With a mission to “Keep the World Adventurous Forever,” Rivian is committed to creating solutions that help solve how we shift our planet’s energy and transportation systems toward a more sustainable future. Since launching the R1S, R1T, and Amazon’s custom electric delivery van in 2021, the American auto manufacturer has experienced rapid growth. In recent years, the company has announced three forthcoming vehicles (R2, R3, and R3X), entered into a joint venture with Volkswagen Group, and expanded its Spaces, Services Centers, and Rivian Adventure Network sites nationwide. The American automotive manufacturer is moving forward with a new plant in development, partnerships, and service locations.
“In a competitive market like ours, innovation is key to staying ahead,” said Rivian Vice President of Enterprise Technology and IT Infrastructure Sridhar Thati. “Slack is a crucial enabler for our growth, bringing our people, processes, and data together in the flow of work.”
With nearly 15,000 employees sending 7.8 million Slack messages a month, digital collaboration fuels a culture of curiosity, creativity, and rapid decision-making. “As we rapidly scale, we need a platform that enables us to maintain efficient communication, automate workflows, and integrate various systems in a single unified hub,” said Thati. Slack plays a central role in how certain teams operate, streamlining day-to-day communication and enabling seamless coordination with external partners to turn innovative ideas into finished products.
Slack is important not only for internal teamwork but also for partnering with others to bring our high-quality products to life.
Boosting productivity through digital tools, resulting in cost savings
Boosting both personal productivity and business efficiency, Slack empowers Rivian’s teams to focus on creativity and innovation, embracing a core value to “be adventurous.”
For example, when an operational need arises on the plant floor, Slack triggers an instant notification and creates a dedicated channel to bring the right people together quickly. “This Slack workflow is helping us improve our operational efficiency.” said Anoop Narang, Rivian’s Head of Digital Workplace and Solutions.
Another workflow supports Rivian’s Manufacturing Engineering System (MES), streamlining communication and accelerating response times across key production processes. “This Slack workflow not only enhances operational agility, but helps reduce down time, ultimately helping drive cost savings and continuous improvements in Rivian’s manufacturing processes,” said Narang.
To move faster and scale more effectively, Rivian is exploring the ability to connect its MES group leads and engineers with Agentforce, the first digital labor platform for enterprises that brings employee-facing agents directly into Slack.
Chasing innovation across time zones and focusing on high-value work
Whether Rivian employees are in a service center, or working remotely, they sync together seamlessly in Slack. “It takes great minds and people coming together to build a product, and at Rivian, Slack unites us, no matter the boundaries or time zones,” said Narang. “It fosters better communication and collaboration, helping us solve business problems through automated workflows and continuous innovation.”
As they grew, one of Rivian’s biggest challenges was to avoid constant context switching. “As Rivian scaled, Slack has helped us keep our business running smoothly,” said Senior IT Solutions Engineer Alexis Whisnant.
For example, to provide assistance for vehicle-related needs, Rivian’s central service center operations support team is connected to local support teams in physical locations around the world. While many of their processes are highly manual, Rivian uses Slack to automate and streamline workflows.
Harnessing creativity and automation to scale a sustainable future
Rivian’s commitment to accelerating the transition to sustainable energy hinges on the impact of their teams. “To drive accountability and innovation, we automate tasks in Slack, freeing up our people to focus on what truly matters: achieving their goals in new ways,” said Sheryl Anderson, Senior Manager, Digital Workplace and Solutions (and a Slack admin of the year). “This boosts productivity and creativity, providing the right tools to enhance features, products, and ultimately make Rivian a better place. When work is more efficient and faster, there’s more time to focus on quality and product improvement.”
Take, for instance, the onboarding process for Rivian’s managers. The team used to manually pull data from Workday, sort through information, and send messages individually, which was time-consuming and hard to scale. Now, thanks to a custom Slack application, new managers receive personalized onboarding resources directly. This integration saves 1.5 hours per week per person.
“The onboarding workflow has led to a significant improvement in ramp-up time for new employees,” said Anderson. “Instead of spending time searching for information, new hires have what they need instantly, and can get up to speed much faster.”
With Slack at the heart of its operations, Rivian is not just building groundbreaking electric vehicles — it’s driving a movement toward a better world. By streamlining collaboration and accelerating decision-making, Rivian’s team can stay focused on its mission. Every insight shared, every challenge solved, and every breakthrough achieved brings Rivian one step closer to ensuring that future generations have a world worth exploring.
