How Adient reduced qualification and training admin to 15 seconds
97% paper-free, 1 full FTE and $20,000 in annual paper costs saved, and automatic notifications replacing manual tracking across all qualifications
The same problem in every factory
Adient manufactures automotive seating across 288 factories worldwide. At its Liverpool site, Training Coordinator Tim Clansey was managing skills training through Excel, sifting through hundreds of spreadsheets covering two shifts, and leaving an inevitable trail of mistakes. When auditors asked for documentation, parts of it were frequently missing, borrowed by teams and never returned. Clansey visited other factories to benchmark.
“I was shocked,” he said. “Everyone seemed to be dealing with the same problems. I was relieved to see that in the Liverpool factory, we were not doing anything wrong, we were just doing the same as everyone else. But I realized we could do better.”
A selection process with a clear winner
Nobody likes change, and Clansey knew it. When he told staff Excel was going, the reaction was immediate: but what will we use instead? He shortlisted three software packages assessed against a PUE analysis covering cost, usability, simplicity, reporting, and the ability to share information across all departments without data loss.
“Of those three, AG5 clearly met everything in the PUE analysis,” Clansey said.
When a new process was introduced, so much administrative work had to be done that not all the employees were properly trained. We either had to add more trainers or face the problem and start working more efficiently.
Tim Clansey
Training Coordinator, Adient
$20,000 a year and 3.5 hours a day
Adient has a strong sustainability commitment, so 800 paper documents was hard to justify. Switching to digital sign-in via the AG5 app eliminated 97% of paper use at the Liverpool factory, saving approximately $20,000 per year and 3.5 hours a day across the three-trainer team. That time saving amounts to 1 FTE of training capacity recovered annually.
Employees now carry a tablet or mobile phone instead of paperwork. A 70-inch screen hanging in the factory gives a live overview of which employees or teams need training at any given moment.
Fifteen seconds to fix a year of manual tracking
At Adient, quality team technicians are required to pass an annual colorblindness test, as the ability to distinguish colours accurately is a core requirement for spotting defects on the line. Previously, tracking who was due for testing fell to Excel and paper.
“I took 15 seconds to put the qualification into the system, assign it to all the people involved, and set up the workflow,” Clansey said. “I then told them that in 11 months, they would automatically receive notification that all these people are up for that specific training.”
We now use 97% less paper thanks to the elimination of 800 paper documents
Tim Clansey
Training Coordinator, Adient
Today, Clansey starts every morning in AG5, approving training sessions, monitoring employees returning from long-term absence, and making sure anyone coming back to a machine line is fully current before they get there. The audit stress that used to define the role is gone. The documentation is always correct, always complete, and never in someone else’s hands.
