This case study showcase Harley Davidson, based out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and how this iconic motorcycle brand’s Challenger 300 jet requires more than 600 documents to keep the aircraft up to date with the latest regulations and flying safely.
Harley-Davidson is famed for bringing freedom to its riders, and now, by introducing digitalization to its aircraft operations, is giving its employees the freedom to concentrate on other tasks rather than manually formatting and updating documents.
Jad Donaldson, Director of Aviation at Harley-Davidson Motor Company, explains: “We needed to improve the way we generate and track updates and reduce the time it took to share these with the team.”
Centralized Documentation
Prior to adopting Web Manuals, the company had been using a combination of templating agents, OEM and scheduling software to update and maintain its documentation. This resulted in the team spending a significant amount of time on formatting documents instead of updating the content.
Donaldson continues, “Our interest in Web Manuals began when we attended its GO DIGITAL conference in 2018. Since then, we received constant support from the team throughout the onboarding process and beyond.”
Stage one of implementation began by transitioning all 604 documents into Web Manuals, including both Word and PDF format. A big undertaking, that in the long-term, all amends would be easier to make and distribute across the two admins, three authorizers, and seven users all needing the documentation. Training for these staff members was completed in one day.
Donaldson adds: “Besides the hours saved on formatting our documents, changes to content happens much quicker. These alterations can be easily tracked and distributed department-wide in a timely manner.”
Approve and Publish Documents
By working with Web Manuals to assign users, as well as review, approve and publish all documents, Harley-Davidson was ready to hit the ground running by the end of 2018, with ongoing operational training provided during 2019. As a result, the team now use iPads to access all the documents and see instantly any updates or changes made, all of which can be done on the move without Wi-Fi.
Web Manuals is now fully functioning for Harley-Davidson. All documents are centralised and tracked to ensure they are all current and the company’s IS-BAO compliance library has been audited, with current protocols completed and links to all relevant manuals, documents and forms.
Content Focus
For Maria Jeanmaire, Chief Pilot at Harley-Davidson, the advantages are obvious: “Now that we use Web Manuals, we can all focus on content and not spend time formatting documents. This is true for all departments of the aviation team including international, training and standards, safety, security, and maintenance.”
Harley-Davidson has presented its solution at Web Manuals’ GO DIGITAL 2019 conference in San Diego and on the Web Manuals booth at NBAA 2019. The journey doesn’t stop there, though. Although this Harley Davidson case study proves that all users are now onboarded and “on the road”, the team’s next goal is gearing up for integration into audit platforms, which it plans to do in 2020.