ArvinMeritor Combines Global Control and Local Autonomy with Kronos®

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ArvinMeritor is an $8 billion supplier to the global motor vehicle industry. With 29,000 employees in 25 countries, ArvinMeritor products are part of virtually every vehicle on the road today. The company’s product portfolio includes integrated systems, modules, and components for light vehicle, truck, trailer, and specialty equipment OEMs and the commercial aftermarket. For ArvinMeritor, operating globally is essential to long-term success. The company’s customers demand it, and being part of a world manufacturing economy offers tremendous opportunities.

However, along with the opportunities come challenges. With a workforce that spans the globe, ArvinMeritor is responsible for managing a variety of complex labor laws and union requirements. The company was operating with a number of different workforce management systems, creating inconsistencies in how employee labor data was captured. Local solutions were site-specific, leading to problems providing user support. And the mix of different systems made it challenging for ArvinMeritor to accommodate multiple languages.

Creating a corporate standard

ArvinMeritor selected Kronos’ Workforce Central® suite — including the Workforce Timekeeper™ time and labor application — as its corporate standard. The goal was to create an environment that supports both corporate consistency and local autonomy. The Kronos solution allows ArvinMeritor to automate processes, centralize labor information, and comply with strict multinational labor laws and union regulations. And in the challenging automotive manufacturing marketplace, Kronos is helping ArvinMeritor operate efficiently and reduce risks through optimal use of its labor force.

The start of a worldwide rollout

The Kronos solution was first rolled out in the U.S. and Canada, and is now being implemented in the U.K. and Sweden. The organization is currently using Kronos to manage time and labor, generate schedules, and provide management reporting of 11,000 employees. Using Kronos as the corporate standard creates a number of benefits for ArvinMeritor. Sarbanes-Oxley compliance is eased with a system that can be centrally maintained and centrally audited. The standardization is also allowing ArvinMeritor to realize financial savings, particularly in the area of support, by using its IT resources more efficiently.

Users have embraced the Kronos solution, making the international rollout that much easier. "We’ve never had to market Kronos within ArvinMeritor," says William Linehan, manager of IT and finance systems. "All of the launches in North America have been through word of mouth. The ease of use of the product and the consistency across the company are great."

Ensuring local autonomy

The acceptance of Kronos has been aided by ArvinMeritor’s desire to balance the establishment of a corporate standard with local autonomy for plants and offices around the world. "Our applications are set up in a way that allows a lot of individual freedom at the local level," says Linehan. "We believe it’s better from a workforce management standpoint to allow the international plants to have the flexibility to manage the way they need to."

This emphasis on local control helps ArvinMeritor meet each country’s unique legislative requirements, whether for payroll standards, privacy laws, or labor regulations. For example, in most European countries where ArvinMeritor operates, payroll is outsourced to a local payroll vendor, who is expected to stay current on all local rules and regulations. ArvinMeritor uses Crystal Reports to interface Workforce Timekeeper with these local payroll vendors.

Privacy laws are easily handled by the Kronos solution, with Linehan noting that Kronos has the flexibility to deal with Germany’s especially strict privacy regulations. "We haven’t found any security problems in Kronos that get in the way of adhering to local privacy laws."

The combination of standardization and local control gives ArvinMeritor increased flexibility to manage time and attendance, particularly in the face of an employee absence or leave. "We’re at the point with Kronos where even if a site has drastically different rules, there’s no reason why a supervisor can’t close out another site’s payroll," says Linehan. "And that’s really valuable because there are times when employees are on maternity or family leave, or the human resources staff needs to provide support for multiple locations."

Getting the most from the workforce

In the highly competitive global automotive marketplace, success often depends on the slimmest of margins. For ArvinMeritor, optimizing labor in order to increase productivity is critical to the company’s ability to remain competitive. ArvinMeritor uses Workforce Timekeeper for labor reporting that determines productivity levels and piece count analyses. "Labor is the one input we can truly control," says Linehan. "We’re able to use Kronos to locate, gather, and analyze this information and deliver it to management in a timely fashion."

ArvinMeritor maintains a core workforce that’s supplemented with temporary workers as production volume demands. With Kronos, ArvinMeritor is able to ensure that this temporary workforce is deployed effectively and efficiently. Temporary workers use the same Kronos system as ArvinMeritor employees, allowing the company to track and monitor temporary labor hours and costs. The temporary agencies also use Kronos to run their reports, which ArvinMeritor uses for approvals, so there are no surprises at billing time.

Fairness and compliance in the workplace

ArvinMeritor is using Kronos to manage complex workforce rules, such as those designed to protect workers’ health and safety. In one of the company’s Canadian manufacturing plants, where stressful, repetitive tasks are common, management worked with union representatives to design schedules that ensure each employee has a variety of work. Employees are able to vary tasks during their shifts, creating a safer, fairer work environment. "Without Kronos to manage the schedules, I think it would be a three-person nightmare to try to do on the fly," says Linehan. "With Kronos it’s very maintainable and easy to use."

The future looks promising

ArvinMeritor is working to complete its upgrade to Workforce Central 5.1, with additional European locations coming online soon, including France and Italy. Plans for Workforce Leave™ and Workforce Attendance™ are also under way, as the company works to improve compliance and attendance tracking.

No matter how ArvinMeritor’s needs grow and change, Linehan is confident that Kronos will be able to meet them. “Kronos is a very sound, stable product that can take everything you throw at it. Kronos has always done what we wanted it to do. As simple as that sounds, it’s a reality.”