Seamless Login
User experience design is driving change at the shop floor
The introduction of new technology and tools in a work environment is all about finding what's best for everyone involved, and finding solutions that cater to both user and company needs. Working in a pharmaceutical company such as Novo Nordisk, there needs to be a high level of compliance with security and expertise authentication protocols to ensure that only the right people work with specific systems and machinery. Without a solid emphasis on user experiences and their pain points, all these requirements can develop into a cumbersome system of authentication. One that takes too much time, and one that can negatively influence the experience of working due to its complexity.
“Because we're a pharma company, we need to document everything that happens to our product throughout the value chain. And that means, that people working on the shop floor, who are interacting with different static systems throughout their line, they sign in a lot. Usually, they do that with their initials and then their password. But IT security keeps cranking up the password. It gets longer, longer, and longer.”
Henrik Petersen, Associate Project Director, Seamless Login.
How may we be of service?
The path to identifying and implementing a solution that could improve the process of authentication is not a simple task in a large and complex organisation such as Novo Nordisk. An essential component of finding the right solution, one that would have the support from both the shop floor and management, was bringing key stakeholders together to build mutual understanding and empathy. It was decided to do this through a 3-day hackathon at the IT University in Copenhagen. In this setting, operators, technicians, and subject matter experts collaborated with UX designers and Techleads in creating possible solutions, while management acted as judges, and the positive engagement, ideation, and collaboration set the tone for the future of the project.
Now, that we know the issue…
The high engagement of the volunteers, pre-existing knowledge of the issue, and, crucially, bringing the right people together was a solid foundation for the future Seamless Login project. Bringing people together at the hackathon for three days in April 2022 to explore and formulate the key user pain points that shop floor workers experienced every day was exactly what was needed to move forward. From there, it was a question of finding the right solution that would fit with Novo Nordisk’s existing tech infrastructure. Either by building an internal solution or by exploring external vendors.
The choice was made to move forward with a single-sign system provided by an external vendor called Nymi, and find a production facility to start a pilot programme. The decision was made due to the simplicity of the solution, its scalability, market maturity, and naturally, how well it responded to user needs on the shop floor.
At the heart of the system, is a personal wristband that workers on the shop floor wear throughout the day. They activate the band once every morning using their fingerprint, and it stays active throughout the day, as long as the person wears the wristband. Wearing the band allows them to sign in seamlessly to their task-specific workstations.
“Through collaboration with our users in Novo Nordisk, we've been able to lock down a technology that can help authentication on shop floor. It can help basically anyone who wants to log in to any system, and it really helps alleviate a pain point in their day. On top of that, we can utilize this technology to increase productivity within Novo Nordisk while making it easier for our users. We get to bring a product to our users that really helps them a lot and makes them happy.”
Henrik Petersen, Associate Project Director.
The Magic Numbers
The introduction of Seamless Login will greatly reduce the time operators and technicians spend on signing in. Results from the pilot introduction were very encouraging: Over a period of 18 days, 30 operators working day, evening or night shifts wore a
6.5hrs
During the pilot phase, between 10 and 18 seconds were saved per authentication. With 2,347 authentications performed, that equalled between 5.2 and 6.5 hours.
Although a few hours might not seem much at first glance, the numbers become very impressive when rolled out to a full year across multiple sites around the world. And that is an ongoing process. Having spent less than a year ensuring the integration of Seamless Login with Novo Nordisk’s corporate Manufacturing Execution System, and local machinery on site, more and more production facilities across the world are being introduced to the solution.
Get your hands dirty
According to the team behind Seamless Login, initiating and scaling a project like this is possible due to openness within Novo Nordisk for cooperation and innovation. Discovering and collaborating on issues is usually only a phone call away.
“If you get to work as a user experience designer or business analyst here, you get to do some actual groundwork and get your hands dirty. From the get-go, you're thrown into this amazing place where people really, really want to be heard and really want to co-create with you. You're not just dotting the i's and crossing the t's here; you get to work anywhere from Figma to factory.”
Peter Kærsted Andersen, Senior User Experience Designer, Seamless Login.
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