Toppan Boosts Efficiency and Cuts Downtime with Digital Work Instructions
Company Profile
Flexible Packaging
~94
North America
80+ weekly active users
50 acres / 90,000 ft²
Toppan Waco’s Impact with Poka
Digitized exams with automatic grading — saving 30+ hours/year
$50,000/year saved through new photo-enabled inspection forms
Standardized work instruction format adopted plant-wide
New hires onboarded with Poka from day one
Streamlined safety, change management, and quality workflows
Scalable rollout model for 21 additional sites
Paper Processes Were Slowing Down a World-Class Operation
Waco is not just any plant in the Toppan network—it’s the first site ever to achieve TPM World Class status, a rare distinction earned through years of focused improvement. But even as a model of operational excellence, Waco’s internal tools for managing knowledge, training and documentation were falling short of the standard they had set.
“We were using binders and spreadsheets,” said Joel Jensen, Waco’s Plant Manager. “From annual recertification exams to critical equipment inspections—everything was done manually, and it was hard to track, hard to scale and costly when things went wrong.”
Toppan’s newly appointed IT Solution Architect, Alissa Spittle, saw the same fragmentation across the company’s 22 sites—over 130 standalone manufacturing applications with little integration or consistency. That complexity was not only burdensome for IT to support but made frontline adoption nearly impossible.
“We wanted to empower manufacturing, not bury them in systems,” Spittle explained. “Poka was a chance to give plants a tool they would actually use.”
A VP Visit—and an Exciting Discovery
The spark came during a customer visit, when a Toppan VP was introduced to Poka and immediately recognized its potential. Backed by IT and operations leadership, the Waco plant was selected as the first site to pilot the platform.
It wasn’t just an experiment—it was a proving ground.
“Waco had the maturity and drive to make it work,” said Spittle. “They were all in from day one.”
Fast Rollout, Real Results
Waco launched their Poka implementation with a cross-functional team of administrators, content creators and safety and quality sponsors. Their strategy: start with the die cutting department, go deep and get it right.
In just two months, the team created fully digital work instructions, skills, forms, and exams—building a complete digital environment for one line before expanding to others.
Once live, adoption spread fast across departments including quality, slitting, press and make-ready, ink room and even new hire onboarding.
By May 2025, every new employee at Waco was using Poka in their first 40 hours of safety training.
It’s not just a tool—it’s how we work now.
Joel Jensen
Plant Manager
From Exams to Inspections to Change Control
1. Annual Recertification Exams
- Before: Paper-based, 10-person grading sessions, and month-long delays for results.
- With Poka: 80 hours invested to digitize exams; results now instant and accessible.
- Impact: Saved 30+ hours per year and eliminated over 1,000 pages of paperwork.
“The biggest feedback? Operators love being able to zoom in on images and clearly see what they’re being asked.” — Joel Jensen
2. Trolley Inspection Forms
- Before: Frequent misloads cost $2,300 per incident. Tracking was unreliable.
- With Poka: Operators photograph equipment before press setup using structured digital forms.
- Impact: Setup errors dropped from multiple per week to just one since implementation—saving $50,000+ annually.
“When employees have to take a photo, they pay closer attention. It’s a powerful shift.”
3. Change Management & Safety
Using Poka’s Issues Management system, Waco digitized previously manual red tag safety processes and changed control approvals for BOM (Bill of Materials) and process updates. Instead of multiple spreadsheets and emails, now it’s one place, one entry and full visibility across teams.
Driving Adoption Through Structure and Culture
A key reason for success was the early creation of a standardized content format—including thumbnails, PPE checklists, photos and a clear “End of Instruction” marker for operators.
This consistency helped reinforce expectations and ease navigation. Every new work instruction followed the same pattern, built off a templated starting point.
“We didn’t just upload PDFs—we made it native to how our operators think and work,” said Jensen.
Additionally, Poka’s Factory Feed™ became a go-to tool for HR and plant-wide communications, further embedding the platform into daily life.
Challenges and Lessons Learned
Of course, the journey wasn’t without speed bumps. The team encountered some constraints around form approvals and logic, but welcomed new updates from Poka that addressed these gaps.
“We asked for approval workflows, and Poka delivered. That partnership has made all the difference,” said Spittle.
Scaling Across 21 More Plants
With five plants now live and two more in progress, Toppan is executing a structured rollout plan across all 22 sites by the end of next year. Monthly governance calls ensure consistent collaboration and idea-sharing across plants.
For the Waco team, Poka is now woven into their daily rhythm—from shift startups to troubleshooting rare machine issues.
And perhaps most importantly: more than 80 of the plant’s 94 employees use Poka every single week.
“That’s the best metric we have,” said Jensen. “It’s not just a tool—it’s how we work now.”
Advice to Other Manufacturers
“Start with one department. Get it right. Let the results speak for themselves.”
“Don’t try to do the whole plant at once. Poka will scale with you—but structure is everything.”
Empowerment at the Core
By combining a mature continuous improvement culture with the right digital platform, Toppan Waco has unlocked new levels of efficiency, safety and engagement on the frontline. With a roadmap that prioritizes governance, flexibility and operator experience, they’re proving that transformation doesn’t have to be overwhelming—it just has to be well-executed.
Ready to replicate Toppan’s success? Talk to our team and see how Poka can help you digitize, connect and empower your frontline.