Meritor, with a portfolio of products in the trucking and defense industries, recognized that the design of its workplace could perform as a key strategic asset to help it achieve and sustain a leading competitive position in its marketplace. The new design attracts top talent and engages them in product development teamwork in entirely new ways like enabling agile organization of product teams; supports teams with new technologies, tools and other workplace assets and infrastructure; makes a place for the product in all stages of development.
The project evolved from initial conversations with company executives using simple thumbnail diagrammatic sketches into interviewing a large cross-section of the staff and observing the current organization, utilization and allocation of the workplace. These activities uncovered key data and insights about how teams worked and how the current workplace was an impediment to team engagement and product development flow.