Quala

Digital transformation on a deadline

Quala runs tanker cleaning sites across the US and Canada. I was brought in by their main investor to help them solve operational shortcomings. The catch? I had 90 days to deliver a product that would transform their business.

The challenge

We know we need change but where should we start?

Quala enlisted my help in order to evaluate where they could make the biggest impact on their business for the least amount of effort.

Mapping where effort and impact intersect across Quala’s operation

The process

Personas, journey maps, value streams, and interviews

I held a two week discovery session on site at Quala’s Chicago cleaning facility. I led a team of executives and managers through persona workshops, journey mapping exercises, value stream mapping and interviewing real users on site and over the phone in order to find the right problem to solve.

A persona workshop in progress with executives and managers

Journey mapping on the wall at the Chicago cleaning facility

Value stream mapping with the on-site team

The bottleneck

A lack of transparency inspired distrust

Quala’s customers were submitting their wash orders into a black box. No confirmation, no tanker received notification, no wash complete notification. This caused a high influx of phone calls to check in on trailer status and to place orders. On the revenue side this caused a massive delay in invoicing as well as a lot packed full of trailers that were easily damaged.

The wash order journey, showing where customers lost visibility of their trailers

The solution

OnTrax is born

I created a web based platform that allows users to submit wash requests, and track their progress, submit change order approvals and receive notifications when their trailers were ready to be picked up. We validated our work with real users, Quala employees and their customers.