“Addtime? They’re good, helpful people.”
Martin Lynch, C-TEC
For 35 years, C-TEC has been a leading manufacturer of electronic life safety equipment. The fire alarms and detectors, disabled refuge systems and nurse call systems found in organisations across the country start here, at C-TEC’s manufacturing site in Wigan.
75-80 people work at the company’s main site. Clocking in and out used to be via a card based system and was, as C-TEC’s Martin Lynch explains, “Very, very old.” But that wasn’t the only problem:
“It was really inefficient,” he continues. “The interface was terrible. You could only print a handful of reports on a dot matrix printer. So looking for a new system was long overdue really.”
Swipe cards or hand scanner?
C-TEC made the switch to Addtime’s Platinum Enterprise, a whole workforce management system that would be used primarily for time and attendance. Initially C-TEC used a new generation of swipe cards with the system, but then realised a change of premises presented a fresh opportunity.
“When we moved into our new facility we wanted clocking in terminals that were a little more cutting edge,” explains Martin. “Also, swipe cards eventually need replacing and they can get lost – and you don’t get any of that with biometrics, so we switched to a clocking handscanner.
“It took the staff a little bit of getting used to. They used to swipe in in a fraction of a second and suddenly they were having to position their hand correctly on a handscanner. So for a couple of weeks things took just a little longer, but they quickly got the hang of it and now it works really well.
“The biometric handscanner means you get fewer clocking errors. You don’t have to keep and pay for a store of cards. And it’s more reliable.
“Those clockings feed into the Platinum Enterprise time and attendance system which has made it easier to spot discrepancies, late and missed clockings etc. We now have a better handle on who’s working what and when. The reporting is so much clearer too – so much more comprehensive.”
Beyond time and attendance
C-TEC installed Platinum Enterprise purely for its time and attendance capabilities, but as they have realised its capabilities, there are plans to expand the system’s role.
“We’re planning to integrate it with payroll next,” Martin reveals. “At the minute payroll involves running off the timesheets, correcting them and approving them, then collating them for payroll, approving overtime etc. All of that takes processing time we could put to better use – so if the Platinum Enterprise system is going to save us time and money it’s worth investigating to my mind.
“We’re also looking at using the rostering module for our shift patterns in the future too.”
Working with Addtime
“Addtime have always been great with us, from the first installation to the support we’ve had since,” says Martin. They’re only 4 or 5 miles away from us and it’s handy to have someone so close to help with any issues.
“They were also good at explaining exactly what was involved in switching to biometric handscanners. I think some of our people originally thought the system stored fingerprints, but Addtime took the time to explain that it matches points on a hand, not the whole hand, and that it stores information as 1s and 0s, so it can’t be used to recreate a person’s hand or fingerprints. Once that was explained everyone was fine with it.
“They’re good, helpful people.”
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