Murphy Door, an industry innovator in creative door solutions, was facing a significant challenge in 2017. The company was struggling with the high volume of installation support calls, which was putting a strain on their sales team. The team was spending a considerable amount of time resolving assembly and installation issues rather than focusing on sales. The company was using traditional methods such as paper instructions, demo videos, and phone calls to assist customers with installation. However, these methods were proving to be time-consuming and inefficient. The challenge was to reduce this installation friction and free up the sales team from handling support calls.

Siemens was facing a significant challenge in bridging the growing skills gap in the manufacturing industry. According to a Deloitte study, 77% of manufacturers were anticipating difficulties in attracting and retaining workers, with an estimated 2.1 million jobs expected to remain unfilled by 2030. Siemens was actively seeking innovative solutions to expedite training and reskilling. The company was particularly focused on providing resources for electrical apprentices, electrical contractors, and distributors through Siemens University, the SIschool program, and VR training initiatives. However, the traditional channels of delivering this content, such as classroom instruction, textbooks, videos, and virtual reality, were not sufficient. The Covid-19 pandemic further complicated the situation by disrupting the global supply chain, leading to longer lead times on fully assembled goods. Distributors needed a faster, cheaper way to get products to their customers.

Springfree Trampoline, a premium brand known for manufacturing the world’s safest trampolines, identified an opportunity to improve the set-up experience for their customers. Despite having a white glove installation service, many customers preferred to assemble the trampolines themselves, a trend that increased during the pandemic. The assembly process was generally straightforward, but the steps involving the connection of the mat rods to the frame and jumping mat proved challenging. Proper body positioning and weight distribution were crucial for correct assembly, and two people were required to work in tandem. The company wanted to communicate these steps in a way that was easy to understand. Additionally, Springfree needed to provide clear and detailed instructions to their professional installation crews. The challenge was to bring the assembly experience into harmony with their premium product.

Teeter, a family-run company specializing in fitness equipment, faced a significant challenge in boosting consumer confidence to overcome assembly anxiety. The company recognized that the out-of-the-box assembly experience was crucial in creating a positive first impression of their products. Many of their customers, who already suffer from back problems, found the task of assembling a large and unwieldy piece of equipment frustrating and daunting. The company aimed to instill a sense of quality engineering as customers unpack and inspect the parts and ensure consumers could assemble their equipment properly for safe and optimum functionality. Traditional paper instructions and DVDs posed a challenge due to their lack of detail and limited view from the camera angle. Consumers often complained about not having a DVD player or computer available in the room where they planned to set up the equipment. Updating instructions also proved difficult when the company made engineering improvements or developed better techniques for putting the parts together.

The Chamberlain Group, a leader in smart access solutions, was facing a significant challenge in improving the customer experience for their garage door openers. The primary pain point was the installation process, which was affecting product ratings and the adoption of their proprietary tool, the myQ Garage & Access Control app. The company was also struggling with low product registration rates, with only 3% of customers registering their products. This was a concern as registration allows the company to communicate directly with customers about product updates or recalls. Additionally, the company was under pressure to substantiate marketing claims about the ease of installation of their products.

TRINITY Industries International, an eco-friendly storage, organization, and home solutions company, was experiencing rapid sales growth but faced a challenge in managing customer support costs. The company's leadership team identified that assembly-related issues were the primary reason for product returns. Despite many of their products being easy to assemble, they also manufactured larger items such as wall racks, cabinets, patio sets, tool chests, work tables, and benches. These items were intimidating to assemble for customers and even more difficult to return due to their size and weight. TRINITY aimed to improve their out-of-the-box customer experience beyond paper manuals or videos. They wanted to ensure their assembly and installation instructions were accessible, comprehensive, and straightforward to reduce returns, minimize customer service calls, and address negative reviews.

VintageView, a company that designs and manufactures modern wine racks for both home and commercial displays, faced a significant challenge in improving their installation instructions to better support contractors working off the grid. The company's products come in a variety of patented display mediums, each project being customized, which made it difficult to create clear and understandable instructions for every component configuration or design choice. While VintageView’s explainer videos were adequate, they were time-consuming and expensive to update. Furthermore, the interior designers, custom builders, contractors, and architects incorporating their wine racks often worked on construction sites without Wi-Fi capability, necessitating a solution that could work offline. Additionally, the sales team was burdened with handling all installation-related customer service calls, detracting from their primary focus of closing sales.

Companies, regardless of their size, often struggle with keeping their employees motivated towards shared goals. The challenge lies in creating a culture where teams are invested in company goals and are constantly working towards streamlining processes. The lack of a problem-solving culture can lead to disengaged employees, inefficient workflows, and increased waste and rework. This can ultimately impact the bottom line, reducing the value delivered to customers. Additionally, many companies have a wealth of processes and information locked in tribal knowledge, which is not transferable and cannot be improved upon. This presents a major risk, as without a standard, there is no benchmark to improve upon.

For nearly a century, a leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives has been striving to digitize and standardize its processes to minimize waste and control machine setups and changeovers. However, the company faced significant challenges in achieving this goal. The existing documentation was limited, making it difficult for frontline workers to share feedback to improve operations. The company was using Excel to create and store process information, which often contained over fifty pages of information that workers had to read and retain. This method also lacked the ability to gather and implement frontline feedback, leading to missed opportunities for operational improvements. The company also faced inconsistencies in production, competency gaps among employees due to job shadowing as a primary training method, and safety concerns. The introduction of new automation technology also posed a challenge as the company needed to ensure that standards were properly distributed to frontline operators.

The Fortune 100 Consumer Goods Manufacturer, a multinational corporation operating in various fields of industrial manufacturing, faced a significant challenge as a large portion of their veteran workforce approached retirement. The incorporation of increasingly sophisticated technology into frontline production processes meant that tasks such as preventive maintenance and line changeovers required more time and knowledge to complete. Machine operating procedures were complex and resulted in lengthy training times. The documentation was extensive and lacked visual aids, making it difficult for new employees to understand. The impending loss of veteran frontline operators and the uncaptured tribal knowledge posed a significant challenge in scaling the training and support for new employees across multiple facilities. The company also faced issues with increasing cycle times, suggesting that less experienced employees required more time to complete processes. This was costing the company valuable production time and millions of dollars across their 200+ plants.

The company was grappling with several challenges, including increasing staff retirements, lack of digitized processes, and absence of a formal training program. These issues were leading to spikes in quality problems and downtime. As new frontline employees joined, there was no program in place to upskill them properly to meet production demands, leading to a repetitive cycle of issues. The company was losing approximately $3 million per year due to poor frontline training. Their facilities historically relied on job shadowing and word of mouth for operator training, which was proving to be inadequate. With high numbers of retiring staff and outdated documentation held in paper binders, standardizing process information was a pressing need. Changeover errors in their sensitive assembly lines for perishable products were costing the company millions of dollars a year in defects, supply chain issues, and profit losses.

The case study revolves around a large manufacturing company that relies heavily on tribal knowledge for its maintenance procedures. The company has a unique situation where certain maintenance procedures are only required every 5 to 10 years. This knowledge is passed down from long-term employees who have been with the company for decades. However, the company is facing a potential challenge with the changing dynamics of the workforce. The current trend shows that millennials, who are now the dominant workforce, tend to stay with a company for only 2-3 years, significantly less than the 5-10 year maintenance cycle. The average tenure of workers is 4.6 years, and even lower for millennials at 3.2 years. This poses a significant risk to the company's maintenance procedures as the knowledge may not be passed down effectively due to the shorter tenure of employees.

Coca-Cola European Partners Germany (CCEP DE) operates in a complex beverage market, catering to approximately 325,000 retail and foodservice customers and bottling and selling 3.5 billion liters of mineral water and soft drinks annually. The complexity of the supply chain and the increasing demands on the workforce in production and logistics posed significant challenges for the company's approximately 7,000 employees. As part of its 'Fit for Future' strategy, CCEP DE was seeking digital solutions to alleviate the burden on employees and enhance the company's competitiveness. The company aimed to introduce digital assistants to the store floor, similar to the networking of employees with mobile devices in the sales organization. The goal was to provide employees with electronic instructions and interactive checklists to help them comply with all specifications and standards and prevent errors.

Holcim, a global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions, was facing challenges in optimizing field inspections and routine inspections in its Cement, Aggregate, Asphalt and Ready-Mix locations. Despite the availability of modern technology, heavy industries like Holcim still relied on tribal knowledge, outdated paper-based procedures, and lacked accurate, real-time data. This traditional way of working led to numerous questions such as how to perform inspections, the right sequence, the required equipment, and the last time it was done. Both new hires and senior workers faced these challenges as safety and sustainability measures were constantly evolving. Manual paperwork was not only cumbersome and slow but also prone to errors such as missing or lost records, or worse, work that wasn’t being done at all.

Barry Callebaut, a global leader in high-quality chocolate and cocoa products, faced challenges in maintaining open communication and problem-solving across its 64 manufacturing plants worldwide. The company relied heavily on Gemba walks and team boards for daily operations, which allowed management and functional experts to support operators and address issues. However, tracking issues and reaching the right individual for resolution was a complex task. Additionally, the company needed to ensure that solutions found at one plant were shared across all sites for organization-wide learning. Another challenge was the need for real-time information access for effective decision-making. The company started recording team meetings and sharing them on the factory feed for improved visibility during the COVID-19 pandemic, but needed a more robust solution for data-driven decision-making.

Bel Group, a leading French food manufacturer, faced several challenges when opening a new plant in Sorel, Quebec, to manufacture their Mini Babybel line of cheeses. The challenges included extracting internal equipment expertise, importing and installing new equipment, building factory knowledge and culture from scratch due to a lack of specialized workforce, and implementing all processes and standards at once while meeting production targets. The company also had to onboard 170 employees in a short period to support a full production schedule. They needed a solution that would facilitate their training process, enable collaboration between sites, ensure access to internal expertise from stakeholders globally, and support operational efficiency.

Bosch Automotive, a division of the global technology and service provider Bosch, was facing significant communication challenges in its Charleston plant. The plant, which specializes in powertrain and e-motor parts, was using two-way radios for communication. This method was inefficient as it limited associates to reaching only one person at a time. The lack of a streamlined communication system was hindering the plant's productivity and efficiency. Additionally, the plant was about to face a new product startup, which required a rapid ramp-up from setup to full-time production to customer delivery. The plant also had a performance-based pay system, but lacked a clear way to track and showcase the skills and proficiency levels of its associates.

Bunge, a global leader in the food and agriculture industry, was facing challenges in operational efficiency, worker engagement, and communication. With over 23,000 associates, 300+ facilities, and a presence in more than 40 countries, the company needed a solution to directly connect workers with standard operating procedures (SOPs) and facilitate communication. The primary goal was to reduce unplanned downtime, streamline shift handovers, and improve the quality of inspections. The company was also looking for a way to improve the mean time between failures (MTBF), which would lead to longer intervals between major equipment breakdowns. The challenge was to find a solution that could address these issues efficiently and effectively.

C.H. Guenther, a large food manufacturer with a history of over 150 years, faced significant operational challenges in their Pioneer Frozen Foods plant in South Carolina. The plant, which employs over 200 people and has four main production lines, relied heavily on radio and face-to-face communication among workers. The lack of technological devices on the shop floor led to limited visibility and inefficiencies, with many issues going unnoticed and unresolved. A recurring problem on one of their lines, where the product was not being correctly deposited into the packaging, was causing regular three-minute stops. These minor stops, while seemingly insignificant, added up to approximately 40 hours of lost production time over a year. Additionally, the plant faced potential downtime due to a lack of trained employees to operate a new workstation.

Plastico Dise, a manufacturer of plastic packaging products, was facing challenges in managing issues on their production lines. The company was struggling with frequent machine stops and lacked visibility into the reasons behind these stops. The issue management and resolution process was cumbersome and inefficient. When operators encountered a problem, they had to contact maintenance through internal telephones and intercoms. The maintenance team would then log the issues, download work orders to a spreadsheet, print and post the paperwork order schedules to a blackboard in the workshop. This manual process was time-consuming and left room for optimization. Additionally, quality, continuous improvement, and IT issues were reported via email, leading to communication difficulties and tracking issues. The company was operating in silos with limited visibility due to the existence of two separate issue reporting systems.

Royal Canin, a global provider of pet nutrition, faced several challenges at their Polish plant. The onboarding process for new hires was complicated and time-consuming, involving multiple departments and lacking clear organization. The leadership had no visibility into the process, making it difficult to refine and improve. Additionally, the company struggled with paper-based documentation and an unfriendly document management system. Work instructions were hard to access and difficult for associates to read. Updating instructions, especially before audits, was labor-intensive. The company also lacked data on associate progress and capabilities, hindering their ability to measure and analyze employee development. Furthermore, Royal Canin faced challenges in reporting and managing safety issues using paper forms. Analyzing data was a tedious task, as information had to be manually transferred into Excel files or other platforms before staff could extract any meaningful insights.

FrieslandCampina, a renowned dairy company, was facing operational challenges in its packaging department. The department, which operates in three shifts, required constant monitoring of a range of parameters on the packaging machines to ensure optimal functioning. Additionally, with each new production run, a new parameter list had to be completed. Until recently, these values were manually recorded on paper lists and stored, which was a time-consuming and inefficient process. The shift leader had to spend a significant amount of time filing these paper lists, and referring back to the values for a specific machine on a specific day was a cumbersome task. The paper-based process was not only inefficient but also prone to errors and lacked real-time accessibility.

Metafor, a metalworking subcontractor with a wide range of products, faced a significant challenge in configuring robots for each new product on the factory floor. The process was time-consuming and required extensive coordination between operators and the welding manager. The use of paper-based work instructions often led to misunderstandings or were ignored altogether, causing inefficiencies and potential errors in the production process.

Pfizer Puurs was facing challenges in improving workflow efficiency and standardization in their line clearance operations. The traditional methods were not providing line operators with the necessary information at the right time, which was affecting the overall efficiency of the operations. Additionally, the operators had to use their hands to access the information, which was not ideal during inspections. The varying levels of experience among operators also posed a challenge in terms of training and information accessibility. Furthermore, Pfizer Puurs was looking for a solution for remote monitoring and line clearance activities.

Philips Lighting (now Signify), a global leader in lighting solutions, aimed to become the world's only conventional lighting manufacturing plant network. However, its operations in Turnhout, Belgium, a high-wage country, needed to be as efficient as possible to realize this ambition and embrace the Industry 4.0 evolution. The company had already implemented Lean manufacturing, with employees constantly seeking ways to eliminate waste and improve processes. However, the old PDA used for monitoring and carrying out preventative maintenance tasks on up to 200 machines was slow, unwieldy, and difficult to manage. It was not adaptable to include new items or delete obsolete ones, could only record current measurements, and offered no historical data. The PDA was inadequate for the task at hand.

Adaptive Insights, a SaaS business with over 4,000 customers, faced a significant challenge in training its end users and partners on its suite of financial planning tools. The company's small team of three, led by Sr. Content Developer for Education & Development, Diane, was tasked with creating all the training content for both live and self-paced training sessions. The live training sessions were conducted during the Adaptive Insights user conference, where around 1,000 end users were trained. The self-paced training, managed in Litmos, catered to over 9,000 end users and 1,500 partners. The team found it inefficient and challenging to create and manage the vast amount of visual training material using Word and Litmos. The process was time-consuming, and it was difficult to create separate guides for instructors and attendees during live sessions.

Advanced Tech, a leading technology company, was on the verge of rolling out new software across its organization. The Business Systems Manager, David, was tasked with overseeing this massive implementation. However, he faced significant challenges with the existing options for training employees. The creation and organization of training materials were proving to be a daunting task, and tracking its usage was equally challenging. David was in dire need of a solution that would simplify the process of creating, organizing, and delivering software training to his employees.

The B2B technical helpdesk, supporting over 400 different estates across the hospitality, leisure, and service sectors, faced a significant challenge in managing its vast array of policies and procedures. With over 10,000 sites across more than 400 customers, the helpdesk needed a more efficient way to onboard new clients, support existing ones, and retain its staff. The technical teams had their processes and documents scattered across multiple platforms, including SharePoint, Wikipedia, and ITSM system. While these platforms provided support guides, they were not efficient in helping the technical agents find the resources they needed quickly. This inefficiency resulted in customer delays, inconsistent customer experiences, and longer call handling times. The guides, often generic overviews, were complex and confusing, slowing down the agents as they had to search for specific procedures to resolve tickets. Furthermore, due to the complexity of each customer and the large number of products and features supported, training new agents was a lengthy process, taking up to 6 months on average.

Baxter Healthcare, a Fortune-500 contact center, was faced with the daunting task of launching a new operation in 120 days. The company had recently acquired a new call center and decided to move the contact center to nearshore (Mexico) from offshore (India). The director was tasked with launching the contact center in Mexico within the stipulated deadline. The challenges were manifold. They had to hire and train all new agents and trainers, a total of 30 personnel. The operations director and his team had no prior experience with the product or the company they had just acquired. The existing documentation was completely out of date. Everything was new and they had a short four-month window to get a call center up and running for the new product. Moreover, all the training had to be done remotely.

Brigham Young University - Idaho (BYU-Idaho) faced a common challenge in the education sector: teaching students, parents, and faculty how to use campus technology. The primary issue was content creation. Arlen Wilcock, BYU - Idaho's Faculty Technology Consultant, and his team were using Adobe InDesign to create PDF guides. However, InDesign was not intuitive for all student employees, limiting the number of staff who could create documentation. This resulted in a bottleneck in content creation. Additionally, the format of their documentation, being confined to PDFs, was another challenge they faced.