Product Manual Improvement Case Studies
Building a system to create and operate user-friendly manuals from the user's perspective

eve autonomy, Inc. Overview

・Established: February 2020

・Capital: 200 million yen (including capital reserve)

Number of Employees: 30 (as of May 2022)

Business Overview: Development, sales, leasing, and rental of autonomous vehicles and transport carts, provision of automated transport solutions

Services Utilized

・Manual Improvement

　-Manual Evaluation

　-Creation of Manual Production Guidelines

Background

Eve Autonomy Inc. (abbreviated) is a joint venture established by Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. and Tier Four Inc. It provides automated transportation services for factories and plants under the name "eve auto."

At eve autonomy, we have user manuals, internal business manuals, and manuals for sales agents, with volumes ranging from 80 to 400 pages. Additionally, the writing of the manuals was carried out by three internal staff members.

*About eve auto
https://eveautonomy.com/services/
It is an automatic transport service that can be introduced without construction and can tow up to 1,500 kg, suitable for both indoor and outdoor use.

Challenges and Background Before Implementation

We want to create a system for manual creation

In November 2021, we received an inquiry from Director Nakayama, requesting support for the maintenance of manuals on the Human Science website.

Eve Autonomy faced the following challenges regarding the manuals under development.
"Since multiple people are involved in creating the manuals, there are inconsistencies in granularity, coherence, and terminology depending on the person responsible."
"As frequent updates are expected, we want to ensure that the quality remains the same regardless of who creates it."
"Since revisions are certain to occur, we want to implement proofreading management and cloud integration to make corrections easy."
"In terms of cloud integration, we want to avoid anything that is overly complex to operate."

Additionally, Eve Autonomy plans to start the Eve Auto business in the fall of 2022, and there is a need to increase support members and horizontally deploy the know-how for that purpose.

With the update of the "eve auto operation manual" created for users having settled down for the time being, we have decided to outsource the improvement of this manual.

Reasons for Choosing Human Science

A company that can create a system for manual creation

A competition was held among three production companies, including ours, and you chose our company based on the following criteria.

• ● Not only can we rewrite existing manuals to be more understandable, but we can also create a system for sustainably producing clear manuals in the future.
• ● Is it possible to use a tool that can be viewed on a smartphone, assuming the end users of the manual are the workers in the factory?

We received a request to ensure that the manuals are of the same quality regardless of which staff member creates them. Therefore, we proposed improvements to the already created 'eve auto operation manual' so that it can serve as a model for the members of eve autonomy when creating manuals. Additionally, we included the creation of 'manual creation guidelines' to maintain quality during the ongoing maintenance of manuals within eve autonomy.

In order to build a useful system, it is important to accurately understand the current challenges and identify what actions are truly necessary.
Therefore, as a preliminary step before improving manuals or creating guidelines, we have included "current situation analysis" and "consideration of action plans for improvement" through the analysis of existing manuals and interviews with manual personnel in our proposal.

Furthermore, regarding the request to "move to the cloud," we proposed toaster team as a tool that anyone can easily create and update. We believe it aligns well with the image of utilizing manuals at eve autonomy, as it is simple to operate, easy to understand, and can be viewed on smartphones.

*About the toaster team
https://toaster.how/
A tool provided by noco Co., Ltd. that allows anyone to easily create and share manuals and knowledge.

As a result, we received an order from Human Science that meets the criteria of "whether we can create a system to continuously produce easy-to-understand manuals ourselves."
Additionally, it was mentioned that our track record in creating manuals for equipment and software was also one of the deciding factors.

Implementation Process

Current Situation Analysis, Consideration of Action Plan

In January 2021, we interviewed three manual creators about their concerns and challenges regarding manual creation and updates. Additionally, we conducted an investigation from the perspective of technical communication on the manuals created by eve autonomy, presenting issues and improvement proposals. Based on the feedback gathered from the interviews, we considered actions for improvement.

Designing the structure of the manual table of contents, improvement samples, and creating guidelines

In February, we designed an easy-to-understand table of contents from the user's perspective and conducted a quality alignment of the manual using improvement samples. Additionally, we created a draft of the guidelines, summarizing the rules and settings for the styles to be used in the manual, as well as the terminology and expressions we want to standardize.

Overall improvement of manuals, adjustment of guidelines

Finally, improvements were made to the entire "eve auto operation manual" from late February to March, and the guidelines were fine-tuned. Additionally, a review of the manual was conducted on the toaster team. This allowed for the experience of the process of creating and operating the manual within eve autonomy, as well as identifying issues.

Improved "eve auto Operation Manual"

Implementation Effects

The awareness of the internal manual staff has changed

We received the following feedback from eve autonomy.

By creating exemplary manuals and establishing guidelines with the toaster team, other members responsible for manuals were able to understand "how to create clear manuals." I feel that their awareness has changed.

After the release of the eve auto operation manual, I would like to measure the effects of the transition to the toaster team while observing user reactions.

Evaluation of Human Science Co., Ltd.

I was able to achieve what I wanted to do

We received the following evaluation from Eve Autonomy.

By introducing the toaster team as a platform for manual creation, and with the development of model manuals and guidelines that serve as a reference, we have achieved our initial goal of "creating a system for manual production."
Additionally, by having someone unfamiliar with the product analyze the manual from an objective perspective, we were able to identify issues that internal members had not recognized.
Regarding the project's progress, I feel that task management was clear and that we were able to proceed according to schedule.

Currently, we are considering how to operate the manuals using the toaster team based on the manuals and guidelines created by Human Science.

Related Services

Creation of Manuals and User Guides