LIXIL was created from the merger of a number of Japan’s leading building materials and housing products manufacturers — including Tostem, INAX, and Sunwave — which had been successful but were experiencing slower growth. It also needed to become a more global enterprise to continue to grow over the long term, so the newly formed entity acquired several large companies overseas, such as the plumbing fixtures makers American Standard and Grohe. As a result, the number of LIXIL employees went from 20,000 in Japan to 80,000 across 62 countries in just a few years.
The company’s executives knew it was critical to have an internal communications system to connect head office with all these people, to share with them the company’s plans and the latest news, and to help them feel excited about being part of the group. LIXIL asked Paradigm to come up with a custom solution — and to make it live in three months.
We planned, designed, prototyped, programmed, and delivered the first version of LIXIL LINK in just 90 days. Built on React, it was secure, fast, on brand, bilingual (English and Japanese), accessible from anywhere, mobile-friendly, and it looked good. As all employees had to be registered in the system, it also acted as a global staff directory.
This intranet is one the biggest enterprise-level platforms Paradigm has created. We were extremely pleased with how it turned out, and we received some very positive encouragement from LIXIL.
“You guys are awesome!” Jin Montesano, LIXIL’s Chief Public Affairs and People Officer, told us. Thanks, team!”
Now that LIXIL LINK was up and running, the next phase of the project was to make it better. After receiving comments and requests from LIXIL, we improved the UI/UX, the micro-interactions, the visuals, and the copy, giving the site a more refined look and making it even easier to use.
We also integrated a digital asset management system called Brand Central that stored LIXIL’s visual assets — including brand guidelines, templates, photographs, and videos — for employees around the world to use, supporting consistent brand application globally.
After the launch of LIXIL LINK, Paradigm was retained by LIXIL for support with writing, editing, translating, and design.
LIXIL LINK was initially a way for management to communicate their messages to employees. But they also wanted to encourage more bottom-up engagement. So, for a subsequent phase of the project, they asked us to create a social media-like feature for the intranet, which was called LIXIL Life. It allowed employees from around the world to post text and photos about their activities and accomplishments, then others could comment on their posts.
We also made videos showing employees how to post and encouraging them to do it.
