HGZ AG in Zurich, Switzerland can look back on more than 50 years' experience designing coffee machines. Perhaps its best-known brand, Rex-Royal, came about when the company acquired a competitor in 1969. This marked the beginning of a successful global operation marketing fully-automated coffee machines. Today, HGZ machines can be found in restaurants, hotels and canteens all over the world.

An extensive partner network, allied to high quality documentation, ensure the problem-free use of HGZ machines and contribute to their success.

The structure of the documentation accompanying the product mirrors the way the machines are produced. The coffee machines are subdivided into individual assemblies, some of which are produced in advance ("warehoused assemblies"). The technical documentation is also structured according to the scheme of the assemblies, with every assembly depicted as an explosion drawing to which a matching parts list is assigned. This parts list is then used to withdraw the individual parts from the warehouse for production orders.

All drawings, parts lists and operating instructions are created as PDFs, compiled into an electronic service manual and "linked". This service manual begins with an assembled view of the entire machine, with each of the sub-assemblies depicted linking to an explosion drawing of that sub-assembly, to which a parts list is also assigned.

Structuring the documentation in this way brings a whole series of advantages:

• The "graphical navigation" between assemblies is very convenient for readers, who avoid the time-consuming browsing required in printed manuals.
• It is also easier for the manufacturer to update an electronic manual, since no labor-intensive, expensive printing is involved.
• Using exploded view drawings for illustration helps HGZ documentation staff achieve two effects. On the one hand, an exploded view drawing is the perfect means of explaining how parts are fitted together and installed. On the other hand, the individual parts are shown isolated from the background drawing and can easily be assigned a part number, meaning the combination of illustration and parts list can also be used as a replacement parts catalog.

In short, this method results in an all-purpose service manual.

Though it sounds amazingly simple, however, this method provides no shortage of challenges to illustrators! Creating a high quality exploded view drawing is an art in itself!
 

Illustration
The first challenge is the size of the illustration. Since many individual parts are to be drawn in isolation, i.e. "dismantled", a larger area is needed - and the larger the machine, the more parts that must be illustrated and the bigger the challenge.

The parts must therefore be arranged as skillfully as possible. At the same time it must not be forgotten that the way the parts are arranged also affects how straightforward - and, therefore, easy to understand - the illustration is. The viewer should be able to navigate the illustration without "getting lost".

Before beginning to draw, the illustrator should therefore consider what he wants to depict and what the smartest way is of positioning the individual parts. As well as being clearly structured, it is important that explosion drawings are not overloaded. Too many details has an off-putting effect, making it harder for the viewer to understand the illustration.

One useful method is correctly employing different line weights (thick/thin technique), which makes it easier for the viewer to understand the illustration. This technique should always be an absolute requirement for extremely complex illustrations.

All in all, creating exploded view drawings is a complicated, time-consuming task. "Here at HGZ, we drew our technical illustrations by hand up until 1994," reports Dragan Poplasin, Head of Design at HGZ. "After that we looked for a program that would help save time creating our illustrations. At that time we went with ITEDO Software's IsoDraw because it was the tool best suited to our needs, and ten years has done nothing to change that opinion. We think it's the best program for creating exploded view drawings."

All graphics © HGZ AG, Switzerland

Further sample illustrations by HGZ can be found in our Gallery!