Background
BAE Systems’ aircraft electronics production and services facility in Fort Wayne, IN, has always been committed to quality and excellence in manufacturing and productivity. This was reaffirmed when they were named a winner of the Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing. Achievements included a 45% improvement in labor productivity, a tripling of production inventory returns, a 50% reduction in scrap and rework costs, and a 60% reduction in cycle time for new product introductions.
Among the key factors that contributed to the Fort Wayne plant’s success were the integration of lean production cells, which resulted in the company winning the “Best Plants” award from Industry Week magazine and the implementation of Kaba Workforce Solutions’ AutoTime 6 Time and Labor reporting system. Challenge
Fort Wayne and sister facilities in the same BAE Systems division used a variety of homegrown time and attendance systems. These disparate methods allowed for little or no project and resource management. The decision was made to source a new time and attendance management solution, based on five key criteria. The new system needed to: - Be a proven solution that could interface with PeopleSoft for payroll and Oracle Manufacturing for labor data
- Provide labor collection to support Department of Defense (DoD), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations, and complex union rules
- Work off one database, supporting 3,000 plus employees across nine locations
- Support 9/80 rule handling (an 80-hour workweek in nine days)
- Be flexible, to allow for future growth
Solution
The search ended, after a comprehensive evaluation, with Kaba Workforce Solutions’ AutoTime 6 as the solution of choice. AutoTime 6 automates the collection of labor attendance information, facilitates the processing of complex attendance policies and performs labor distribution and costing methods in a secure and seamless process. AutoTime 6 supported BAE’s need to standardize payroll operations across nine locations for 3,374 employees consisting of 1,511 hourly, (379 of which were punch time) and 1,863 salaried. It also offered the flexibility to use web-based timecard submissions, as well as the ability to collect time via time clocks. “AutoTime’s robust feature set, easy implementation, documentation, and personal as well as web site support, made it easy for BAE Systems to implement their time and attendance management solution across nine locations.”
Janet Shinn, Senior Systems Analyst
“Before AutoTime we used different systems to track resources and labor hours,” said Janet Shinn, Senior Systems Analyst. “Direct labor to projects and work in progress for both hourly and salaried employees were entered into our enterprise resource planning system. We used another time and attendance system to track indirect labor. With AutoTime 6, we now have the combined capability of tracking projects and work orders, along with the ability to compare actual time against standards associated with tasks that exist in our Oracle system.” The reconciliation of payroll calculations against labor is another area in which Ms. Shinn found significant time and effort savings, due to AutoTime’s real-time capabilities. “A single transaction of hours and dollars goes to PeopleSoft for payroll management, direct labor goes to Oracle, to be charged against projects and work orders, and indirect labor is charged directly to the general ledger,” Ms. Shinn stated. “The critical thing is that payroll dollars balance with labor charges. Because the reconciliation is done in AutoTime 6, before the transaction is reported to either PeopleSoft or Oracle, it’s much easier to track any discrepancies.”
Janet Shinn, Senior Systems Analyst
Feature Rich - Regulation Friendly
A key reason BAE Systems received the Industry Week “Best Plants” award is their “Lean Sigma” production strategy. Blending lean manufacturing principles with Six Sigma quality tools, the company has created the strategy to increase velocity, eliminate waste, and minimize process variation. Adding Kaba’s AutoTime solution to that strategy was a natural continuation of their process improvement. Lean Manufacturing Strategy
Due to government regulation of the manufacture of aviation products, there are a variety of work schedules, and complex union rules. Therefore BAE Systems’ time and attendance management system needed to be robust and easy to configure with little customization. As Kaba Workforce Solutions’ AutoTime 6 software handles a broad range of requirements – from simple payroll transactions to very complex demands, it was the perfect solution for the task in an aerospace and defense environment. Simplifying Alternative Work Schedules
The 9/80 work schedule in use at several BAE facilities presented a unique challenge. Employees work 80 hours in 9 days but are paid weekly. AutoTime 6 provided needed functionality to support these requirements. In addition, some employees work a weekend shift that consists of three 12-hours days and receive premium pay equivalent to a 40 hour work week. As their pay schedule is based on a standard 40-hour week, each payroll and labor report needed to be incremented by .1112 hours, to make up for the four-hour difference. Using the built-in costing functionality of AutoTime, BAE Systems was able to easily adjust reporting and payroll for this rule. Easy Management of Contract Time
The AutoTime Oracle interface transmits contract labor to Accounts Payable allowing contractor costs to be reconciled against vendor invoices. “This is a nice feature to have,” Ms. Shinn said. “When we get contractor labor in from AutoTime, the purchase order is matched with the contractor, enabling us to report when labor hours will exceed the purchase order amount. Additionally, the contract employees can make an electronic copy for their contracting agencies, eliminating the paper time card utilized by most. We’ve created a single point of time entry for them.” A Winning Partnership
“The credit for this achievement goes to every member of the Fort Wayne team, individuals who have distinguished themselves through their commitment to continuous improvement and customer satisfaction,” said Todd Rash, Director of Operations at the Fort Wayne facility, in response to the Shingo prize for excellence in manufacturing. This same desire for continuous improvement led to the selection of Kaba’s AutoTime 6 for BAE Systems’ time and labor needs. About Kaba Workforce Solutions (KBM)
Kaba Workforce Solutions (KBM) is a wholly-owned operating subsidiary of publicly listed Kaba Holding AG, (SWISS:KABN) located in Switzerland. KBM is a global provider of enterprise workforce management and access control solutions. As a company KBM places primary focus on time and attendance, workforce scheduling, data visualization and analytics, regulatory compliance, employee self-service and fixed/mobile data collection solutions. Seamless, dependable and secure integration is provided with SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle/PeopleSoft, Cincom Manufacturing Business Solutions, and other leading enterprise-class business systems. KBM can be
contacted in North America at 954.416.1720 or at www.kaba-benzing-usa.com. About the Kaba Group
The Kaba Group is one of the world’s leading players in the security industry. An internationally active, listed company, it employs staff in more than 60 countries. Kaba provides innovative, comprehensive access control solutions for buildings, facilities and sites as well as solutions for staff and enterprise data collection, which meets client’s needs for security, organization and convenience. The company is a key expert and technology leader for a range of security solutions. Kaba can look back on more than 145 years of tradition. Further information may be obtained at www.kaba.com. | |
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