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Kaikor Construction
The Case of the Disappearing Diamond—Kaikor Construction Boosts Employee Accountability with ToolWatch
Situation
When a new $800 diamond concrete cutting saw disappeared from a Kaikor Construction jobsite—then mysteriously reappeared three weeks later—not a single worker could (or would) own up to the loss.
Garrett Sullivan, president of Kaikor Construction, was accustomed to losing tools as part of the cost of doing business in the construction industry. But the lack of accountability among the crew was the last straw. He knew he had to find a way to make workers assume more responsibility for expensive inventory on the job.
Honolulu-based Kaikor Construction specializes in building concrete structures. With 40 employees working on projects all over the Hawaiian Islands, the home office had no way to keep track of who had what piece of equipment.
Then Sullivan learned about electronic tool tracking. He was convinced the right system could both manage inventory and increase accountability.
Solution
Specialty subcontractors like Kaikor rely almost entirely on their equipment. While much of a prime contractors work is office-based—designing, planning and managing a project—subcontractors completing portions of a job do most of their work in the field. So for Kaikor, their specialized, costly tools give them a competitive edge.
In addition to big-ticket items like diamond saws, Kaikor has thousands of small tools such as saws, electric cords, ladders, and power washers. Until the company implemented ToolWatch, Sullivan had no idea of how many small items were in inventory. When he checked out a shovel for a project at home, he was astonished to learn it was shovel #1000.
We had many tool tracking options to choose from, Sullivan said. Most employed some sort of barcode and scanning system, but they lacked ToolWatchs comprehensive tracking ability and customizable functions. Kaikor needed more than tool tracking. The company also needed a database that managed everything involved in the life of a tool—from purchasing to repairs to warranties—to provide that much-needed accountability. And ToolWatchs wireless scanning tools remotely transfer information back to the tool crib, keeping the database constantly up to date and giving users access to information from any location.
Result
Since Kaikor installed the automated tool management system in April 2004, not only has the entire organization become more efficient, the company has also stopped theft and loss. The system shifts responsibility to the employees to know where their tools are. Every payday employees receive a report listing all the tools checked out to them, putting a halt to the Someone must have taken it excuses. The result is a more efficient, accountable organization. In fact, the company has not lost a single tool since implementing the system.
Good tool management even provided a competitive advantage. Now that they no longer manage inventory in stuffed file cabinets, Kaikor can bid on and prepare for jobs faster, while making sure its inventory remains where it should. All that adds up to big cost efficiency. And talk about ROI—the system paid for itself in nine months.
For Kaikor Construction, tool management has definitely paid off. There has been a dramatic change in the way employees regard tools, and tool management has become an integral part of the Kaikor field corporate culture.
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