This article is one of our favourites from around the web. We've included an excerpt below but do go and read the original!
GroundProbe, a world-leading manufacturer of monitoring solutions for the mining industry, recently embarked on an ambitious expansion to the United States. A critical aspect of their journey was maintaining and elevating the quality of their work, and HINDSITE played a pivotal role. Read on to explore how the HINDSITE Guided Work Instructions platform bolstered GroundProbe's operations and facilitated its successful launch.
“I think definitely - Making sure the quality out of Tucson is the same as the quality of out Brisbane - we just couldn’t have done that without HINDSITE”
Neil Cordon, Senior Manager, Quality and Continuous Improvement.
GroundProbe is a technological leader in the mining industry, renowned for its high-end, revolutionary radar technology. As a market pioneer with 22 years in the radar market and owner of approximately 60% of the global market, quality is non-negotiable. This commitment to quality became even more paramount as the demand for their technology escalated, bottlenecks began to develop and the need for a second manufacturing facility in Tucson, Arizona, became evident.
While growth is an exciting part of any company’s journey, it is not without its challenges. The expansion meant developing a new supply chain, hiring and training a new team, and integrating them into the existing ecosystem without compromising quality.
Guided Work Instructions in HINDSITE allow GroundProbe to create step- by-step procedure workflows for every part of the radar build process.
Team members use a tablet, phone, laptop or RealWear wearable to progress through tasks.
By building in quality checkpoints along the way, the team in Brisbane were able to ensure an increased reliability of the build process, no matter whether a technician was an experienced veteran of GroundProbe manufacturing or a newcomer to the team.
The team in Brisbane will also soon adopt Guided Work Instructions in HINDSITE for every-day usage on their production line, increasing consistency and quality across the entire business.
In addition to the everyday usage of HINDSITE for procedural build workflows, it was also critical in ensuring that new team members were rapidly upskilled while maintaining high standards.
Using HINDSITE’s unique ability to attach video to workflows, the Tuscon team were confident in completing new tasks correctly and confidently from the first time they were on the tools.
With the opening of the new Tucson facility, GroundProbe faced the challenge of conveying years of knowledge and experience to a fresh team.
With this challenge came the added burden of ‘getting it’ in a short amount of time.
Transporting experienced personnel to train the new team was not a feasible or efficient solution. Whilst one team member did opt to be relocated to the new facility, GroundProbe needed a tool that would streamline the knowledge transfer process from the rest of the team and ensure the quality of the training didn't degrade over time.
HINDSITE ensured that whilst all the challenges of spinning up a new facility were ironed out, consistency in building the product was not compromised. At every step of the process, expert video content was available to watch and learn how the experts down under did things correctly.
Beyond technical training, GroundProbe recognised that a significant ingredient to their sought-after quality was their team culture.
Simply writing down procedures in documentation form was not going to adequately communicate team attitude, spirit and attention to detail.
Until HINDSITE, conveying how this largely intangible component to their production process was an insurmountable task.
HINDITE didn't just deliver on communicating technical know-how - with the use of video, the Brisbane team found that when they pressed record, years of tribal knowledge could be conveyed far more effectively than via traditional means.
In addition, the Tucson team had experts at their fingertips from within workflows, allowing them to call the Brisbane office at any step along the way to get real-time help.
One of GroundProbe's ongoing goals is to enable technicians in the field to connect with subject-matter experts, irrespective of their location or time zone. The ability to solve complex problems, even for new hires, will be a critical requirement to scale their business successfully into the future.
HINDSITE will empower GroundProbe to accomplish this by facilitating on-site guided work and instant access to expert support. HINDSITE will be the go-to location for GroundProbe technicians to perform tasks with confidence and efficiency.
The effect will be immediate - new technicians will be able to complete complex tasks as if they had a wealth of experience with the products.
HINDSITE was more than just a tool for GroundProbe—it was a key strategic partner that facilitated their expansion while upholding their reliability as a world-leader of quality radar equipment.
“What we saw in HINDSITE from their initial pitch was that they were very much like GroundProbe. And we like working with people like us because we’re very innovative and we’re very customer focused”, explained Neil.
“I’ve never seen this kind of support, to be honest with you”, remarked Neferson Pinzon Leal, Production Manager in Tucson.
It's a testament to not only the power and versatility of HINDSITE’s Guided Work Instructions platform in an industrial environment, but also to a relationship model that breaks the mold of traditional SaaS customer engagements.
Watch the full case study video to learn more about this successful partnership.
HINDSITE gives your frontline Guided Work Instructions to standardise a high level of service. This allows OEMs to scale operations and compete based on service delivery without additional resources.
Let us know how we can reach you and we'll give you a ring to explore whether HINDSITE is the right fit for your team.
