A technician accessing a technical publication via his handheld computer.

Raymond Corp has joined the ranks of blue-chip companies Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Microsoft by winning US-based Centre for Information-Development Management's (CIDM) annual Rare Bird award for a new technological initiative that benefits its dealers.

CIDM has recognised Raymond for converting its technical publications, including parts and maintenance manuals, into XML/DITA format, making them easily accessible to forklift dealers.

Charles Dowdell, manager of technical publications at Raymond, tells Forkliftaction.com News that before converting about 100,000 pages of its technical publications into the new format, dealers accessed information via PDF files on CD-ROM and online, and hardcopy formats.

Raymond could be the first materials handling equipment provider to use XML to enable its technical publications to be viewed on a handheld or desktop computer.

XML or Extensible Markup Language is an open information standard enabling information to be easily shared. Its display is not limited to the worldwide web as information in this format can be stored in the computer itself, something not possible with PDFs as the files were too big.

"The electronic format simplifies version-control management of documents, saves space on service vehicles and makes it more efficient for dealers to service products quickly to improve customers' uptime.

"Using this open standard and our unique processes, we can publish multiple media types without any significant development costs," Dowdell says.

The fourth Annual Rare Bird Award, open to companies worldwide, was handed out at the annual CIDM Best Practices Conference at Atlanta, Georgia, in September.

Dowdell says a panel of judges from non-competing information developers picks one winner annually. The winning technology must demonstrate efficiency, be customer-focused and innovative, have transformational value for the organisation and be transferable to other organisations.

CIDM in Denver, Colorado, was established in 1999 for information development managers to share current trends, best practices and developments in information management. For more information, see: www.infomanagementcenter.com.