Case Study - Homelux Nenplas Limited

Company: Homelux Nenplas Limited

Location: Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England

Business Area: Manufacturing - Extruded and injection moulded plastic products

System: Focus Pro using Handpunch 1000 Clocking Terminals

Homelux Nenplas Limited is today a leading supplier of extruded and injection moulded plastic products. Nenplas is recognised as a lead supplier of bespoke trade extruded products, specializing in the development of new products to meet customer requirements.

Homelux Nenplas first approached us in March 2007 us looking for a Time & Attendance solution. With some 114 employees, it was proving difficult and time consuming to accurately record attendance, hours worked and abensenteeism.

Together, with involvement from the IT and HR departments, we carefully considered the specific requirements for the system, including consideration of the most appropriate type of clocking terminal, specific shift rules, holiday and absence handling and payroll export.

During the demonstration of the Focus Pro software, it became clear how the system would provide immediate benefits, as well as other features such as analysis reports that would give long term value.

“Thorough discussions were held which enabled our requirements to be met easily and quickly.”

A site survey was also carried out to determine the most suitable locations for the clocking terminals and to examine the existing infrastructure to consider the communication and power for the terminals.

Detailed proposals were submitted for the supply, installation and support of the Focus Pro system.

Installation of the Focus Pro system occurred in June 2007. It involved the installation of three HandPunch biometric clocking terminals in different locations within the Homelux Nenplas main building. Each terminal was installed with a UPS power supply to allow each terminal to continue to operate during a mains power cut. All terminals were configured to communicate via TCP/IP over the existing Homelux Nenplas computer network.

“Done very efficiently, minimal mess and very clean.”

The Focus Pro software and MSDE (SQL Server) database were installed on a specific PC, acting as a server, in the "comm's room". The software was also installed on various other PC workstations where they were configured to use the same central database on the server. A service, running on the server, is in constant communication with the clocking terminals, ensuring that clocking in and out transactions are immediately recorded made available within the Focus Pro software.

“.carried out on the specified date and within timescale's as advised.”

Homelux Nenplas took the decision to devolve administration of the system on a departmental level, giving department leaders responsibility for the own employees' attendance.

Full administrative and user training were provided for the Focus software and also for the HandPunch biometric clocking terminals. Since the installation, some further "fine tuning" was conducted on some of the shift rules as well as regular upgrades when new features to the software were introduced. Homelux Nenplas have made their own suggestions of additional functionality for Focus Pro and most of these have now been incorporated into the main Focus Pro software.

It is important to Egress Systems to listen to our customers and also to act where possible to ensure that Focus is constantly improving to the benefit of everyone. When asked if she was satisfied with Egress Systems' after sales service, HR Manager Jan Fiers replied...

“Absolutely YES, YES & YES - no problem is too much trouble.Speed of response is the best I have experienced.”

“.the system is straight forward and company is quick to respond to either problems or suggestions for enhancing the system. Its ease of use means that time management is no longer an issue. This is particularly helpful when planning labour requirements.”

Comments were made by Jan Fiers, HR Manager at Homelux Nenplas, within a post installation questionnaire. Extracts have been used with her kind permission.

See also ...
Focus Pro Software Handpunch Biometric Hand Reader Focus Cost Benefits