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The Problem
Tony Vielhauer was caught in a vicious cycle. The general foreman for Nebel Construction Services, Inc., was spending half of Thursday and all of Friday trying to coordinate labor across ten to 20 different projects.
Although he wanted to be in the field, Vielhauer was rooted to his desk at the specialty contractor’s headquarters in Lenexa, Kansas, racking up cell phone minutes as he texted and called foreman to coordinate assignments and schedule labor. He’d jot notes. Write on a whiteboard. And spend hours manually updating an Excel spreadsheet.
“We were at the point where we had to hire someone else or we had to do something to save me time,” Vielhauer says. “That’s when we found LaborChart.”
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The Solution
LaborChart helped Nebel CSI transition from a manual workforce management solution to a cloud-based solution by providing ongoing support and importing relevant data from other systems.
Guided Data Import
Vielhauer admits that he was worried about the amount of personnel information and data that needed to be uploaded into a digital workforce management platform. But LaborChart developed a plan with Nebel CSI and facilitated the transfer of data about projects and people into the new platform.
“I’m not an IT person at all; but it was so simple that anybody can do it,” Vielhauer says.
Dedicated Support
When Vielhauer had questions about the set-up, roll-out or use of LaborChart, there was always another real person at the other end of the chat or phone line.
“The support team answered all my questions,” Vielhauer says. “But this was so easy that I jumped right in.”
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The Results
Nebel CSI is now managing labor via a cloud-based workforce management platform that has better aligned the field and office and helped Vielhauer claim back his time.
Streamlined Scheduling
Vielhauer sees the new digital platform as part of a streamlined process that gives him the confidence that jobs are being staffed up and down with intention. Project managers can see who is on a project, understand numbers at a glance and add details to a daily log. Management, in turn, can use that log to understand and anticipate when more labor is needed or if the right skill mix is on a job.
Significant Time Savings
Vielhauer estimates that LaborChart saves him 12 to 15 hours per week. Without the burden of text messages and calls, he can be in the field more and has seen a direct impact on his productivity and the productivity of his teams. What about that whiteboard?
“We still have a whiteboard,” Vielhauer says. “My kids play with it when they come to visit the office.”
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