With the advent of Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Building Information Management (BIM) combining with document control systems, we are creating fully integrated workflows of all the data involved in engineering, procurement and construction, we shouldn’t need paper anymore, should we?
Look around most offices, we see paper, lots of it, some might say more than before we went “paperless”. One of the biggest reasons is that some people like to remain “tactile” they want the freedom to pick up a pen and mark-up documents and drawings, “it’s quicker”, “it feels more intuitive”, all comments that resonate with engineers across the industry.
At Spencer Group we have taken that on board, but we have also taken on board the time and effort scanning marked up documents for QA, the environmental impact of all that paper, pens and highlighters; out of interest, why don’t highlighters last as long as they used to? We have also considered the fact that when you are in a rush – the printer always runs out of paper.
So, we have gone paperless, “proper paperless” in the words of one of our engineers.
Spencer Group’s in-house design team have invested in A3 graphics tablets, with 1920 x 1080 Full HD display to be precise, that give our engineers the speed and intuitive feel of paper without the carbon footprint, without asking “who’s got my favourite pen” and without wondering why highlighters don’t last as long as they used to.
Moreover, even though we found exactly the software to use, our in-house software developers built in another seamless step, such that the tablets can link directly to our Spencer Operating System. Our engineers can now mark-up an attachment to an incoming email without even leaving our software, let alone our desk.
Spencer Group – Extraordinary Engineering – now Extraordinarily Paperless.
