Universal Pack UK

Knowledge unpacked for the next
generation of expert engineers

The business

Universal Pack, a maker of industry-leading sachet and stick pack machines, is known worldwide for mechanical precision, reliability, efficiency and durability.

Its growing team of engineers installs, maintains and repairs machines at customer sites around the world. Their expertise and cost-effectiveness are central to the company’s reputation.

The challenge

Losing expertise

After 35 years at Universal Pack, a highly respected engineer retired. He'd always shared his know-how generously, but it was impossible to capture and document all his experience in a practical way using existing systems. The risk of his knowledge leaving with him was clear.

Wasting opportunities

Engineers often pick up smart tricks on the job but struggle to share them. After a long day's work, no one wants to write reports or do admin. Despite good intentions, knowledge stayed siloed, ultimately leading to frustration and machine downtime.

What we did

Universal Pack could see that AI was part of the solution and chose Expert Advisor – the only platform of its kind built for engineers.

What began as a way to safeguard one engineer’s expertise quickly grew into a vision: capturing and using everyone’s experience to make the team more efficient and future-ready.

We integrated manuals and reports from SharePoint, and crucially added flexible ways to capture “tribal knowledge” – from voice notes to videos – all with a clear approval process for quality control.

Now, Expert Advisor is available across the team, in their own workshops and (with permission) at customer sites, giving every engineer access to collective expertise exactly when they need it.

The results

15% reduction
in machine downtime during the stage 1 pilot. No more waiting for answers when key experts are offsite or on holiday.

20% saving
in staff effort on maintenance. Engineers capture vital learnings with quick voice notes, transcribed by AI for the whole team.

‘We thought we were just mitigating the risk of one engineer retiring, but it turned into much more. Expert Advisor makes our whole team super efficient so our customers really see the value they are getting.’

Stephen Birnie - Head of Operations, Universal Pack UK

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