Kronos Solution Mines Labour Savings for Damstra Mining Services

Damstra Mining Services Pty Ltd, based in New South Wales, Australia, provides labour and mining support services to both local and international mining companies. With over 30 years of accumulated experience in the mining industry, Damstra Mining Services has had a significant impact on how mining operations manage site contractor safety, training, time management, and costs.

Industry requirements pose specific challenges

A major challenge in Australia's mining industry is a requirement of the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act ensuring that all employees have relevant training and the capabilities to correctly and safely perform their job. Guidelines at individual mining sites determine how many hours an employee can work per day and each week. All training of personnel must also be recorded for future reference, to substantiate that the contracting company is employing all means possible to maintain employee safety.

Kronos' Workforce Central® suite helped Damstra Mining Services successfully meet these industry requirements. However, adherence to safety standards was not the only goal. Damstra also sought a system that would accurately collect and provide access to labour data, both reliably and cost-effectively. With the Workforce Timekeeper™ application for time and labour, an integral component of the Workforce Central suite, Damstra was able to more accurately collect labour data, resulting in a six percent reduction in hours, a savings of approximately $46,000 per month in labour costs. In recognition of Damstra Mining Services dedication to ensuring contractor safety, Kronos presented the company with a Best Practices Award. These awards are presented annually to those organisations that demonstrate excellence in the application of Kronos technology.

Inaccuracies mar previous tracking

Prior to implementing the Kronos solution, Damstra Mining Services utilised a variety of methods to track time management, costs, and safety of contractors on mining sites. Options ranged from manual contractor signing of books to electronic bundy clocks.

"None of the systems worked effectively, efficiently, and accurately enough to ensure OHS requirements and guidelines were met," says General Manager Christian Damstra. "Because the old methods relied largely upon manually entered data and the honesty of individuals completing their time details, it was difficult to determine if the requirements were being met. We knew from the beginning that these issues existed, and we needed to find a better way to meet the requirements."

Reliability emerges as key requirement

Damstra Mining Services had been evaluating systems and requirements for some time, and concluded that reliability was the most important issue with site contractor systems. Upon further evaluation, the company determined that the new solution must offer contractor control access, provide accurate, real-time information, as well as be reliable and cost-effective.

The company evaluated a number of options, including writing its own system and purchasing a system with proven technology. After assessing the options, the company determined that proven technology would maximise its system's run-time and allow it to quickly implement the system to mining clients expectations.

Web technology streamlines workforce management

"Technology was one of the main things we looked at in selecting a new system," explains Damstra. "Alternate systems all had to be direct links, and we couldn't have direct links to the other side of the world or the other side of the country. Kronos' Web-based system allows us to go anywhere in the world and bring all the information back to our local office."

Kronos' Workforce Central suite best fit the requirements Damstra was looking for. "It covered the main areas of data collection with biometric verification, and its reliability appeared to be second to none, which was important if we were going to put our company name behind this product with our clients. The Kronos system really helped us sell ourselves to our clients when we showed them how the technology would allow us to easily manage their contractor management requirements."

Because the mines are quite sparse, a main server was installed in Damstra Mining Services' main office and then linked to the Kronos 4500 Touch ID™ biometric terminals in each mine. Web-based report pages and software make the system fully self-managed.

"With the biometric capabilities, we've also been able to eliminate buddy punching [one employee entering time and attendance data for another]," notes Damstra. The Kronos 4500 Touch ID terminal is a finger-scanning verification solution that enables the system to verify employees' identities. "This has further increased the cost savings and ensured OHS compliance for the mining companies we serve," he adds.

Damstra Mining Services required a system that could run unmanned 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, which the Kronos system has successfully accomplished with its nearly 100 percent availability rate. The system allows for SMS messaging if an employee works more than 14 hours without a break or if a contractor forgets to log out. A message is automatically sent when shift lengths are exceeded, and employee information is automatically updated.

System delivers competitive edge

"By bringing all information back to one central location, we can manage multiple mine sites, whether it's one site for one company or 30 sites for two or three companies," says Damstra. "We can stop people working between sites or too long on one site, and also share skills among sites. Installing the Kronos system has definitely given us a competitive edge, as our competitors use individual servers that don't allow this flexibility."

Following installation of Workforce Central, approximately 1,000 employees were trained and enrolled in the system. After running the system for two months, a comparison of contractor hours before and after implementation showed an approximate six percent reduction in hours, resulting in a sizeable reduction in labour costs.

"In addition to cost savings, the other benefits that we have achieved with the Kronos system include having the information we need to ensure that every person carrying out work on the site is trained in those tasks," concludes Damstra. "This does not show up as an up-front financial gain, but long term it means fewer injuries, better work practices, and compliance with federal regulations. These are major achievements in themselves."