Ryan Engineering Earns Four-Mouse Rating
by October 15, 2001 12:00 am 97 views
Siloam Springs
www.ryan-engineering.com
Over the last decade, precedents such as Daubert v. Merrill Dow and Kumho v. Carmichael have required more stringent qualifications for potential “expert” witnesses in the courtroom. It often can be difficult and expensive for law firms to find, for instance, engineers who can expertly re-create the scene of an accident or manufacturing-related injury.
But Ryan Engineering of Siloam Springs makes it easy for lawyers to locate its forensic engineering services. The firm, which does business as Ryan Engineering Center, touts its nationally recognized expert witnesses on its Web site.
Four professional engineers, another with a master’s in mechanical engineering and two more with Ph.D.s make up the company’s expert witness staff. But safety is only one of Ryan Engineering’s four divisions. It also does plenty of business related to computer-aided drafting and industrial and structural engineering.
One reviewer called the site “a quality cannon of workplace safety and design information.” A designer thought the wintery photo of the company’s headquarters works well with the stark home page. Overall, the aesthetics are pretty basic, but the hyperlink mouse-overs are nice, and every link worked as quickly and precisely as a laser survey.
The site debuted in 1997 but was significantly upgraded during the summer of 2000 by Aten Design Group of Siloam Springs. Ryan Engineering CEO Dan Ryan said his company spent about $2,500 on the upgrade. The process was expedited because Ryan already had assembled most of the text he wanted to use in an HTML format.
Ryan Engineering employs online vendor HitsLink.com to handle its site traffic information. On average, the site receives about 3,000 hits per month. Ryan said that’s high considering how specialized the firm’s services are.
The site does not possess e-commerce capabilities but probably doesn’t need any. It functions as an information bank and a virtual advertisement that’s helping drive business. According to HitsLink, about one-third of Ryan Engineering’s accident reconstruction business is generated by its Web site.
The firm uses 3D Studio Max and 3D Studio Viz software for its animated recreations. Ryan said after three days of testimony, average jurors remember 10 percent of what they’re told, but the recall jumps to 65 percent when video and audio are used.
We especially appreciated the firm’s super-fast response to all e-mail inquiries.