West Point Construction

Plant Manager Case Study

The Company

Westpoint Construction is a midlands based Civil Engineering and Ground work’s company established over thirty years. Working within the housing and commercial sectors Westpoint have established an enviable reputation for quality, service and professionalism.

The Requirement

One of the main problem areas was pointed out by WestPoint’s Operation's manger. During site visits it was apparent that a number of plant items were still on site when they should have been off hired previously. This had an effect on own plant utilisation and cost budgets for particular sites.

The Christmas shut down was also an issue. Due to WestPoint’s existing system the time taken to off hire items of plant would be considerable. Also plant hire companies did not receive information promptly, leading to plant left on site over the Christmas period, which inevitably let to thefts.

Price increases; incorrect and overcharging of invoices were also problem areas for WestPoint. Administration time taken to alter plant hire rates would take weeks rather than hours. Invoice checking was carried out by a visual verification of the invoice and passed within seconds. Invoices that were incorrect were being passed due to the time it took to check each invoice, i.e. bank holiday, weekend and one-day hire allowance were ignored by their system. WestPoint could not find a system that would deal with this issue quickly and accurately.

The Solution

WestPoint Construction contacted us and after an initial phone discussion regarding the Plant Manager software, and it’s possible benefits to WestPoint, a demonstration of Plant Managers features was carried out.

The TAG button feature was shown to be ideal for the plant utilisation issue WestPoint had on site. The company could now tag an item of plant. This feature would warn staff that an item of plant should have been off hire on a specific day. The foreman, operations manager or any number of the office staff within the company, could determine this.

The Christmas shut down and our Supplier off hire feature dealt with subsequent charges over the Christmas break. This enabled the plant manager to off hire all items of plant from one supplier on a specific contract.

It would also enable off hire documentation to be transferred via e-mail or fax with all relevant information required by the plant hire company. Once again saving on administration and hire costs.

Our invoice checking feature enabled WestPoint to check invoices in seconds, this feature allowed for bank holidays, one day, three day hires were allocated in the maintenance section. Any incorrect invoices were held on the system until credited by the plant hire company. This was a paperless procedure and helped WestPoint to make considerable savings on plant hire costs.

>WestPoint were particularly impressed with the ease of use and time from initial introduction of four weeks to have the system up and running. Four departments within WestPoint are benefiting form the Plant Manager features.

All training, installation, support, updates are covered under a lease agreement and can be paid on a monthly basis.

"The TAG button feature was shown to be ideal for the plant utilisation issue WestPoint had on site."
"Our invoice checking feature enabled WestPoint to check invoices in seconds."
"WestPoint were particularly impressed with the ease of use and time from initial introduction of four weeks to have the system up and running."

Westpoint Construction and Plant Manager

WestPoint Construction was one of the first construction companies to use the Plant Manager program and has reaped the benefits of using the software especially in today’s current economic climate.

Benefits to WestPoint Construction have included :-

Reduced overcharging by plant hire companies. 76% of all overcharging and incorrect invoices redeemed within one month.

Saving on plant hire invoices totalling 21% for 2009, making a saving of 16K over a 12 month period.

Robust reporting information for plant location, contracts, service & maintenance and any number of configurations.

Plant hire price database giving least expensive item of plant used previously.

Plant cost information for hired and own plant, contract or plant specific for surveying department.

Possible Insurance Premium reductions, plant manager endorsed by AVIVA Insurance Group.

Location reports either job specific or item plant specific.

History of all hired and own plant, incl damage and site costs.

“Plant Manager has benefited our company in all areas and all departments. This innovative software has everything our company needs and more. I would recommend this software program to any construction company that has problems managing it’s plant and machinery."

Wayne Butterfield

View a Demonstration of Plant Manager