Integration Is Key to Increased Productivity, Decreased Costs for Aircraft Braking Systems Corp

Business Wire, Dec 5, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

MIAMI LAKES, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 5, 2003

Pairing Kaba Benzing Time and Attendance Solution With SAP(R)

R/3(R) ERP Allows Aircraft Component Manufacturer to Handle Labor

Reporting Complexities

Kaba Benzing, a subsidiary of $690 million Kaba Holding AG and worldwide leader in time and labor management systems, today announced that Aircraft Braking Systems Corp. (ABSC), a leading manufacturer of wheels, brakes, brake control and related systems for the commercial, military and general aviation markets, is using Kaba Benzing's AutoTime time and attendance and labor reporting software in conjunction with SAP(R) R/3(R) to realize increased productivity and decreased payroll costs.

ABSC began looking at its corporate information system in the early 1990s. The Akron, Ohio-based company decided to navigate a new course for accurately documenting time, attendance, and labor collection on the job.

"We needed to track time and labor against multiple jobs where pay rules were exceedingly complex," says Tom Johnson, a senior systems analyst/specialist and project manager for ABSC. "We also needed to integrate that data with payroll and the MRP system we were using at the time."

In a relatively short period of time, ABSC went from using manual processes and paper time cards that provided inaccurate results, delayed feedback, and zero integration or validation, to the automated, integrated environment of Kaba Benzing's AutoTime.

By using a software system for time and attendance, labor distribution, and material movement tracking for exempt and non-exempt personnel, ABSC was able to capture and process direct and indirect labor and calculate employee payroll in environments ranging from simple to complex. AutoTime is highly configurable and quickly accommodates the ever-changing work rules that govern employee pay.

In addition, ABSC could create real-time audit trails and collect time, attendance and labor data for its Manufacturing Execution System, and also automate and control shop floor processes. That means ABSC could enforce payroll and contractual time and attendance rules; properly calculate and allocate labor to orders, activities, and/or accounts; provide real-time functionality for supervision; maintain an electronic time card system; provide historical audit information; and provide real-time management decision support.

For ABSC, that meant less time and money spent on payroll, with fewer mistakes. ABSC managers can quickly spot scheduling problems or costly overruns so that they can be corrected before they adversely affect the bottom line. Supervisors at ABSC have the information at their fingertips to make cost-cutting decisions every minute of every day. Precise systems simply result in better productivity.

Upgrading the Enterprise System to SAP R/3

As the company expanded, however, it found that it had outgrown its business systems. ABSC selected SAP R/3 to replace its mainframe MRP system in 1998 and integrated it with AutoTime.

"When we settled on SAP solutions, the transition was smooth because we were provided with a version of AutoTime that had an SAP-certified interface. At the same time, additional functionality that we needed to support the SAP solutions environment was developed," reports Johnson.

By using SAP and AutoTime together, ABSC was able take advantage of many features made available by fully integrating its business system with its time and attendance solution. The company uses a SUN server and UBI client configuration now. ABSC later upgraded to SAP R/3 and AutoTime 5.3, which is the system it is using today.

Key features include badge access and temporary badge functionality, clock and overtime rules, shop horns triggered by AutoTime, real-time messaging, the ability to collect data for complex "shuttling" machine tools, client-based employee transfers, complete real-time data validation and the use of multiple time-off events. Supervisors are also able to approve timecards and receive critical warnings to indicate issues that must be resolved prior to signoff. By integrating AutoTime with SAP R/3, ABSC can now close the planning loop via confirmations and order/operation status for production and service orders while also providing data for accounting-costing, labor distribution, and productivity and measurements.

With highly accurate, immediate data access, payroll can configure pay rules and access employee data for final adjustments and approval prior to the data passing to the external payroll system. By offering a single screen that shows who has not yet signed their time, payroll now has a focused means for contacting offenders. Payroll can now sign up for a person's time in the absence of a supervisor or employee and can lock down the system prior to extracting the data to the external payroll system, assuring certain records are not changing during extract.

ABSC plans to implement additional new AutoTime 5.3 functionalities, including salary time cards, overtime scheduling, and rotating schedules/batch data collection. New ADC client hardware will also allow the company to implement additional functionality such as an improved maintenance system. Finally, AutoTime 5.3 will ease support and integration for future ABSC initiatives such as an upgraded GEAC payroll system and full implementation of Rockwell's APS scheduling application (RSBizWare Scheduler).