American Woodmark Expands Investment in Kronos® Solution
Kronos for Manufacturing expected to improve productivity, control costs for leading cabinet manufacturer
CHELMSFORD, Mass., Sept. 18, 2007 — In a competitive global economy, manufacturers face increasing pressure to control costs and improve productivity while still delivering quality products in ever shorter lead times. American Woodmark Corporation, the third-largest manufacturer of cabinets for kitchens and baths in the United States, is tackling these challenges by focusing its business improvement efforts on the workforce. The company has selected Kronos for Manufacturing from Kronos® Incorporated to gain a clearer picture of labor costs and efficiencies that will help improve operational performance.
"We knew there were great efficiencies and cost savings to be gained by standardizing on one inclusive, total employee labor management solution," said Rick Hardy, director of human resources for American Woodmark. "We took our time in evaluating potential options and, ultimately, selected Kronos for Manufacturing. We are confident that it will enable our organization to efficiently and accurately track time and attendance for our 5,100 employees located across 25 locations, while also providing us with a centralized view of critical data for operational improvement."
Tracking time and attendance for such a large, geographically dispersed employee base is no simple task. And while American Woodmark already depended on Kronos in many of its individual manufacturing plants, the company sought the additional value of standardizing on one comprehensive solution throughout the entire organization. With no central database for labor management, American Woodmark relied upon several standalone time and attendance systems that only covered the hourly workers in its manufacturing plants. In order to manage the entire labor base, including 1,200 salaried employees ranging from managers to sales representatives, the company selected Kronos for Manufacturing as an inclusive, total employee option.
"Once we have integrated a system that touches our entire workforce, we expect our eyes will open to all sorts of new possibilities," said Hardy. "Until now, we have not had the ability to monitor the entire workforce from one central point, which led to a duplication of efforts with multiple people looking at the same sets of data. Kronos for Manufacturing provides us with the ability to greatly increase efficiencies as we track our workforce consistently and accurately."
American Woodmark will also look to the Kronos solution to identify best practices across the organization. Managers will be able to clearly see what is happening at each facility, cost center, and department so they can identify improvement opportunities and make changes to increase efficiency and profitability. Ultimately, this insight will enable the company to provide additional benefits and more scheduling flexibility to its valued employees.
"Kronos for Manufacturing is specifically designed to help American Woodmark and other major manufacturers improve business profitability, resource utilization and compliance management," said Gregg Gordon, global practice leader for manufacturing at Kronos. "We look forward to building upon our ongoing relationship with American Woodmark as we help them achieve their goal of continued operational excellence."
Kronos for Manufacturing is a comprehensive offering of software and services designed to improve business productivity and profitability, increase resource utilization, and ensure compliance. This comprehensive, integrated suite addresses the challenges of managing the workforce in manufacturing with applications including time and attendance, scheduling, absence management, analytics, labor tracking, and shop-floor data collection. The solution is supported by a focused team of manufacturing experts who deliver deep domain knowledge and industry best practices, which are critical to the successful implementation of continuous improvement projects such as Lean and Six Sigma.
About American Woodmark Corporation
American Woodmark Corporation, located in Winchester, Va., is the third-largest manufacturer of kitchen and bath cabinets in the United States. Offering more than 340 cabinet lines in a wide variety of designs, materials and finishes, American Woodmark products are sold through a network of dealers and distributors and directly to home centers and major homebuilders. The company currently operates 15 manufacturing facilities in Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, as well as various service centers across the country. American Woodmark shares are traded on the NASDAQ National Market under the symbol "AMWD." To find out more about American Woodmark, and view its vast array of cabinet styles, visit its Web site at www.americanwoodmark.com.
About Kronos Incorporated
Kronos Incorporated empowers organizations around the world to effectively manage their workforce. At Kronos, we are experts who are solely focused on delivering software and services that enable organizations to reduce costs, increase productivity, improve employee satisfaction, and ultimately enhance the level of service they provide. Kronos serves customers in more than 60 countries through its network of offices, subsidiaries, and distributors. Widely recognized as a market and thought leader in managing the workforce, Kronos has unrivaled reach with more than 30 million people using a Kronos solution every day. Learn more about Kronos at www.kronos.com.
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