Knowledge Management: FINDIQ and Hymmen Collaborate on Digitalizing Technical Expertise

Good software doesn’t just work – it creates acceptance, efficiency, and genuine partnerships. The startup FINDIQ from Herford offers exactly such a solution: it makes the long-standing expert knowledge of key employees available anytime and anywhere in the world – and does so in an innovative way. The idea was born during the COVID era, when many experts could no longer travel and important processes came to a halt. Today, numerous companies benefit from this smart knowledge management tool. In the interview, founder Sina Volkmann gives us exciting insights into FINDIQ’s work and the current cooperation with the machine manufacturer Hymmen.

Sina, you say it’s essential that software solutions not only work, but also inspire. Why do you think this emotional approach is so important, even in technical and industrial work contexts?

I’m convinced that software solutions must not only work but also inspire, because in the end, we are always dealing with people. Even in industrial and technical work contexts, people work under high time pressure and must solve complex tasks every day. If software merely supports them “functionally,” that’s nice. But if it truly inspires them, they feel more confident, more productive, and above all, enjoy their work more.

That’s what makes the difference: inspiring software creates acceptance, is used intuitively, recommended to others, and positively shapes a company’s culture. Especially in industrial settings, where digitalization is often viewed with skepticism, it’s important for users to feel: this solution was made for them. It’s not just a tool but a true partner in their daily work.

And in the end, this also means a very clear ROI (Return on Investment) for companies, because acceptance and enthusiasm in usage have direct effects on efficiency, quality, and innovation speed.

Please describe for our relatively broad readership how FINDIQ works and what problem your assistance system solves.

Our goal is to digitally capture the knowledge of service experts about machines and their errors. In the next step, this knowledge is structured in such a way that inexperienced employees can fix machine errors themselves. We use a self-developed AI method because it’s crucial to know how and how often certain error patterns occur on the machine and how these probabilities change over time. These changes help to continuously optimize such systems – in our case, the knowledge base – to recognize new connections or adjust old ones. This novel AI method is the core of our solution and, unlike general language models, is tailored to industrial realities. It can provide assistance and immediate results with comparatively little data or knowledge.

How did you come up with the idea?

During the COVID pandemic, many technical experts from Germany could not travel, leading to around 70% higher downtime costs worldwide. This made it clear how massive the impact is when experienced employees cannot be on-site to find and fix machine problems.

This realization was our founding motivation. We wanted to address the problem – initially during the pandemic crisis – and systematically examined what a sustainable solution could look like. From the start, our approach was pragmatic and grounded: understand the problem, find the right solution, and think long-term.

Today, we face the same challenge: too few technical specialists for increasingly complex systems. Added to this are trends such as demographic change, the shortage of skilled workers, and rising turnover in technical professions. Our solution digitalizes the monopoly knowledge of individual experts and makes it available anytime and anywhere. This ensures that even future generations can keep machines running – regardless of whether the expertise is on-site.

Who are your customers today? What are your focus areas? Which industries are most important? Are you also active internationally?

Our customers are primarily medium-sized and large industrial companies that manufacture or operate complex machines and systems. We can serve many industries – essentially all where machine and system service is a major business component or critical for productivity. This is especially true in process industries such as plastics and food, as well as in critical infrastructure or fast-growing markets like MedTech, aerospace, renewable energy, and recycling.

In addition to machine manufacturers and operators, we also work with service providers who handle maintenance, repair, or technical services for various clients. Here, it’s particularly important to make knowledge quickly and consistently available to ensure high quality and efficiency.

From the very beginning, we’ve been internationally oriented because our customers operate internationally. Our software is already in use across Europe, and we have acquired our first customers and employees in the USA, enabling us to focus strategically on the US market.

SMEs can also benefit from your technology. Among others, you work with Hymmen, a machine manufacturer for the wood processing industry. How did you meet?

Almost by chance in autumn 2022, at a meeting that was actually about another application. That’s when I got talking to Michel Ahring, Head of Division Service at Hymmen. Hymmen had just sold six digital printing systems internationally and was considering how best to handle commissioning and after-sales service. Since Hymmen’s customers don’t necessarily have extensive experience, they began working with us to provide their clients with an intuitive, digital solution that is continuously enriched with knowledge and remains available over time.

What does your cooperation look like today?

As Michel once put it: the Return on Investment for them comes not only from new service technicians being able to go to customers independently much faster, but also from integrating FINDIQ directly into their own service offering.

In the first step, we jointly secured the knowledge for industrial digital printing technology. Now it’s gone a step further: Hymmen also makes this knowledge available to their own customers – via our app. Customers can use it to book various service offerings and directly access the growing knowledge base. This enables many machine problems to be solved on-site without immediately having to reach Hymmen’s service team.

Several customers already use the solution – and the trend is rising. The potential is huge: once the knowledge is prepared for other machine types such as double-belt presses or liquid coating systems, things will really accelerate. The exciting part: Hymmen can offer its customers genuine help for self-help – which is great for us because it also relieves their own service team. Especially in international operations, this is a real game-changer.

In digital printing, knowledge capture is almost complete – after just six months, 80% of the base was ready. Now the software is being rolled out both in new projects and to existing customers. For the other product areas, the next phase is already underway, with a similar roadmap: quick operational use and real added value from day one.

Or, as Michel once said: FINDIQ has shown us the fastest way to optimally use and monetize scarce service know-how.

Were there particular challenges in this cooperation?

Yes, definitely – above all, the tight timeframe made the project especially exciting. At Hymmen, the knowledge transfer began in early 2023 with extensive collection of service experience. As Michel aptly put it: “Like many others, we face the challenge of finding qualified personnel. At the same time, many experienced colleagues are retiring. Securing this knowledge for the long term was a key driver for our collaboration with FINDIQ.”

The goal was to capture as much technical know-how as possible – especially for complex machines – and structure it in our software. And it had to happen quickly: the first practical deployment was already planned for three months after project start, during an international commissioning.

The entire team worked intensively during this phase – on both sides. Within a very short time, a functioning knowledge base was built, and the solution went live. This speed was only possible through real teamwork and a shared vision.

For employees, introducing your system was probably a change. How did you ensure the process went smoothly?

We know that new systems are often met with skepticism in day-to-day work – especially when they significantly impact existing processes. That’s why we focus on a practical, guided start: no long training sessions, but immediate work with real tasks and tangible benefits.

From the outset, we worked closely with the service team. Together, we extracted knowledge from the experts’ minds and put it into a usable form. The big advantage: colleagues immediately saw that their input had an impact – and that the system made their work easier, not harder.

Thanks to the intuitive interface, close cooperation, and visible results, the transition felt less like a change and more like a joint development step.

What was your biggest learning?

One big learning was definitely: change takes time – and the right people at the right moment. In change management, it’s normal to encounter hesitation or uncertainty at first. That’s part of the process. But we saw the difference it makes to get a few engaged key users on board early.

When these people support the change internally, involve their colleagues, and show the concrete benefits in daily work, the mood often shifts quickly to positive. It’s no longer about a “new system” but about a solution that genuinely helps – and that convinces more than any PowerPoint presentation.

Especially in projects like Hymmen’s, where time pressure was high, this showed us once again: good change processes are not about rigid concepts but about trust, collaboration – and the right internal multipliers.

What has been the customer feedback so far? What are your next steps in developing your company and product?

In practice, our solution is above all: quick to implement and intuitive to use. That’s exactly what we keep hearing from users – the application essentially explains itself and is therefore often recommended across sites, sometimes even directly from machine manufacturers to operators.

It’s important to us that it’s not just the technology that convinces, but the daily work with it. That’s why we deliberately focus on speed and simple, clear user guidance – so that literally anyone can use it without long training or technical background.

Another big advantage is that our product is continuously evolving – always close to our customers’ real challenges. We are currently working to further automate knowledge capture and usage, making processes in operations and service even simpler. With our own AI models, we are gradually opening up new application areas along the entire industrial value chain.

Our vision: we want to make relevant experiential knowledge usable where it is often lost today – and thus sustainably strengthen the productivity and future viability of industry.

The feedback from our customers, such as Hymmen, shows that this approach works. At the same time, we are pushing forward with international expansion, for example in the USA, and are strategically developing existing customer relationships into long-term partnerships.

Contact
Website: findiq.de
LinkedIn: Sina Volkmann