Yates Construction

Yates Construction Stops Gambling on Tool Retention

Situation

When riverboat gambling returned to Mississippi in the early 1990s, Yates Construction hit the jackpot—a business surge that turned a hometown contractor into a construction powerhouse, 34th largest in the nation. But its rapid growth through acquisition also meant the company was gambling that all the various inventory management systems would keep tool costs in line.

They didnt. Each subsidiary had its own system, from pencil-and-notepad logs to spreadsheets. They would send tools to jobsites, but never know whether they were returned. And because there was no central warehouse, performing inventory was next to impossible. Yates couldnt even estimate their tool losses, although companies of similar size reported losing up to $1 million annually.

Solution

Yates Construction management knew they had to automate—everything. They started with a wide-area network, with the intent of providing all the companies under the Yates umbrella with a solid IT infrastructure for accounting, database, inventory, and so on. A key element of that system had to be a comprehensive tool management application that could manage all aspects of the companys business, which ranges from hotels to retail to refineries—in fact, the entire spectrum of the construction field. That meant the highly specialized tool and equipment inventories for each business segment had to be accounted for with extraordinary precision.

Jason Clayton, Yates IT director, was charged with the responsibility of finding a tool management system that would integrate with the companys internal IT system and track and deploy tools and equipment in the field, down to the last screwdriver. After extensive research, Clayton chose ToolWatch. The program made sense. He liked the way it was built and its ease of use. He felt it was designed intuitively, so anyone could learn to operate it in the field—an important consideration when the company begins to integrate multiple databases and users throughout its subsidiary companies.

Yates Construction is one of the first to adopt the new ToolWatch Pocket PC scanner. As an IT professional, Clayton was especially excited about the potential not only to track tools but also to simplify other tasks. An especially valuable feature is its ability to send instant messages. Connectivity is very important in the field, Clayton says, This device gives us an excellent way to maintain communication. Weve tried other handhelds and think the ToolWatch Pocket PCs functionality is far superior. It can even be used to send instant messages to the field.

Another factor in Claytons selection of ToolWatch is the companys superior customer service. Clayton felt confident in the integrity and commitment of the staff—all the way to the top. When they ran into glitches during implementation, ToolWatch CEO Don Kafka stepped in to fix the situation. He personally helped Yates bring the system up to speed. Kafkas personal attention to Yates implementation made them feel even more confident in their choice.

Result

With the ToolWatch system fully implemented in the electrical contracting division, Yates Construction is beginning to get a handle on its vast tool inventory. The company has made demonstrable gains in efficiency after just a few months of using ToolWatch. It tracks tools from one job to another, which was impossible before. Where they previously sent tools to a new job, never knowing what they would get back, Yates now has a firm grip on inventory. But for tool retention, the good news will have to wait, since many current long-term projects must be tracked as much as 18 months into the future.

Yates Construction