all of the acquisitions, “we had seven different time-keeping systems. To maintain all seven was costing us quite a bit in annual software maintenance costs,” he says, “and it was difficult to support seven systems.” So in 2005, Ball selected a Web-based workforce management system from Workbrain as a single solution for all of its plants. Following a pilot installation at a one plant in 2006, Ball now has seven plants using the system and plans to complete the rollout of the Infor Workbrain system to all of its North American plants by the first quarter of 2009, Karlzen says.

Indeed, the easy configurability of the system was a major selling point for Ball, says Karlzen, given that the company has both union and non-union plants in multiple states and locations, all with differing work rules. Ball plant officials in Canada and
Puerto Rico were also impressed with the system’s ability to convert almost instantaneously from English to French Canadian or Spanish, he adds.

The latter capability will be particularly important in a second phase of the project, when Ball plans to use the system’s self-service “employee transaction manager” module, enabling workers to view vacation and leave balances on the Web-based system, and to put in requests for time off. The self-service capability will translate to reduced administrative costs for Ball, he says.

Other savings will come through elimination of an estimated $100,000 per year in software maintenance costs, once the system is fully implemented across all Ball plants, says Karlzen, “because we won’t have to pay seven different vendors any more.”

Better decisions

He also expects that the centralized system will lead to better workforce decision making. “When we have seven different [time and attendance] systems, it’s almost impossible to get company-wide statistics on how many people are on FMLA (Family Medical and Leave Act) leave, how many are out sick, and what our lost time is,” Karlzen points out. “But by having a single system, we’ll be able to get enterprise-wide data on our labor and on what’s happening at our plants. And I think that’s going to be very valuable going forward.”

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