High Performance Doors Solutions Ltd, provider of steel and automatic doors made in the UK, is based in Sittingbourne, Kent and Walsall in the West Midlands. Its products include Martin Roberts steel doorsets and Dor-O-Matic automatic doors and operator systems.
The door firm like others needs effective communication among their multiple engineers who require their work to be planned in advance. Issues HP Doors were keen to address were; inaccurate planning of work, manufacturing lead times, absence of records regarding the movement and progress of projects and the inconsistency of manual reporting. As a result the firm looked at the options for a more effective on-line management, workflow system.
Whiteboards and spreadsheets had been used to track the progress of projects. However, a T Cards Online workflow management system offered the door company is specifically linking the engineers with the people who plan and organise jobs, while the managers can ‘view only’ what’s going on.
Developed and fine-tuned over four years and launched in early 2013, the T Cards Online workflow monitoring system replicates manual card and board T-Card system. The online system lets users manage workflow in real time using the drag-and-drop technique, moving job cards around the board to reflect current status. It features password-protected login and enables multiple remote access from anywhere. Communication between the notepad, PC or laptop is encrypted using SSL certification and data is also encrypted and held in a secure private cloud environment behind dedicated firewalls for security. All historical data is maintained so that it can be copied and reused later.
Once the virtual board has been configured to meet requirements new cards are opened from the main menu bar, there is space to add title and sub-title as well as a main body area to input details as required. There is also a facility to link to an external document if required. Since a number of cards will appear on the same chart, they can be colour-coded for easier identification. As work progresses the cards are simply dragged to a new column.
Adam Spokes, Contracts Manager at HP Doors said:“We have resolved all of the issues which needed to be addressed, the T Cards Online system enables us to run reports showing upcoming projects, the history of existing projects and with instant access. We especially appreciate our ability to capture data at an instant and to be able to show customers our programs whilst mobile, out in-the-field, also that multiple people can access the information. The staff at T Cards Online are very helpful and deal with any issues very quickly.”
