A Carval Success Story

R-TEK Limited

R-TEK Limited of Merthyr Tydfil have chosen integrated Human Resource, Payroll and Time and Attendance management software from Carval Computing Limited’s HR Unity range.

R-TEK, part of the international operations of Kasai Kogyo Co. LTD. of Japan and Visteon, supplies high quality interior automotive components for Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK and Honda Manufacturing UK from its two plants in the UK. The company’s Merthyr Tydfil operation is a Tier 1 automotive manufacturer turning over approximately £40 million per annum.

The recent recession left management at R-TEK keen to maximise the efficiency of their operations. Part of this process has been to examine the way that technology is used within the company. The site’s Human Resource records were largely paper-based and the existing payroll system lacked the flexibility to produce bespoke reports, making the availability of accurate data a real problem. The real drive for change however came from Damian Howells, Payroll Manager at R-TEK: “I have a strong background and personal interest in payroll-related software and while we had the option to upgrade with our existing supplier I felt that it was a perfect opportunity to look at the functionality we required and to ensure our HR and payroll systems were offering the best possible value for money.” With approximately 200 employees working differing hours and a variety of shift-patterns, throughout the business an effective time and attendance solution was also essential.

Howells started to conduct a review of the market and decided that an integrated system would provide him with the functionality and efficiencies that he required. At this point the HR and Payroll teams were invited to visit their sister company in Washingon who had been using the HR Unity suite from Carval Computing Limited since 2003. The visit convinced them that Carval could offer both the functionality and service required.
Human Resources Manager, Alan Culliford explains “We liked the fact that the Carval system offered everything in one package, HR, Payroll and T&A. We saw it as a way of bringing our HR processes into the 21st century. Everything would be at our fingertips even employee documents are viewable with the click of a mouse.”

The argument for an integrated solution has already been borne out by Howells’ experience: “With our previous Time and Attendance and Payroll systems it was taking us an average of 10 days a month to complete a timesheet and shift pattern register. With Carval this process has been slashed to around 2 days as there is a direct transfer of data and no need for manual calculation of shift allowances.”

Culliford goes on to add that he believes the ability to run bespoke reports will offer considerable business benefits going forward: “Managing overtime is very important. I will now be able to see who is doing what, by section, department and even gender. Any allegations or suspicions of favouritism can be easily investigated. The absence mapping facility will also be of great use. Overall the system will save us a lot of leg work.”

The Welsh Assembly Government made Pro Act funding available to offer R-TEK employees training and Howells sees Carval’s in-built training module as being fundamental to meeting the Welsh Assembly Government’s auditing requirements: “Eighty percent of our factory staff will benefit directly from this funding. Carval’s training module allows us to keep a detailed record of any training that an employee has undertaken and makes that information easily retrievable for auditing purposes.”

Alongside the training module the Carval HR system also includes a full appraisal solution as part of its performance management offering, which R-TEK will be utilising to fulfil the criteria laid down under their ISO9001 accreditation.

Going forward the company is set to move to Demand Scheduling, whereby employees will have a set number of paid working hours per week allocated to them and any additional hours worked will be banked for use when demand is low. It is hoped that this system will deliver stability for their employees, guaranteeing them a set monthly salary as well as improving business efficiency. Carval are now working with R-TEK to deliver a solution as part of their time and attendance system that will simplify the management of these processes.

Alan Culliford says “I can honestly say that I’m absolutely delighted with Carval. I’m now looking forward to being able to manage our business much more effectively.”

Back

Sector Experience