36 | SupplierNovember/December 2011 www.suppliermagazine.com.au

Transformed with time tracking software

Pulse Kitchens and Interiors is based in Tamworth, north west NSW, half way between Sydney and Brisbane. It has been in business for nineteen years and the business has been growing steadily to now employ 20 staff. Shareholders and management are Corey Ison, Simon Baker and Rodney Walker. The business includes a 1450 m2 manufacturing facility along with a comprehensive and upmarket retail show room in the main street of Tamworth, with plans to establish further retail outlets further afi eld to grow the business to the next level. Pulse management recognised: “to grow our business substantially and take it to the next level we need very good systems

in place fi rst – with the necessary tracking, reporting and controls – without which the business could easily get speed wobbles, which could cause considerable grief to all aspects of our business”.

Pulse Kitchens and Interiors implemented Empower Software in April 2011.

“Over 19 years we had tried to create make shift ways to track and report our work in progress and times taken on jobs with our isolated Excel spreadsheets and Word documents,” said General Manager Corey Ison. “However, we found that these manual systems had major limitations.

“Over recent years we had invested heavily in CNC machinery and design software and knew that the next step was labour

and factory management software. We put in Empower Software for a number of reasons.”

These reasons included:• some 50 plus other

cabinet makers have used Empower for up to 11 years. It came with many solid testimonials;

• Empower has been developed by Australian and New Zealand cabinetmakers for cabinetmakers. Its not developed to suit big production line oriented cabinetmakers in the US or UK and its not developed to suit other industries and therefore not suit cabinetmakers;

• it has two optional modules for a) managing job scheduling and b) managing costing,

quotes, proposals, client relationship management, materials ordering and stock control.“The owners of Empower

have 11 years experience implementing labour management software into 130 other joinery shops and manufacturers so we had confi dence that they would get it up and running quickly and make it work in our business,” said Corey. “Empower came recommended by many in the industry and also our business development manager Brian Sherwood

“It was very cost effective and we had the option to pay it off over six months interest free. We were also confi dent that it would pay for itself fully within a few months.

“Implementation was very quick and easy. Empower came on site Monday morning and left Friday afternoon with all staff and management well trained and the system working well. We were running all the reports and making good gains by the end of that very fi rst week.

“It is very simple to use and the accuracy in reporting andthe fact that the information is live is powerful,” he explained.

Corey went on to say that all three of the shareholders and managers have live and accurate information

Productivity

Sean O’Sullivan B Com (Hons) Otago UniversityEmpower Software

SupplierNovember/December 2011 | 37 www.suppliermagazine.com.au

MPB Engineering 30-32 South link Dandenong South, VIC(03)9702 7933mpbengineering.com.au

No Sweat Nesting begins with CR Onsrud

• Fully Automatic Push button start system • Premium Fully Automated Material In-feed System for

loading full sheets• Auto Pre-Labeling System will pre-print and correctly place

labels whilst the machine is cutting!• Automated Nested Sheet Offl oad System• Integrated Dust Extraction • Integrated Conveyor Out-Feed Table. • Automatically remove all stock from the machining area in

under 25 seconds. • This system can be operated from most cabinet software• Air Flotation Material Handling System is an available option

to prevent scratching on delicate materials.

at their fi ngertips. “This is awesome and saves us a lot of time and allows us to make far better decisions based on actual facts rather than guestimates and gut feelings,” he said. “No longer do we do as we used to – running around like headless chooks chasing people or looking for things or searching for answers.

“Before we had Empower all three of us wasted a considerable amount of our time generating work-in-progress and productivity reports. This took us substantial hours weekly. All this management time is saved as Empower prints a selected report instantly at the press of a button. Now we can get home earlier or spend more constructive time in the business on issues of strategic importance.”

The work in progress reporting and productivity reporting options in Empower are endless. There are over 150 reports and screens which at the press of a button are generated instantly on live production information. For Pulse Kitchens and Interiors, this means they can see every aspect of their factory work-in-progress and factory productivity – even from the retail showroom, which is fi ve kilometres from the factory fl oor.

“As we have grown our business in size, and over the years, we have lost skill

set off the factory fl oor,” said Corey. “Consequently our average times on jobs have increased signifi cantly and our overall productivity has increased signifi cantly. Empower reports times on jobs and productivity live to all three of us and we can ‘pounce’ on issues as they occur. No longer do we need to be on the factory fl oor to make it happen. Empower shows us with accuracy precisely what is happening.”

Pulse Kitchens and Interiors will shortly start time tracking all the offi ce staff and management on jobs including selling, designing, ordering materials, programming machines etc. This will make the offi ce more time conscious and as productive as the factory.

“We have had Empower in for fi ve months and I believe we are currently using only 60% of the potential,” Corey said. “Empower has been a major improvement to our organisation right across the board from our back end to our front end. We are getting 25% more product out the door weekly – whilst at the same time reducing our weekly overtime hours considerably – and this has made a substantial positive impact to our bottom line profi t.

“Empower has given us control back in our business,” said Corey.●