Insights on Excellence | "Insights on Excellence" Archive

A work-force management technology case history

by Stephen Hawley Martin
for Virginia Business
Nov. 14, 2006

Caldwell Tanks is one of the nation's largest fabricators of water towers - those big things that look like giant mushrooms rising up around small towns and factories across America. The company uses Workforce Management Technology (WMT), which I've been writing about in this space of late, to track the status of its projects. As you can imagine, one of these huge tanks takes weeks to fabricate. Managers now track the time spent on each project, and where a project stands. Employees enter into the system the amount of time it takes to complete certain tasks - for example, welding a large assembly. On any given day, this enables the company to see how many hours have been put against a particular tank, and what steps in the construction have been performed.

Let's say a customer wants to know the status of a particular water tower under construction, and he calls his service rep. The people at Caldwell can go into the computer and tell him exactly where it stands by calling up real-time information in the computer and give an up-to-the-minute report. Yep, it's on time and on budget. Hallelujah!

The technology, which is explained in a new Oaklea Press release due out in January called "Working the Clock," can also be used to create incentives for workers to get things done faster and more efficiently. Let's take a welder. Let's say Hank is scheduled to weld one of the panels today. He clocks in when he starts on the work order, by swiping a bar code number representing the specific task he is about to perform. This sends data into the time and attendance system. Then he swipes again when he finishes. If he completes the job before the standard time, he might get points toward a bonus. We have now linked operational objectives and time and labor data - employee scheduling and cost - together.

What are the business objectives in this? (1) The work is more likely to be completed on time and (2) the work is performed at the lowest cost.

How did the WMT system help reach these goals?

The manufacturing schedule became the employee's work schedule. The assembly process put the work order on Hank's task list. Of course, that process probably hasn't changed and has been ongoing for Caldwell. What has changed was that instead of Hank just reporting that he is at work today -- "Hi time and attendance system, Hank here. It's 8:00 a.m. and I am at work" - Hank now tells the system, "I will be working on Work Order 4566 starting at 8:00 a.m." The supervisor can even put the work order in Hank's work schedule in the WMT system along with the next work order he has to complete, and the next. When Hank goes to the time clock, or swipes a barcode, the work order becomes "active." The computer system can now compare what was scheduled to occur against what is actually occurring or has already occurred.

Anyone who needs to monitor this project can now see, in real time, what is being worked on, what is complete, how much time it took, and what is scheduled to be worked on next. And the person doesn't have to be in Farmville where the water tower is being built. Or out on the shop floor. He doesn't have to be in the same building. Or the same continent. He doesn't have to call Hank's supervisor to find out.

Is the work being done at the lowest cost? The WMT system helps manage that, too. The system contains Hank's pay information. Time plus hourly rate equals the cost. The system may even have assigned Hank this work order because he is welder with the lowest hourly rate. Once Hank is finished with the task, the system can compute the cost of that particular work order.

Hank knows the system is tracking the time it takes him to complete the job, and that if he finishes quickly, he will get a bonus. This bonus may add to the cost, but it also will move Hank along faster to begin the next work order and help keep the project on schedule. This makes sense since not meeting the schedule is sure to cost the company more than a small bonus. Further, if Hank's manager reviews the schedule and notices that he is about to exceed 40 hours this week if he picks up the next work order, the manager has the opportunity to change Hank's schedule and to assign another worker to that task, keeping Hank's total hours in check and avoiding an overtime payment.

The WMT system helped meet two objectives - on time completion and cost control - and it did so by putting front-line management in control.

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Stephen Hawley Martin is a former principal of The Martin Agency in Richmond and the author of more than half a dozen books including his newest, Lean Enterprise Leader: How to Get Things Done Without Doing It All Yourself. He is editor and publisher of The Oaklea Press, a book publishing business dedicated primarily to helping business executives increase productivity.