App for Employee Time Tracking and Mobile Forms Saves Redden Concrete $874K
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Less in labor costs
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Less in materials
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Total Cost Savings
Company
Redden Concrete
Industry
Concrete
Location
Melissa, TX
Employees
325
Integration
Deltek + ComputerEase
Solution
WorkMax TIME WorkMax FORMS
App for Employee Time Tracking and Mobile Forms Needed for Time Rounding & Handwritten Forms Issues
Redden Concrete Inc. wasn’t a newcomer to digitization. And although utilizing an integrated digital timekeeping system that synced to its accounting and payroll software, Deltek + ComputerEase, the company faced inaccurate time records and ballooning labor costs. The digital time entry system Redden Concrete Inc. used didn’t include a start and stop time for clock in/out or breaks. The on-site superintendents entered and rounded labor hours by entering the same total hours worked per employee. In the past, superintendents would enter that 10 employees worked 8 hours when in reality two workers only worked 7.5 hours, two more worked 7.75 hours, and five people only worked 7 hours.
Without a time-stamp for clock in and out for shifts and lunch breaks, the company had an inaccurate account of who worked onsite on a given day. They also weren’t aware of the true costs of labor. Redden Concrete Inc. knew that they were overpaying some employees and this was a concern. Added to this, all the company’s forms, from those tracking missing employee time to purchase orders for materials, were in paper form or sent via text messages or emails. Delays, miscommunication, and things slipped through the cracks.
In regard to missing time forms, Redden Concrete Inc. didn’t have an official reporting practice that produced a record of the issue. Field employee simply told their superintendent if they worked more hours than their superintendent submitted to payroll. The superintendent then called the payroll department to add hours to resolve the issue.
Similarly, the company’s Pour Reports were delayed and arrived two weeks late to the office, causing confusion paying suppliers and updating job progress and costing. Daily, the superintendent filled out these Pour Reports and recorded the weather conditions, materials and equipment used, amount of concrete being pumped by phase and category for every job, and crew present. Without the Pour Report, accounting received invoices from suppliers but couldn’t assign the costs to a project or know if they were legitimate invoices.
Redden Concrete Inc. also had communication challenges between the field employees and mechanics. Field employees called, emailed, or sent paper forms to request service on a piece of equipment. When they received the equipment after the mechanic repaired it, they still had mechanical issues. It caused unnecessary conflicts and reduced employee productivity.
Key WorkMax Features That Reduced Costs & Expedited Field Data Collection
Job Pour Reports Increased Job Cost Accuracy
Clock In/Out in Real Time
GPS & Geofencing Reduced Labor Costs
Face Recognition Cut Labor Costs
Mechanic Repair Photos Reduced Conflict
Reduced Job Hazards
Expedited POs Reduced Materials Costs
Permission Profiles Sped Up Supervisor Approvals
WorkMax TIME, an App for Employee Time Tracking, Makes Job Costing Made More Efficient and Accurate
With WorkMax TIME, Redden Concrete Inc. streamlined its time tracking process and gained access to accurate labor costs in real-time. On-site superintendents were no longer responsible for entering total hours worked per employee. This responsibility now fell to every individual on the Redden Concrete Inc. team.
Employees clocked in using WorkMax TIME with face recognition from their mobile devices. The company also utilized WorkMax TIME’s GPS and geo-fencing capabilities, which only allowed employees to clock in once they were onsite or within a certain range. With WorkMax TIME, Redden Concrete Inc. verified each employee’s identity and location. Redden Concrete Inc. knew who was working where, when and for how long in real time. Now, superintendents were simply responsible for reviewing employee clock ins, and the company was no longer paying for estimated, often inflated, labor hours.
The integration with Deltek + ComputerEase and WorkMax TIME simplified Redden Concrete’s ability to do job costing or accurately bill for materials and work performed against a specific job. When clocking in, employees selected the job/project, the phase (i.e., paving, slab, piers, etc.) and category (i.e., layout, forming, dirt work, rebar, place and finish, softening, etc.).This cost structure was pulled from the Deltek + ComputerEase ERP and mirrored in WorkMax TIME. This allowed each hour tracked to be tied to a cost code. Once reviewed and approved by an on-site superintendent, this data synced with Deltek + ComputerEase for payroll and accounting. Using both integrated products the company’s entire time tracking, payroll and billing processes was streamlined while also increasing accuracy.
Taking the platform’s capabilities further, WorkMax TIME allowed employees to set a default job when they worked on the same job for months at a time. They’re only prompted to change the phase and category daily. With the utilization of permission profiles in WorkMax TIME, field employees and superintendents saw only the information they needed. There was no sifting through long lists of projects, phases or categories. Rather, Redden Concrete Inc. had profiles for each project superintendent that gave them the capability to see everything for their specific jobs. This saved them time from sorting through over 325 employee records to review and approve time. Additionally, Redden Concrete Inc. set up job related permission profiles for their safety team and mechanics to see only the phases and categories related to them.
“The time clock system holds everyone accountable for their exact time. The facial recognition keeps them honest.”
Brooke Redden, Vice President
Redden Concrete Return on Investment
WorkMax FORMS Cuts Reporting Delays, Confusion & Materials Costs
Redden Concrete Inc. also implemented WorkMax FORMS. These digital forms reduced reporting delays, miscommunications and materials costs. Among the many forms Redden Concrete Inc. utilizes, the company’s purchase order form became one of the most important. Prior to using WorkMax FORMS, field superintendents submitted handwritten notes, made a phone call or sent text/email to the company’s PO director with the materials needed for a project. The system was unorganized, and things fell through the cracks. With WorkMax FORMS, the PO department received the information in real time which expedited materials requests. This gave the PO department more lead time to price match and to find better deals. No more guessing. No more questions. But rather consistent purchase order forms that got the job done.
By digitizing the company’s daily Pour Reports on WorkMax FORMS, the administrative team received daily progress reports. Gone were the two-week wait times for paper reports. Now, on the day of a pour, the Redden Concrete Inc. office received the Pour Reports and quickly reconciled the supplier invoices and assigned the costs to the correct job. Additionally, WorkMax FORMS also made it easier for Redden Concrete Inc. to correct missed time on paychecks when employees forgot to sync their time or forgot to clock in. With WorkMax FORMS, employees simply filled out a missed time form that was automatically sent to the payroll team to process.
Redden Concrete Inc. also used WorkMax FORMS for its job hazard analysis. When an incident occured on a jobsite, superintendents submitted the form from their mobile device and the job hazard analysis was automatically sent to the company’s safety director. This allowed the safety director to respond in real time to ensure the team member received the care they need, and any safety issues or hazards are handled. Completed forms were easy to find and accessible after-the-fact, creating a vital paper trail for the company.
Redden Concrete Inc. also created Mechanic Request Forms and Mechanic Completion Forms to improve the communication between the equipment operators and mechanics. With WorkMax FORMS, equipment operators described the mechanical issue and also included photos to show the mechanics. The form was automatically sent from the equipment operator to the mechanics. The mechanics received more detailed descriptions and photos to help the mechanics understand what the issues were. As the mechanic completed the repairs, photographs were taken and notes were entered into the Mechanic Completion Form. When the mechanic finished the repairs, the Mechanic Completion Form was automatically sent back to the equipment operator that requested the service. This closed-loop process significantly reduced the conflict between the equipment operators and mechanics and increased productivity for both teams.
“We didn’t realize how much we could have saved on materials by using WorkMax FORMs for POs. Previously, our field staff sent cryptic text messages, emails, or handwritten notes to request materials last minute. With WorkMax FORMS, we had all the info we needed right away to negotiate better pricing and eliminated excess material purchases. This reduced our material costs by $145,000.”
Brooke Redden, Vice President
App for Employee Time Tracking and Mobile Forms Reveals Unbelievable ROI and Cost Savings
WorkMax TIME and WorkMax FORMS streamlined Redden Concrete Inc.’s employee time tracking and field reporting systems, the company dramatically decreased both its labor and materials costs.
By utilizing WorkMax TIME alone to collect live field data, the accuracy of the company’s labor hours improved substantially. With WorkMax TIME, tracking exact employee clock ins, clock outs, and breaks, the company reduced their regular hours by one hour per week for most employees. In a year, they saved $703,000 in regular hour savings by paying employees actual hours worked by confirming employee location and identify using GPS, Geofencing, and face recognition. From 2019 to 2020 when Redden Concrete Inc. adopted the WorkMax TIME, they also decreased their overtime by $26,000.
Additionally, with the expedited data and improved quality of the information on its purchase orders with WorkMax FORMS, the company realized a $145,000 reduction in materials costs over the same time period. The impact of better and faster data on the PO forms allowed the PO department to price match and get better deals with more lead time. It also allowed them to combine multiple POs into one order and not over-purchase materials when there were order minimums.
The total cost savings for Redden Concrete amounted to $874,000. Redden Concrete achieved a 2813% return on their investment in the WorkMax mobile workforce platform. They continuously have added more mobile form types to improve their field data collection processes to drive more efficiency, productivity, and cost savings.
