What Is a Technical Data Package (TDP) and Why Is It Useful?

By Andrew Crowley

If technical data packages (TDPs) aren’t already fully ubiquitous throughout the manufacturing industry, then they soon will be. Designed to provide manufacturing, suppliers, customers, and any other stakeholders in the manufacturing process with a consolidated package of essential engineering product data, TDPs are increasingly seen as an essential tool for efficient, streamlined production.

But that doesn’t mean TDPs are perfect. Because they deal with complex product data, often pulled from a variety of different sources and existing in many different formats, they can be difficult to put together. Ensuring they offer fully comprehensive product data that is both accurate and up-to-date can be an even more time-consuming process. And if incorrect or incomplete TDPs get distributed, the results can be costly delays and even more costly reworks.

However, done well, TDPs offer companies a powerful way to empower everyone across the digital thread with high quality engineering product data. Let’s take a closer look at what TDPs are, as well as how Anark can make them work for you.

What Are TDPs?

A technical data package is a set of electronic files that describe a particular product or product component. It provides an authoritative technical description of the item in order to support its acquisition, production, inspection, engineering, logistics, maintenance, and any other related activities. Most importantly, a TDP should define any essential design considerations, describe its manufacturing instructions, and outline the item’s requirements for successful performance.

What Are the Different Types and Levels of TDPs?

TDPs come in two general types:

• 2D TDPs: These will consist of traditional two-dimensional engineering drawings, text documents, and other static document types that will require some kind of interpretation.
• 3D TDPs: In addition to traditional file formats, these will also have three-dimensional renderings in the form of CAD models, 3D PDFs, or other formats.

In addition, TDPs can also be categorized according to their level of detail:

• Conceptual TDP: This level includes basic design information, such as sketches, initial layouts, and preliminary specifications. It helps communicate the overall design concept and is used during the early phases of development for feasibility studies and stakeholder reviews.
• Developmental TDP: This level contains more detailed design information, including refined drawings, initial material lists, and draft specifications. It supports the prototyping phase and is often used for testing and validation purposes.
• Product TDP: This is the most detailed level of TDP and includes all the necessary information for manufacturing a product, such as fully detailed engineering drawings, bills of materials (BOM), process instructions, and quality control guidelines. These are the TDPs used for full-scale production.
• As-Built TDP: This TDP represents the final state of the product after production. It includes any modifications made during the manufacturing process and provides a complete record of the actual configuration of the product as it was built. This level is important for future maintenance, repair, and modifications.

What Is In a TDP?

What’s in each TDP will depend on its level, the part or product it is built for, the particular industry where it is being used, and a number of other factors. However, the following are some of the most common components:

• Bill of materials (BOM): This refers to a list of all the materials and components that are required for the project. The BOM typically consists of part numbers, descriptions, quantities needed, and the suppliers responsible for them. It might also include the unit cost of each item, among other details.
• Drawings and models: These can be either 2D engineering drawings or 3D geometric models that contain all the necessary information for fully visualizing and manufacturing a part or product. This typically includes product manufacturing information (PMI) such as geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T), surface finish, and material specifications.
• Specifications: This may include detailed technical requirements for materials and other criteria, or performance specifications that define the functional requirements for the item, the environment it operates in, and any other related characteristics.
• Tooling and associated lists: This will note any unique tools that are required to manufacture and/or maintain part or product, such as jigs, molds, or patterns. It may also specify any other equipment or material that are deemed essential to maintain performance or compliance.
• Manufacturing instructions: This is a description of the critical processes involved with producing an item and/or the individual parts that make up the product.
• Quality assurance criteria: This refers to any documented requirements, procedures, and criteria deemed necessary for demonstrating that a part or product conforms to design requirements.
• Packaging details: These are the instructions that should be followed when packaging an item for delivery. They may be included in order to protect the item from environmental, physical, or mechanical damage.

What Are the Benefits of TDPs?

The primary benefit of TDPs is that it consolidates all the engineering product data a manufacturer might need into one package. This helps vastly simplify the manufacturing and production process, helping to save both time and money. But this isn’t the only benefit. The following are some other ways TDPs improve manufacturing:

• They make communication more efficient. With everything organized in one place, engineers, designers, manufacturers, and every other stakeholder has a common set of documents they can reference as they work through the project. This reduces the chance of miscommunication and helps put everyone on the same page.
• They improve product quality. By detailing every manufacturing process, laying out the assembly instructions in clear steps, and including testing and quality control procedures, TDPs can help ensure consistent quality, even when different manufacturers are involved.
• They make collaboration easier. Whether you need to onboard a new engineer or outsource your designs to a different supplier, TDPs give you an easy way to quickly provide them with all the necessary technical information they could need. That means less time explaining and more time producing.
• They help with compliance and traceability. In addition to standard technical instructions and specifications, TDPs can also have documentation to help ensure the part or product meets any safety standards or industry compliance regulations. Likewise, detailed lists of parts will also help stakeholders keep track of any materials.
• They protect intellectual property. By packaging everything up in one place, TDPs offer a way to securely limit and/or govern the extent of proprietary information that can be shared. This makes it easier to work with third-party manufacturers and partners.

The Anark Advantage

TDPs are a powerful tool to make your entire manufacturing process, from design to delivery, run more efficiently. But with so much information contained within them, often pulled from many different sources, they can be challenging to put together in the first place. This is where Anark can help.

With our comprehensive, recipe-based approach to TDP creation, Anark gives manufacturers an easy way to find the right data, share it with stakeholders, and start collaborating. Here are some ways our platform will help streamline your TDP creation process:

Simple data consolidation

• Easily source your content from multiple systems. Or just automatically synchronize with your PLM system to ensure your latest information is all in one place.
• Plug into any CAD tool to instantly transform your native CAD designs into ready-to-share 3D PDFs and file-less TDPs.

Smarter collaboration tools

• Stop emailing engineers questions or poring over PowerPoints. Instead,  collaborate in the context of your data with powerful markup tools, real-time chat, and other ways to communicate.
• Uncover past decisions and ideas in seconds by easily associating conversations with different content, markups, and work items.

Faster publishing processes

• Save time by creating your own automated recipes for importing data or use one of our pre-built templates, complete with MIL-STD-31000B compliance.
• Intelligently translate that data into individual TDP components, including interactive elements for 3D PDFs.
• Set automatic triggers for publishing so that the right people get the right data at the right time.