Wilya

Wilya is a software company building a workforce-management platform that helps industrial manufacturers create and run flexible, skill-aware frontline workforces. [5][2]

High‑Level Overview

Wilya builds a SaaS platform that digitizes skills, certifications, experience and shift needs so factories can schedule, attract and retain flexible frontline workers with less mandatory overtime and fewer manual processes.[5][2] Wilya primarily serves industrial manufacturing and distribution customers — including large operators such as Volvo, EssilorLuxottica and others listed as customers — by replacing spreadsheets and ad‑hoc practices with structured, real‑time workforce orchestration.[2][5] The product reduces scheduling friction, improves retention and responsiveness to demand, and has gained commercial traction with enterprise customers and industry recognition (including an MHI Innovation Award noted in investor materials).[1][2]

Origin Story

Wilya (formerly Gig and Take) was founded in 2021 by a team with direct manufacturing and HR experience who identified rigid schedules, hiring friction and retention problems in factories and built software to address them.[1][2][3] Early momentum included seed investment (investors began deploying capital in 2022) and partnerships with large manufacturers that validated the product in real operations, along with awards and investor recognition that helped accelerate growth.[1][3]

Core Differentiators

• Product focused on industrial frontline complexity: targets factory‑specific needs such as certifications, skills mapping and variable demand rather than generic shift apps.[5][2]
  - Enterprise customer base and proof points: deployed at large manufacturers and distributors, demonstrating scale and domain fit.[2][3]
  - Operational visibility and digitization of “tribal knowledge”: centralizes supervisors’ tacit knowledge (who can do what, when) into a searchable, schedulable system.[5]
  - Modern, scalable tech stack and SaaS delivery: uses cloud architecture and analytics typical of growth-stage enterprise SaaS, enabling integrations with HR and ERP systems.[4]

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Wilya rides the broader trends of future‑of‑work platforms and Industry 4.0 digitization that push manufacturers to modernize labor management and reduce reliance on rigid schedules and overtime.[2][5] Timing favors solutions that improve labor flexibility amid persistent frontline labor shortages and rising expectations for schedule control by workers.[2] By focusing on factory-specific workflows, Wilya fills a niche between general workforce scheduling tools and horizontal HR systems, helping manufacturers adopt more responsive, data-driven staffing models.[3][5]

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Wilya appears positioned to expand deeper into large manufacturing enterprises and adjacent sectors (logistics, distribution) by scaling deployments, integrations, and analytics to demonstrate ROI in reduced overtime, lower turnover and improved throughput.[4][2] Key trends that will shape its path are continued labor tightness in frontline roles, broader adoption of skills-based staffing, and factory investments in digitization; success will hinge on accelerating enterprise integrations and proving measurable cost and retention outcomes to procurement and operations leaders.[5][2] Given its founding in 2021, enterprise customer wins, and investor interest, expect continued product refinement, broader vertical expansion, and deeper partnership plays with HR/ERP vendors over the next 12–36 months.[1][4][2]