Despite the assumption that manufacturing partners (MPs) mainly use computers to review new orders, research shows a mobile-first preference among some manufacturers in India or at specific points in their journey.
The platform’s lack of responsiveness, combined with low engagement and short time spent on auction screens, highlights user experience issues on mobile.
How can we improve mobile engagement for MPs when reviewing new orders to create more meaningful interactions?
Responsive design of the manufacturing partner auction screens (RDA)
<aside> 👨🏾 Their goal is take new orders easily while helping machine operators in real-time. They need a simple mobile solution for quick order management on the production floor. The problem is that the current system doesn't allow this, making it hard to assist machine operators promptly and slowing down overall production.
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<aside> 🧔🏻♂️ Their goals are to manage the production line of the workshop. They need to access and review new incoming orders early in the morning before heading to the workshop. Their pain point is not having a convenient and quick way to stay updated on new orders before the start of workshop hours, potentially leading to delays in processing orders and impacting overall productivity.
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One of the challenges encountered in this project was ensuring that the functionality of complex table datasets was preserved during the redesign process for mobile devices.
A key question that arose was, "What information holds the utmost importance for manufacturing partners in deciding whether to accept or reject a new incoming order?"
We incorporated the question into a survey distributed among our network of MPs (44 in total) to gain insights into their collaboration experience with Hubs.
Survey. The most important information for MPs when deciding whether to accept or reject a new incoming order
The replies made it clear that a combination of materials and surface finishes (29) and price (28) was critical MPs to decide to take or reject a new incoming order, following shipping date (20) and part geometry (19). These results were important to inform the design process and prioritise showing this information about an order at a “first glance”.
During the research phase, a crucial step involved exploring effective UI practices for designing table datasets on smaller screens. A notable solution that emerged was the implementation of a horizontal scroll with fixed header rows and columns.
Horizontal scroll with fixed column. Research on UI table design for large datasets. Source: https://medium.com/nextux/design-better-data-tables-4ecc99d23356
We implemented the researched solution because it addressed the challenge of presenting comprehensive data on limited screen real estate. We wanted to ensure that users can navigate through extensive datasets seamlessly while keeping key headers visible for reference.