomes really easy to waste a lot of time and effort trying to manage – if you’re not organized.

From Chaos to Order

The first step in bringing order to the chaos is to buy a Label Printer. My personal favorite is the P-Touch Handheld range from Brother. Anything that you can easily carry with you, plug into the mains (battery operated is fine – but batteries run out, and you then start to forget to label things) and print labels will do the job. If you have more than one engineer, buy them all label printers and get them to label them with their own names – they’ll be more inclined to look after them.

Next, organize a time for an engineer to visit client sites with his labeler at the ready – grabbing and labeling anything and everything with a power plug on the end and making a written note of each to take back to the office.

(Talking of power plugs, get your engineers into the habit of labeling these too, especially servers. Clearly knowing which plug belongs to a PC and which to a monitor is a real benefit when you’re crawling under a dark desk on a dirty floor trying to work out what to unplug and what not to.)

Why Labels?

But why bother labeling things?

Firstly, you’re acknowledging the existence of a device. If it’s labeled, you know about it and can document it for future reference.

Secondly, when new hardware “mysteriously” appears at a client site and a client calls you for support on it (probably outside your support contract) you can save yourself a heap of time trying to work out why Windows 7 Home Edition is installed on it rather than a Business O/S.

Thirdly, labeling hardware speeds up the support process. If a user telephones the Helpdesk to say they can’t print to “That printer in the corner of the office”, then you can ask them to read the label and quickly identify which printer it is that they’re trying to print to.

What to label?

What the label says depends on the hardware, but the label should help you easily identify the hardware in question. Some examples:-

PCs – Workstation name, Fixed IP address (if applicable)
Servers – Server name, Fixed IP address, Domain name
Routers/Firewalls – External IP address, Internal IP address
Network Switches – Internal IP address, Management IP address
Local Printers – Locally attached Workstation name
Network Printers – Fixed IP address, Queue Name (//Server/Queue)
We’re not going to worry about Workstation and Server naming schemes, IP address ranges or any other standards just yet. Right now we’re focusing on documenting what’s already out there.

In some cases the engineer won’t be able to identify network equipment. Rather than ignore the hardware, they should label it as “unidentified” and raise a support ticket or make a written note to investigate how to identify it later.

This takes some time, especially if you have a lot of clients – but it’s time well spent. You should make this type of ‘discovery work’ a part of the on-boarding process of every new client, as the time spent discovering hardware now will pay dividends when you’re supporting that same hardware later – perhaps in a time-sensitive situation.

Document your findings

Going forwards, make it a policy that from now on, every piece of hardware you deploy to a client site should have a label on it.

Document your findings. If you have an RMM tool such as GFI Max, then you’ll already be able to scan networks for devices. Supplement this automated information with your own findings.

Pretty soon you’ll have a good overview of the hardware at all your client sites. It’ll make supporting the client, both remotely and on-site, a *lot* easier.

The use of the labeler as a force of good doesn’t stop there.

Hardware in the Workshop

Whenever an engineer brings a piece of hardware back to the Workshop for troubleshooting, it needs to be labeled. You might label it with the client’s name, a brief overview of the issue, and if you’re using a ticket system, the ticket number.

This might sound obvious, but how many times do engineers walk back into the office, drop off some faulty hardware and then get distracted by something else? In this scenario, a colleague may be left scratching his head over who the hardware belongs to and why it’s here, or worse, think the hardware is “spare” and go and re-use it for another job they are working on…

Talking of spare hardware – it’s worth creating a process to deal with this too. I like to create an area of the workshop that is specifically for Hardware under Repair, Hardware under testing, and Hardware for disposal. Then, as hardware comes in…

If it’s hardware that is to be sent back to a manufacturer under RMA, it’s labeled as such and placed in the “Under Repair” area of the workshop.

If it’s hardware that may be faulty and required testing, a ticket is raised for this and it’s labeled as “For Testing” and labeled with the appropriate ticket number. The hardware is then placed in the “For Testing” area, and you can confidently give your newly employed Junior Technician something productive to do on his first day in the office.

If it’s hardware for disposal, it’s labeled with the fault and marked as “For Disposal”. It’s placed in the “For Disposal” area of the workshop and once every few weeks you arrange for a specialist IT disposal company to collect the pile and dispose of it in an ethical and environmentally-friendly fashion.

Save Time With Labels

The amount of time IT companies can waste trying to re-use faulty hardware that has simply been left lying around, or re-testing known faulty equipment is mind-blowing.

A simple system of labeling such hardware saves hours of wasted time.

I hope this article has helped to describe how armed with a label printer you can build the basis of a series of systems that lay out how your business deals with client hardware.

About the author

As the former owner of an award winning IT Managed Service Provider, Richard Tubb works with MSPs to help them increase sales, take on employees and build up relationships with key industry contacts. You don’t have to do it alone any more – contact Richard and have a chat about your needs and how he can help you.

Here are some things to consider when choosing cabinet hardware:

-Brass is a material that is available in a wide range of finishes, which makes it a popular choice for homes of most designs. As its name suggests, polished brass offers a high gloss golden finish that is suitable for a rustic-themed room. Polished brass can also be found in conjunction with polished chrome or other silver-toned metals which provides a more contemporary look. In contrast, antique brass offers a matted gold-brown hue reminiscent of times gone by. Antique brass is often textured in some way, which provides for an additional style element.
-Bronze is a metal that offers unique advantages because many forms of bronze have a ‘living finish’ which matures over time. Oil rubbed bronze hardware is among the most popular finishes in recent years because it provides a classic look that is simultaneously luxurious and sophisticated. More expensive oil rubbed bronze hardware may slowly change color or scratch over time, to give each piece its own unique look.
-Chrome is a silver finish that is often applied on top of another metal to create a cool silver finish. Polished chrome provides a shinier finish than brushed chrome, though the finish can range from extremely high-gloss to moderately shiny. Chrome hardware does not tarnish or chip and is designed to provide years of stylish usage.
-As the metal often connected with the bottom of kitchen pots and cookware, copper is famous for its reddish hue. Antique copper, which has a dull, matted look, is one of the most popular copper finishes, though some copper hardware can be found with a brighter color.
-A popular metal for home design products because it is easy to work with and has a timeless design, iron is an obvious choice for the production of cabinet hardware. Additionally, iron makes for extremely affordable decorative hardware because it is so easy to mold and to produce. Homeowners can match iron cabinet hardware to wrought iron furniture and light fixtures for an upscale look.
-Nickel cabinet hardware is quite similar to chrome hardware in that it is a thin metallic finish that is applied over hardware made from another metal. Nickel hardware has a slightly warmer hue than chrome hardware, but is available in similar brushed and polished finishes. Consumers should beware that satin nickel cabinet hardware which is the most popular form of matte nickel hardware may dull over time.
-Pewter hardware is a trendy finish because it is soft enough to create intricate hardware designs and sturdy enough to withstand the test of time. Pewter hardware is available in a variety of finishes from verdigris to chocolate and nearly every color in between. In its most common form, pewter hardware has a dull grey finish which can blend seamlessly into most spaces. Pewter hardware costs slightly more than nickel and iron, but is designed to last forever.
-Plastic cabinet hardware is among the most affordable materials on the market today. Plastic hardware is available in a variety of colors, shapes and styles and is ideal for homeowners looking to match a specific color scheme without choosing a generic metallic finish.
-A common choice for cutlery, faucets and sinks, stainless steel is also a wonderful choice for cabinet hardware. Stainless steel provides a contemporary style and will complement any modern space. Although it is moderately expensive, many owners of stainless steel cabinet hardware agree that it is worth the price because it will match other kitchen fixtures perfectly.
-Wood is perhaps the most natural material for cabinet hardware, and it can be painted to match nearly any color scheme. Wood cabinet hardware may require a metal insert in order to ensure that it is installed securely. An ideal option for those seeking a country look, wood can be found with metallic accents or as a decorative piece all on its own.

Attempts to provide a presence for automobile dealers on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter fall short for the same reasons that these online communities of friends are so successful with consumers. People hate car dealers and they often turn to advice from like minded consumers on social networking sites to get away from them. Automotive advertising agencies that impose on these personal conversations with self serving sales messages are often ostracized and even virally attacked as an intruder. The potential damage to the online reputation of their auto dealer clients represents a risk to reward formula that has forced many agencies to abandon social media as a viable channel to deliver a retail sales or service message.

Fortunately, the same social media that teaches consumers how to buy a vehicle can provide automobile dealers with the information and the tools that they need to sell them one. Social networking portals developed by advertising professionals, automotive vendors and auto dealers allow their members to share best practices with the common philosophy that a rising tide floats all boats. Each online community boasts its own personality and rules of the road to keep members in their lane. The temptation to sell to each other is controlled by the same social pressures that exist on consumer facing social networks for those that forget why they are there — to listen and learn so they can presume to teach their auto dealers how they can sell cars and service to their online friends.

In addition to sharing best practices, many automotive advertising agencies use social media to discover new technologies and vendor applications that have not yet been discovered by the mainstream auto industry. Recent discoveries that I can contribute to my searches on social media include an automated video production platform that produces scalable interactive videos from pictures using human voice to narrate them that are placed on the auto dealer’s website and pushed through a dedicated API with YouTube onto the world wide web. An equally revolutionary discovery was a consumer centric inventory marketing platforms that offers auto dealers free listings and free leads with the ability to purchase real time market analytics and social networking profiles that empower the salesperson to answer the customer’s questions even before they ask them. Each of these vendor applications were introduced to the market through automotive advertising social networking communities that enabled them to listen and learn from their members about how they can improve their products and services before they introduced them to the general market. My access to these automotive advertising solutions was only possible as a result of the time I invested on social media looking for them so that I could stay one step ahead of the competition.

Online blog talk radio stations hosted on automotive advertising networking portals provide a another social media forum for finding and reviewing new automotive advertising solutions. Regularly scheduled blog talk radio shows with live interviews of the developers of bleeding edge automotive advertising applications allow their online audience to ask vendors questions in an open forum. These open exchanges of ideas in a problem solution format help the vendors as much as the automotive advertising decision makers that follow the shows. A new mobile sales presentation platform with an integrated training component was recently discussed on a blog talk radio show to solicit feedback from the audience. Their insights were used to modify the platform before the vendor began their beta test it in the real world saving thousands of wasted dollars and man hours that would normally be required to mature their application.

The opportunity for automotive advertising agencies and auto dealers to listen, learn and contribute to social networking communities allows them to discover what they don’t know while allowing them the opportunity to share what they do know. Auto dealers are people too/ The same efficiencies and extended resources that attract consumers to social media to research their next vehicle purchase is sourced by automotive advertising agencies who need to stay one step ahead of the competition in a consolidating auto industry that demands more for less. Automotive advertising agencies don’t know what they don’t know but they can definitely find out on auto industry focused social media. After all, what are friends for!

Philip Zelinger is a former auto dealer principal with an

In this modern world there do exist a massive shortage highly skilled automotive technicians all over the world. So if you are a highly skilled auto technician you can choose where you want to work in the world.

By just applying on one of the many automotive recruitment companies web pages, and they will search a job opportunity for you any place in the world. The fact is that a lot of emerging automotive markets have opened up in reasoned years, due to the power shift in the automotive industry.

This automotive employment market is going to become even bigger in the future as all new type of cars is going to hit the market. Like all the “EV” cars that are still in the prototype phase. All these cars will have new technology implemented into them, so new personnel must be trained to work on them in the future.

This will bring a paradigm shift into this automotive employment market, even the training methods and the skill sets that must be trained have to change in the very near future.

This will cause the manufacturers to start running extensive training and develop programs, to have highly skilled technicians to assist them to establish their brand. There will be coming new brands and brand name into the playing field and these brands will need to still build their names in the market place.

To build a brand name you need a powerful after sales service you can assist your customers with. This alone will create a new automotive employment market to the auto industry; just imagine an electronic or chemical engineer working at your local car dealership.

It may sound farfetched but it is possible as the cars in the future will be driven with power plants like fuel cells, hydrogen emission and electric motors. All of this is going to come to the market place in this modern world sooner than most of us do realize. So the predictions are that a big portion of the existing automotive workforce will leave.

They will leave this workforce as they are from the old school with old school principles that will become extinct with this new technology. The human tendencies are that you will stay ignorant if you become a member of the old school club. This only happens as the older people were conditioned that they can only learn something up to a certain age. All of us know this is not true but the system wants them to leave as it is harder to change and old horse to get rid of his or her habits

The system was created to develop a group of slaves that would be easier to condition, into what this slave system needs and not what the workers needs. That is one of the reasons why the older leading hands in the automotive employment market gets removed or retrenched. The general modern business conceptions are that older people are resisters to modern business, as they don’t want to change.

If all this highly skilled people are removed in the future the whole automotive industry will suffer a massive skills and brain lost that could have passed on to the younger people. Findings are that most of this older people in the automotive industry don’t want to share their knowledge and skills anymore, because they don’t see themselves as resistors for future development in the automotive industry.

So the automotive employment market will suffer great losses in the near future, due to this phenomenon.

Rocco van Rooyen is an Author on Automotive Solutions. As an Entrepreneur and Author on the subject, he is at the forefront to provide solutions to all automotive related problems.

There are some legitimate financing companies have an expertise in financing automotive tools. You can seek their help by submitting an online application provided by them. They ensure fast approval of the amount required to acquire automotive tool set.

Automotive tools financing is normally available under various options. Automotive Air compressor is one among them which helps in acquiring the equipment which costs thousands of dollars. There are various types of compressors like compact air compressor, piston compressor, single stage compressor, two stage compressor and so on. Due to automotive tool financing it is possible for almost all companies to acquire any of the aforementioned types of air compressors.

Automotive hand tool financing is required to keep ready a well-equipped set of hand tools like wrenches, screwdrivers, clamps, sockets, installer or remover equipments etc. These tools are indispensable for running an automotive repairing business. Acquiring any one of them is affordable to all. But keeping a set of such tools is really expensive and hence the need for automotive hand tool financing is essential.

Welder financing is yet another category of automotive tool financing. A high quality welder is important for the automotive business. There are some precise welders like arc welder, stick welder, TIG welder, and MIG welder and so on. They are essential to apply heat in a given area. The sophisticated nature of the welders raises their price tags and that’s why automotive repair business people go for automotive tool financing to acquire them.

Automotive waste and recycling equipment are required by certain companies for disposing the hazardous wastes in a safer way. In fact many shops find it profitable to recycle the wastes. Therefore such equipments are becoming essential in an automotive repair shops. They are highly expensive and as a result of which automotive tool financing is required to acquire these equipments.

Brake lathe is yet important equipment in any automotive repair shops. They allow you to work on all types of brakes. You may need a combination of brake lathe, heavy duty brake lathe or car brake lathe depending upon the type of your business. However any type of brake lathe is expensive and not possible within the reach of all. Hence brake lathe financing is essential.

The automotive industry has undergone several changes in the past hundred years. Keeping yourself updated of the changes and using the latest equipment can help increase your revenues. Though essential, this equipment is very expensive and so seeking the help of a financing company is required. Some genuine financing companies offer assistance to acquire automotive tools without any frustrating procedures

Historically, the automotive industry has been using rapid prototyping as an important tool in the automotive parts design process. The extremely fast-paced automotive design cycles require an extremely fast prototyping system which can produce car parts fast and inexpensively.

The main objective of automotive prototyping is to learn quickly: how a new automotive product behaves in its natural working environment, before transferring the prototype to the production line. Many times, mistakes are learned only after a new automotive part is launched. This is the main explanation for poor automotive parts design, from product mismatch, poor engineering and function or finish, and overpriced production. In order to accelerate the learning curve, before these costly automotive prototyping mistakes are made, one must accelerate and facilitate feedback loops from tests in the lab and market trials.

Automotive Manufacturing Technologies

Working with an assortment of rapid prototyping equipment, automotive prototyping engineers utilize the most advanced 3D printers, in their quest for perfect form, function and utility. Working in advanced manufacturing centers, the automotive engineers use the technology to verify what they are doing, and, equally important, to save tremendous amounts of time, and money.

Automotive Rapid Prototyping Compresses Development Time

The advantages of 3D rapid prototyping model creation versus viewing a cad/cam model on a computer screen is palpable. Automotive parts engineers get together discuss the pros and cons of a rapidly produced automotive parts model and discuss the pros and cons of the design, as they pass it around, twisting and viewing the prototype, and decide if that is what they had in mind. This way, problems get solved up front, before going to the assembly line! Once determined that the automotive prototype design is a go, the model can then be sent to a die maker.

Automotive Prototyping and the Die Maker Process

The die maker cannot use model to make the die, but because they have it in their hand and can look at it and feel it, they can determine where the parting lines will be and exactly how much steel they will need to produce it. The timing of the die process is greatly compressed.

Examples of Automotive Rapid Prototyping Parts

· Engine castings and parts

· Car Engine parts

· Auto Mechanical parts

· Car Dashboards

· Car Handles and Knobs

· Auto Body Components

· Car Trim parts

Fail first Paradox in Automotive Rapid Prototyping

The automotive rapid prototyping paradox is to fail earlier rather than later. By failing earlier, the design engineers surprisingly succeed in accelerating the project; this greatly reduces development cost risk. By considering all automotive prototype failures as learning experiments, the engineer has much less stress, knowing that they are practicing the old adage, that success comes from ninety-nine percent failure and introspection.

Dan Flower is a writer for Objet Geometries Ltd, an automotive prototyping [http://www.2objet.com/Company/Markets/tabid/54/Default.aspx] 3D printer manufacturer.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Dan_Perach/22476

Integrating proven real world automotive advertising best practices with maturing virtual world selling processes that rely on developing technology on the Internet allows forward thinking automotive advertising agencies to blur the line between the real world of brick and mortar auto dealerships and the new virtual showrooms being built on the Internet Super Highway. Automotive advertising 101 teaches that you must go where your customers are if you want to reach them and with 93% of car shoppers confirming that they start their car buying process on the Internet that part of the marketing and sales process is easy. The hard part that automotive advertising agencies must recognize is that the one constant that has survived on the World Wide Web is human nature. Customers empowered by the easy access of information on the Internet are no longer dependent on auto dealerships — real or virtual — to determine what vehicle they will purchase and who they will buy it from. Online shoppers are looking for a new or used vehicle, not an auto dealership, and automotive advertising agencies need to convert from push/pull advertising methods to pull/push techniques preferred by an educated consumer.

Of course there is no need to throw the baby out with the bath water! Automotive advertising agencies must use conventional wisdoms built on the stable foundation of human nature supported by the efficiencies offered by new automotive advertising applications designed to crash through the glass wall of the Internet to preserve both market share and profits for their auto dealer clients. The easiest way to satisfy the customer and the auto dealer — in that order — is to give the customers what they want, when they want it — which is immediately — and to do it in such a way that the customers feel that they are buying a vehicle vs. being sold one. That is where the use of new automotive advertising technology and the related improved selling processes come in.

Giving the customers what they want — which is a vehicle not an auto dealership — suggests that automotive advertising agencies must promote individual vehicles on the Internet, not their auto dealer clients. While this may seem counter intuitive to old school car guys who presume that they must sell themselves before they can sell their vehicles, it is in keeping with equally established wisdom that suggest that automotive advertising doesn’t sell cars it just attracts customers who want to buy one. Simply put, the best advertising message in the world has no value if no one sees it and since customers are searching the web for individual vehicles that is the bait that will have them bite the hook that has the auto dealer on the other end of the line.

It is an accepted fact that cars sell cars and brick and mortar auto dealerships have gravitated to car rows or auto malls to take advantage of the attraction of having as many vehicles as possible in one location to draw real world car shoppers to their individual facilities. The leveraged advertising of multiple competing dealerships and the added value and convenience of one stop shopping for comparable makes and models at one central location is a value for consumers that has survived on the Internet Super Highway. Established third party inventory based websites have a proven place in today’s online automotive advertising plans. Most auto dealerships already rely on the leverage of their collected inventories of literally millions of vehicles from thousands of auto dealerships to attract online new and used vehicle shoppers. The search engine optimization, S.E.O., realized by these third party sites coupled with their localized search engine marketing, S.E.M., investments drawn from the collected revenues of the auto dealer clients that participate in these communal sites provide a competitive advantage that no individual dealer or even a large dealer group can compete with. New technologies being applied to this established business model promise an even better return on investment, R.O.I., for the auto dealers that participate.

ronsmap is a game changing online car buying/selling site for both consumers and dealers that exemplifies the value of improving technologies in existing Internet based marketing platforms. It makes car buying fast, comprehensive, transparent and live. What makes it unique is their new technology that gives consumers unparalleled buying and negotiating power over the car buying/selling processes including the opportunity to accommodate For Sale By Owner listings. Their unique value for dealers is that it provides them with an unprecedented level of sales intelligence on consumer leads, and it enables automotive advertising agencies to promote and engage consumers via social networks.

With existing search engine filters and third party websites online shoppers have to scroll through lists of hundreds of vehicles while clicking and drilling down on each site since not all vehicles for sale are aggregated on any one exit on the Internet Super Highway. Auto dealers that pay the most are typically promoted in the top listings limiting honest competitive comparisons and auto dealers are often non-responsive to general inquiry leads sourced from these lead resellers. Auto Dealers are equally challenged by existing marketing platforms that do not provide visibility or insights into consumer’s other vehicles of interest discovered during their online shopping trips and their communications are often mid sales cycle starting long after the initial research by the consumer has been completed. The R.O.I. for auto dealers for leads purchased from multiple third party providers are reduced by duplications and smaller dealers not willing or able to pay for a premium position can’t compete equally with the larger advertisers on these sites.

ronsmap is a new technology driven Internet solution scheduled to launch at the 2010 NADA Convention in Orlando, Florida. They provide the leverage of multiple inventories posted on a unique map-like internal search engine driven by consumer preferences on a local level that places all vehicles that fit the consumer’s search criteria on the same page with no prejudice to premium positions purchased by the dealers. Their proprietary application provides a level playing field for auto dealers while offering consumers one stop shopping across multiple brands, models and dealerships with the added value of comparisons to For Sale By Owner listings.

ronsmap also accommodates today’s consumer preference for pull/push marketing by integrating a unique social networking application into their platform. Marketing to consumers in social networks requires resources, tools and skill sets to compliment and supplement auto dealer’s existing online selling efforts. ronsmap provides all of these elements in a cost effective, scalable manner while delivering consolidated market intelligence not currently offered through other resources.

Their vBack application enables auto dealers to multiply leads by leveraging the word of mouth, W.O.M., phenomenon associated with viral messages distributed through social networking. This proprietary process embeds a social media engine directly within the vehicles posted on their community site as well as on the auto dealers individual websites. It extends the auto dealers reach, promotes confidence for consumers through their solicited comments from their online friends in response to their request for feedback on their intended purchase and it drives more consumers to the auto dealers websites.

Another unique value added feature provided by the new technologies implemented by ronsmap is exemplified by their SellersVantage application. It allows auto dealers to communicate with online consumers in real time early in the decision cycle. It offers auto dealers a comparative view of what other vehicles and feature/benefits the consumer is looking for, market availability to determine if they have the only vehicle that fits the consumer’s stated needs and comparative pricing analytics to know how they rank in the market before they start negotiations to improve closing ratios and preserve profit.

The Intelli-Leads offered by their applications are very robust leads that go way beyond the typical customer name, email address, contact information and questions about the vehicle that they are interested in. They include market intelligence, comparative intelligence, social demographic and social profile intelligence that define the prospect and that allows the dealer to insure that their first offer in the online negotiation process is competitive while preserving gross profit.

Technology as applied to enhanced marketing platforms like ronsmap addresses the new opportunities for auto dealers to improve their R.O.I. from third party lead providers and inventory based websites but it doesn’t reflect the equally valued benefits being offered to improve their R.O.I. from their individual S.E.O. efforts and improved conversion rates from their own websites. Once again, conventional wisdoms must be applied by automotive advertising agencies to provide more for less for their auto dealer clients by recognizing the need to establish brand identity and top of the mind awareness for long term dealer recognition in the market tempered with the need to increase sales and profits today so the auto dealer — and their automotive advertising agency — can survive until tomorrow.

Since consumers are looking for vehicles on the Internet vs. auto dealers it is only logical that the auto dealers should post their vehicles online individually. The trick is to get a single vehicle to stand out from the traffic on the Internet Super Highway. Once again, technology has provided the solution.

Video has surfaced as the media of choice for today’s consumers who grew up watching T.V. and who have applied their preference for Video to their attraction to Internet channels like You Tube and all things video. The search engines role on the newly emerging World Wide Web is to facilitate the consumer’s online search by giving them what they want and since consumers have selected video as their media of choice search engines like Google have decided to give it to them.

The algorithms that drive Google have been adjusted to provide a weighted value to video, a fact that has not escaped automotive advertising agencies responsible for improving the S.E.O. for their auto dealer clients. Video presentations have shown up on auto dealers websites with file names that integrate key word phrases to match the auto dealers websites chosen online identity along with similar embedded meta tags and they are even being pushed onto the search engines through You Tube with their own URL’s to extend the SEO of the auto dealers virtual showrooms. The value of this enhanced S.E.O. solution is that all of these postings are sourced back to the auto dealers websites which supports the automotive advertising agencies desire to build dealer branding and top of the mind awareness. The ability to take this exposure to the next level is realized by applying the same philosophy of extending the dealers online exposure to their individual vehicles since, after all, that is what the online customer is searching for.

SiSTeR Technologies is an automotive advertising vendor using proprietary cutting edge technologies that has introduced an automated video production platform called VideoCarLot with associated applications including vShock and VidBrid. They are able to convert the still pictures already posted on the dealers websites into professionally produced videos using human voice and existing video footage with integrated search words, meta tags and individual URLs. These finished productions are then placed onto the auto dealers own websites to increase their highly prized and search engine favored video content plus they are individually pushed through their dedicated API with You Tube to post each vehicle to all linked third party advertisers and to the search engines directly onto the You Tube channel. Since You Tube is a growing search engine second only to their parent company Google the enhanced S.E.O. to the dealer is obvious. More importantly, it allows the auto dealer to present their vehicles to online consumers vs. their auto dealerships while anchoring the associated lead back to the sourcing dealer. Once again, technology has provided a win-win scenario placing the consumer’s interests ahead of the auto dealer’s while satisfying the needs of both.

The automotive advertising agencies of today that apply the cutting edge automotive advertising technologies of tomorrow are guaranteed a seat at the table in the future. Today’s justified consolidation in the auto industry has opened problems for many and solutions for the few that are determined to survive. Just as the forest fire burns the trees to allow for new growth, the key for automotive advertising agencies to survive to grow another day lies in the automotive advertising technologies and applications that they use today.

Philip Zelinger
Ad Agency Online, L.L.C.