Cosmopolitan Projects and Central Developments Property Group

“The juice is worth the squeeze. We are very happy with the product we have received from Kyocera and we will roll out the same software to all our sites across Gauteng. We have also received good client support after installation, and the Kyocera team is always willing to customise the product to meet our needs.” 

– Kevin Joubert, Foreman at Cosmopolitan Projects and Central Developments Property Group

Introduction

Cosmopolitan Projects and Central Developments Property Group has been developing residential property for more than 25 years. Through constant innovation, attention to detail in the development process and a strong focus on quality and value for money, the group has firmly established itself as the market leader in South Africa’s affordable residential housing sector. 

Challenges

Stock control and management is a means by which construction companies and suppliers can keep track of materials, workforce, equipment and the plant. This is particularly important when a construction company has multiple projects to manage, as efficient scheduling and theft control can become very complicated. 

Cosmopolitan Projects and Central Developments Property Group was seeking a solution to manage and control stock on its affordable housing construction sites. The group needed to know which stock had been called off from its bulk orders and what was still outstanding. In addition, the group needed to know which stock had been delivered, what was still in its stores, and what had already been picked up by sub-contractors. The ability to customise and adapt this system to the group’s internal business processes was a key requirement. 

Solution

Kyocera Document Solutions South Africa was invited to present an overview of its enterprise content management (ECM) or digital content management software solution and provide insight into its capabilities and the benefits of taking manual processes and streamlining them into an elegant digital workflow. 

Cosmopolitan Projects and Central Developments Property Group contracted Kyocera Document Solutions South Africa to develop a business process automation solution that went live within less than 12 months, taking a very unstructured and unmanageable process and turning it into a structured, standardised business process with set rules. 

The total cost to implement was close to R250 000 in software development and staff training. The subsequent reduction in stock losses mean the system has more than paid for itself. 

Results 

Kyocera developed a digital business process automation solution for Cosmopolitan Projects and Central Developments Property Group that provides control and insight into stock on-site, stock allocation to subcontractors and stock call-offs from suppliers. As a result of the implementation, the group now has real-time insight into stock levels, ensuring no additional stock is assigned to sub-contractors without the correct authorisation. Once development on a unit reaches a specific point, site administrators can request stock items to be booked out to specific subcontractors based on the level of development completed. 

The group now has the assurance that the required stock is allocated to the correct building sites. An additional benefit is that onsite theft has been reduced and, in some cases, eliminated. Data integrity was a critical consideration throughout development. Through a combination of custom business rules, CSS & JavaScript, Kyocera Document Solutions South Africa was able to ensure data integrity for the project, with users being granted system access to certain actions based on their roles in the organisation. Storemen, for example, are only allowed to book out stock and stock quantities to valid subcontractors, while site administrators can control which stock is called off from suppliers and when the stock needs to be booked out and delivered to sites. 

The solution was developed knowing that it would be used by onsite employees with limited access to the group’s internal applications. 

For this reason, it was built to limit the individual user’s input and only allow for access to required fields, thus eliminating typos and user errors. All requests are actioned via an HTML form. Once a form is submitted, the related business process will commence to ensure proper auditability and authorisation is provided. 

Business benefits

As a result of the implementation, Kyocera Document Solutions South Africa has provided Cosmopolitan Projects and Central Developments Property Group with several benefits:

• Insight into stock called off from suppliers. 
• Insight into outstanding stock from suppliers.
• Insight into stock available in onsite stores.
• Insight into stock allocated to each sub-contractor, collection date and collection quantities.
• Remote access to the process via tablet, smartphone and laptop.
• Management insight into process status and duration.
• Management of costs and resources.

Critically, the ability to monitor and control theft has been significantly improved, saving the group hundreds of thousands of rands on stock losses. Prior to implementation, R500 000 worth of stock was lost on mega-development Sky City alone. With the installation of the ECM solution, that figure has dropped to less than R10 000 per month. Effective reporting means that all sites are experiencing less than 5% theft and stock wastage, a figure that is unprecedented in the construction industry. The system has been such a success that Cosmopolitan Projects and Central Developments Property Group is now seeking to roll out the solution to all its construction sites as soon as possible. 

Moreover, there has also been a significant culture change, as employees have – for the first time – an effective tool to manage costs and resources. The way in which sites are set up has changed, and fewer staff are being allocated to sites because roles have been integrated, resulting in resource savings and increased productivity. 

Conclusion 

Not only has the solution saved Cosmopolitan Projects and Central Developments Property Group hundreds of thousands of rands on stock losses, but it has also enabled the group to keep track of all subcontractors' usage of stock, resulting in further cost-savings and operational efficiencies. 

“Rather than achieving the quick win, spend time investigating your client’s problem,” says David Welters, Solutions Architect at Kyocera Document Solutions South Africa. “In doing so, quick wins can be exchanged for long-term, sustainable success.”