For engineering firms, you choose the projects that count.

The way designs get built and changed

What AI labs value most is the record of engineering judgment, not only the completed drawings:

• Your CAD models and how they were revised
• BOMs and the spreadsheets behind your calculations
• Simulation work compared with test results
• Notes from design reviews showing why something changed
• Inspection data and schematics from your own product lines

Placeholders replace names

In the copy, placeholders replace the names of clients, vendors and engineers, as well as addresses and account numbers. Your original files remain in your vault without ever leaving your systems, and no one asks for passwords. A sample from the finished copy needs your approval before anything goes out.

Anything export controlled is kept out

Certain programs have restrictions on exporting their technical data. You flag any project like that, and it can be dropped from scope altogether. If you are unsure about a project, leave it out.

Client-owned designs can stay out

Projects whose designs are client property or under NDA can each be excluded individually. Whether any client work fits your contracts is for you and your counsel to decide. We give no legal advice on it. Starting with your own product lines and internal methods is often simpler.

A good place to begin

Request the estimate first, and on the first short call sort out which projects are plainly yours and which belong to others. It helps to sort projects into your own products, client work, NDA work and export controlled work. That first group is where scope tends to start. You can add or remove projects later, but nothing is prepared until you agree on the list, and nothing goes out until you approve the sample. Nobody on your engineering team has to pause their work.