Cadbury Schweppes Goes Sweet on Kronos®

Streamlines payroll system

Melbourne-based confectionery manufacturer Cadbury Schweppes has adopted the Kronos Workforce Management system to improve the reporting and tracking of staff hours at its three manufacturing sites.

The company had become increasingly frustrated with its previous automated timekeeping system, which was cumbersome and difficult to use with all payroll information funnelled through one person. It was also not well supported in Australia.

Cadbury Schweppes set up a pilot project using Kronos at its manufacturing plant in Scoresby, Victoria, installing new barcode-capable time clocks throughout the facility and issuing barcoded ID cards to every employee. This was followed by the Ringwood factory.

It took just three weeks to get the eight Kronos time clocks up and running, install and configure the software, and test it in parallel against the old system. Kronos integrated seamlessly with Cadbury Schweppes' MicroPay payroll system, and employees quickly got used to the Kronos system because they were already accustomed to swiping a card through a reader at the beginning and end of their shifts.

Since it was installed, the Kronos system has been running without a hitch — essential for a crucial area like payroll. Cadbury Schweppes Human Resources Officer Vin Lucas said "Kronos is well supported, and it's been stable and reliable. This was very important for us because if you mess up the payroll you've got real problems."

In 1997 Cadbury Schweppes installed Kronos at its third manufacturing plant in Claremont, Tasmania. With the plants all running 24-hour operations, improved visibility of staff hours has been invaluable in helping Cadbury Schweppes management keep track of the often-changing hours worked by the company's many employees.

"It's been a great management tool in terms of reporting exceptions like sick days, late ins and early outs," Lucas said. "With Kronos, there's much greater visibility of the information; you actually see each person's whole timesheet on the screen in front of you, and as you make changes those changes are visible on the screen."

Lucas said Kronos' ability to schedule payroll-related events has made it perfect for the company's 24-hour operations. "We have set up an events schedule inside Kronos to automate data collection and report processing," he said.

Lucas said the Kronos system has already paid for itself. "We've had good benefits from installing Kronos," he said. "It has improved our management and control perspective of hours worked, and has really helped streamline our payroll operation."