Bluebird Foods Flying High with Kronos Timekeeper for Windows® Client Server Solution

Bluebird Foods, New Zealand's leading snack food manufacturer, has streamlined its payroll processes and improved access to workforce information by upgrading its time and attendance system to Kronos' frontline labour management solution, Timekeeper Central for Windows.

A division of Goodman Fielder Limited, Auckland-based Bluebird is best known as the producer of popular brands like White Wings, Twisties, CC's, Murphys and Kettle Chips. The company uses Timekeeper for Windows to manage the time and attendance records of around 500 food process and store workers, relying on built-in rules about awards, conditions and allowances to ensure that payrolls are calculated accurately.

After eight years using the DOS-based version of Timekeeper, Bluebird is now reaping the benefits of the new system's powerful rules capabilities, easy integration with the payroll and other corporate systems, and the user-friendly graphical interface.

Payroll Manager, Jan Gibson, said she has only been using Timekeeper for Windows for a few weeks since the upgrade, but is already very impressed with its functionality and ease of use.

"It's been like coming out of the Dark Ages," she said.

"The new system is much more powerful and easier to use than the previous version and is saving us considerable time by making information more accessible both to the payroll office and to the managers on the factory floor," she said.

"We can now operate multiple screens, check the details of individual workers with just the click of a button, and quickly and easily create reports and output to the laser printer, which makes a huge difference to the quality of presentation."

"Bluebird operates 24 hours a day and different rules and conditions apply to each shift, so there are an enormous number of calculations that have to be made when doing up the payroll," explained Ms Gibson.

"Kronos is brilliant because everything is set up within it to automatically factor in the various wages and benefits that apply to different staff working in the factory. There are no question marks over who gets paid what – the system is extremely reliable and you can see at a glance exactly what your labour costs are at any time."

Ms Gibson said the built-in knowledge rules save the pay office staff considerable time and effort, as well as alleviating many of the stresses usually associated with payrolls.

Bluebird relied on expertise from Kronos to handle the upgrade to Timekeeper for Windows, taking advantage of the holiday slowdown to install the new system.

"It was a very smooth implementation. A Kronos consultant installed the new system in just a few hours, importing our existing knowledge rules from the previous version to ensure the continued accuracy of our payroll calculations," said Ms Gibson.

In addition to automatically calculating and enforcing benefit time, Timekeeper for Windows enables easier viewing and management of scheduling, enhanced labour tracking capabilities, electronic supervisor sign-off and approval of overtime, and the ability to customise the desktop to optimise information displays.

"We're still getting used to the Windows version but are certainly finding it much easier to use and I'm sure it will save us substantial amounts of time as we become more familiar with the additional functionality," said Ms Gibson.

"Already, our floor managers are starting to use it to track the attendance of staff and there's also potential for other management to use it for gathering information and generating reports," she said.

Bluebird has also just begun handling payroll procedures for Meadowlea Foods NZ, another Goodman Fielder division. Although this will initially be carried out manually, Ms Gibson said she will recommend introducing Timekeeper for Windows to expedite the process.

"I'm also aware than the company's Milling & Baking division is considering plans to implement Timekeeper and we would certainly encourage that move based on our experience both with the software and with Kronos itself.

"We've been very impressed by Kronos' total commitment to customer satisfaction. They've always been available to help or provide advice any time we needed it and we've found the product to be extremely accurate and reliable.

"When the decision was made to upgrade our payroll systems, there was no great debate about competitive products. Timekeeper for Windows gives us unbeatable power and performance and the additional benefits we gain can only accrue over time," she said.