Greentree helps Smith & Davies connect via GPS

Business growth at Smith and Davies, a well-established Auckland transportation company, had outgrown the systems and processes struggling to support it. Whilst management and staff focused attention on the demands of business growth, manual processes intensified the paper war in the office and on the road. Management decided that if the business was to continue to be successfully involved in most of Auckland’s most notable construction projects for another 40 years and more, things had to change.

Looking to position the company for future growth opportunities, attention was turned to ensuring systems and processes were in place to support growth now and into the future. Graham MacKinnon, Director at Smith and Davies, explains in a nutshell that the key driver in the initial decision to upgrade from the previous DOS-based system to Greentree was the need to “streamline existing processes”. 

Integration means one-time data entry

With many jobs in progress at any given time, the amount of paper being generated was creating chaos in the office, especially since paper is too easily lost or mislaid. Add to this the frustration and time wasted re-keying data at various points in the despatch process. Truck drivers and office administration staff had better things to do than chase paper and re-key data, but as soon as Greentree was implemented, all that changed. The office has effectively moved from paper-based to paperless: time savings, process improvements and smiles all round.

Staff and drivers are now reaping the rewards of some instant process improvements, since data is now entered only once as it flows through the various integrated modules, updating job cost, invoicing and financial information in real time.

Workshop and job maintenance efficiency improvements

Plant management generally has been improved by a customised internal transaction entry function created for Smith and Davies by the Greentree partner. This enables staff to post a cost to a customer’s job and at the same time show the revenue from that job to a plant item. Management can proactively manage costs and profit on-the-fly.

The scheduling of workshop maintenance has moved from a clumsy paper-based system to the fully integrated Scheduler module, which has effectively removed the duplicated effort and double-entry of the previous system. Another efficiency gain has been the integration of Smith and Davies' price books to Inventory and Job Costing, which has enabled more accurate quoting on jobs than was previously possible. 

Management now has an instant view of daily costs and a more accurate overall view of the company’s financial position at any time. Greater visibility and closer tracking of job costs has translated into better decision-making and quoting on future jobs, with positive impact on Smith and Davies’ bottom line. In fact, Graham MacKinnon says process workflows have so improved that the company is generating bigger revenues with fewer staff. 

Next move - GPS connected trucks

Management is fully committed to a truly paperless, fully integrated office and despatch process, and to this end is continuing to work closely with Greentree’s local business partner. Now that the back-office is efficiently integrated in a Greentree environment, the opportunity to literally integrate the trucks into the office serves to truly connect Graham, his staff and truck drivers.