Since the last significant Tuthill.com redesign back in February of 2004 Tuthill has been busy gathering information about how the site is being used. Not only did we pay close attention to usage statistics from our web analytics tools, but we paid close attention to what our customers had to say. In the spirit of continuous improvement the e-Services team, in conjunction with various members from marketing, sales, human resources, and leadership held an improvement event this June to document reality, identify gaps, and to propose and implement countermeasures.
Boasting a fresh new design isn't all that this website has to offer. Because the new design was based on the fundamentals of usability best practices and design patterns, visitors will be able to enjoy the site without having to learn how to use it. An improved understanding of who uses our site such as job seekers, engineers, distributors, sales reps, employees, executives, and more helped to structure the content in a way that is easily navigable by all.
One of the first major changes in the new site's information architecture is that our content is no longer organized by our internal Lines of Business (LOBs), but rather by product types, markets, brands, and applications. Our customers told us that they were not finding what they were looking for at Tuthill.com resulting in an abandoned visit to our site, and often, a frustrated customer due to a miserable online experience. Today, visitors that want to learn more about the collection of well known brands Tuthill has to offer can do so in the brands section of the site. Visitors that know they have a need in a particular market or application can peruse these sections of the site. Visitors that know they need a particular product type, but are not familiar with our brands can browse the products portion of our site.
Another large change that can be seen on the site is that Tuthill has taken the time to let our customers learn a lot more about us, our vision, mission, values, and brand. Founded in 1892, Tuthill Corporation has a rich history and a culture that is even richer. The foundation of our culture is based on two key elements. These are the Tuthill Business System (TBS), which is derived from the Toyota Production System and lean manufacturing, and Conscious Company. Tuthill is also a global organization with locations all over the world. In one place visitors can now see the full breadth of what our company has to offer in quality products and professional service that promise our customers peace of mind and a sense of pride.
Other new features and functionality available with this launch include the ability to e-mail pages to friends or colleagues, print a page in a format that makes sense on paper, save your favorite content to a personalized area of the site that exists just for you, improved site search, really simple syndication of content (RSS feeds), blogs, event calendars, and the ability to provide valuable feedback on all of this every step along the way.
Because continuous improvement is our way of life we won't be stopping here. Expect to see Tuthill.com available in many more languages by the end of 2008. Expect to see content that is both current and valuable. Expect to see a unification of content among our lines of business. Expect excellence!
