How Manufacturer DrinkPAK Scaled Business Operations with eduMe's Frontline Training

How do you upskill frontline teams in real time, across shifts and sites - without pulling them off the floor?

These were the questions facing DrinkPAK, a beverage co-packing company with bold expansion plans and a growing, deskless workforce. With complex machinery to train on, strict compliance requirements, and new facilities coming online fast, they needed a scalable way to enable performance through training.

That’s where eduMe came in.

Read on to learn how DrinkPAK built a training ecosystem that combines bite-size, mobile learning with hands-on development - all tightly integrated into their existing tech stack, including Workday and Staffbase.

The challenge: Building beyond onboarding

DrinkPAK manufactures a wide variety of canned beverages - from energy drinks to canned cocktails - for household-name brands. A young company growing at speed, they had successfully scaled operations to over 450 employees and were preparing to expand beyond their first site in California.

In the early years, training was focused on onboarding: get people hired, get them productive. But as the business matured and expanded, the leadership team recognized the need for a structured, scalable L&D program that could support:

• Ongoing technical upskilling

• Supervisor and soft skills development

• Compliance and safety documentation

• Internal career progression

And all of this needed to happen in a fast-paced, 24/7 manufacturing environment - where most of the workforce was deskless and mobile-first.

DrinkPAK’s leadership also made a strategic decision: training content had to tie directly to operational KPIs. It wasn’t enough to measure completions - impact had to be visible in key metrics like machine downtime, error rates, and changeover speed.

Our solution: Integrated, accessible training with eduMe

DrinkPAK’s L&D team set out to build a platform that could combine:

• Hands-on technical training

• Mobile-first microlearning

• 3rd party content libraries

• Internal subject matter expertise

eduMe became a foundational part of this system. Chosen for its ease of content creation, mobile accessibility, and integrations with Workday and Staffbase, eduMe allowed DrinkPAK to quickly build and distribute relevant training at scale.

The team used eduMe to create their own custom lessons - focused on things like lean manufacturing, palletizer operation, and machine center procedures - and embedded these within “PAKUniversity,” a learning hub launched on their intranet.

We needed to build a platform that combined hands-on and digital training, tied to business goals. eduMe is a key part of that. - Holly Schroeder, VP of External Affairs, DrinkPAK

Employees access content via QR codes, mobile devices, and Workday SSO, with all completion data tracked back into Workday for compliance and career development purposes. The ease of access and familiarity with mobile content made it a natural fit for DrinkPAK’s young workforce.

Meanwhile, reporting tools in eduMe and Workday allow the team to track results, identify knowledge gaps, and tie training directly to operational performance - such as faster fault resolution or improved packaging line uptime.

Launch, adoption & impact

To drive initial engagement, the team launched a “PAKU Challenge” - inviting employees to complete three voluntary lessons for the chance to win prizes like AirPods and branded gear. Within weeks, dozens had opted in and completed their first microcourses.

Training is now embedded into daily operations. For example, machine-specific modules are accessible right at the equipment via QR code, enabling on-the-job training and just-in-time refreshers. Safety training is reinforced with mandatory micro-quizzes at monthly meetings.

DrinkPAK’s L&D team also uses eduMe to assign career-path content based on job level, with custom pathways to support progression from operator to technician and beyond. With Workday integration, progress is documented and visible across HR and operations.

As the company scales to new sites, the ability to rapidly clone and localize content is key. Learnings captured in one facility can now be shared across shifts, plants, and regions - reducing errors, increasing speed, and keeping standards high across the board.

Employees are excited. They can see there’s a path for them. - Justin Wallace, Director of Learning & Development, DrinkPAK

 

A scalable foundation for growth

With PAKU now live and expanding, DrinkPAK is building out new content and infrastructure to support upskilling, certification, and cross-skilling at scale.

As new facilities open across the U.S., DrinkPAK plans to roll out training mapped to each machine center, using QR codes and mobile access to provide point-of-need learning — always updated, always relevant.

By equipping frontline teams with the knowledge they need to operate safely and effectively, DrinkPAK is ensuring their rapid growth is matched with operational excellence. Want to learn more about how DrinkPAK built a scalable, effective frontline training program using eduMe? 👇