Case study: How Ertex has eliminated printing costs and managed to keep all employees informed even remotely

About the client

Operating for several decades in the textile industry, our client specializes in the design and production of fine fabrics for home interiors and fashion sectors. Ertex International is based in Brașov with a team of over 200 employees. Innovation and technology, together with investment in a more productive way of working, have been key elements which guided the client’s business strategy and motivated them to implement a digital signage solution.

Challenges and constraints

In factories, keeping employees informed and maintaining a relevant and coherent internal dialogue is a real challenge. The working environment is large, loud and constantly surrounded by robust and dangerous equipment, with employees dispersed across many departments, in different areas of the facility. At the same time, safety rules, production guidelines, and work procedures play a key role in any manufacturing organization as employee safety comes first. Thus, these critical messages, which are intended to reduce the risk of workplace accidents, require effective signage and maximum visibility. This is hard to achieve through static communication, which is ultimately difficult to update and easily overlooked by employees.

Driven by a desire to make the notice boards more visible, improve internal communication and increase security standards, our client decided to make a change. Until then, all announcements were displayed on paper posters, and each content update was requiring great effort: numerous hours were spent each month on this time-consuming process, and a significant amount of resources were used to show static messages that didn’t manage to draw employees’ attention in the first place.

45% of all prints from the factory ended up in the bin each working day. In an ideal scenario, 15 sheets of paper would be used to display 15 printed posters on the noticeboard, but human error can result in 2, 3, or even 4 times that amount of resources being consumed. The use of paper for internal communication with employees not only generates uncontrolled waste but also involves many costs. At a first glance, the price of a sheet of paper is ridiculously cheap compared with the one of a modern screen, but over time, every error and content update increases the price of communicating via printed posters. In addition to the paper itself, traditional posters require printing tools, electricity, ink, and if a third-party agency is contracted to provide the visuals, the cost becomes even higher.

The solution

Spectro:o proposed a pilot project with the goal of digitizing the internal communication in the Ertex factory, by replacing the traditional notice board with 15 screens, which Ertex is now managing through the Spectro:o intuitive interface.

Their displays communicate with the web platform via players installed on each monitor, so the entire digital signage network can be managed remotely, from any PC, computer, or even smartphone.

The collaborative access to the Spectro:o platform allows staff from different departments (HR, production, quality control, purchasing) to centralize the content dedicated to employee information and schedule it according to their digital signage strategy. This way, a seamless cooperation between departments is possible, regardless of their location.

Ertex chose to implement the Spectro:o digital signage solution due to the following game-changing advantages:

✅ Easy to use even by a person without a technical background. The Spectro:o platform has been developed with accessibility in mind: simple to implement, user-friendly, and compatible with any type of display with HDMI input.
✅ With the complete set of features provided by the Spectro:o platform, our client can manage the visual content as they wish. The freedom to display diverse multimedia content allows endless digital signage possibilities: from images in different formats to web pages and radio streaming. In addition, Exrtex can use custom templates created by the Spectro:o team, customized to their needs.
✅ Communicating with factory staff has become simpler and faster. Employees no longer spend hours updating information on posters, and the content can even be scheduled in the platform for a year in advance.
✅ 15 screens connected to the platform can easily turn into 150 or 1500. With Spectro:o, our client can now display visuals on as many screens as they need, even from different rooms, halls, or locations.

Results

Although it consists of only 15 screens, the new digital noticeboard implemented in the factory has brought results in terms of operational efficiency in communicating with personnel and keeping them updated in a dynamic and attractive way. Even though employees were familiar with the classic image of a cluttered reception with paper posters, framed certifications, and announcements tacked on top of each other, the digital noticeboard now captures their attention and catches their eye every time they enter or leave the workplace.

Even during the pandemic, when support teams shifted to remote work and only production and maintenance employees worked in the factory, Ertex’s internal communication didn’t suffer. The employees responsible for keeping everyone informed would update the company’s digital messages via Spectro:o Digital Signage without having to work from the office or interrupt internal communication.

Thanks to digital signage, Ertex is now able to communicate relevant messages in real-time, on the right screens, from any corner of the world. Operational efficiency, centralized communication, and business productivity are no longer just a fantasy. With Spectro:o, anyone can communicate faster, more engaging, and efficiently.