Cape-based upholstery and curtaining manufacturer, Svenmill, has implemented the Kronos time-management system from CS Holdings, to measure, process and deliver information about its employee`s time and work activities. CS Integrated Solutions, a subsidiary of CS Holdings implemented the project in conjunction with a new payroll system.
Based in Parow, Svenmill markets the Levinet brand of lace curtaining as well as its own Svenmill brand, and manufactures products to order for major retail brands. "Instead of simply re-engineering our system, we used the opportunity to improve on our core functionality and optimise our time keeping methodologies to ultimately improve the productivity on our shopfloor," says HR manager Amanda Cronje.
Svenmill considered several options available at the time, with Kronos selected on the strength of its after-sales service. " With no similar system in place, CS Holdings improved on Svenmill`s old system methodology, impacting on payroll with direct cost savings," says Andre Matthysen, a director of CS Integrated Solutions.
"We are not an IT company, and our selection process was designed to find those companies that would help us integrate the new system from day one," says Cronje. "As far as I am concerned, after-sales service is 50% of the sale, and we`re confident CS Holdings will give us the value-add this differentiator represents."
"With 620 employees to manage, Kronos gives us the accuracy we were lacking with our previous system," she continues. "For example, since our employees are paid by the minute and we could previously only measure attendance in five minute increments, revenue was lost each time an employee clocked out
before the five minute cycle was up. With Kronos, this is no longer an issue, and we anticipate the costs saved here will more than make up for the initial investment in the system within the next eighteen months." Cronje says that although Kronos will simplify the majority of Svenmill`s performance auditing issues, it won`t make any bottlenecks disappear on its own.
"Kronos is invaluable in helping us chart and track the performance and attendance of our employees without being intrusive," she says. "Absenteeism is a major problem in our industry, and with support mechanisms like Kronos in place, we`ll be able to make better decisions about finding and alleviating the pressure points in our business."
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