Conductix Wampfler Case Study

Conductix-Wampfler USA, with regional headquarters in Omaha, Neb., is the largest global producer of systems and equipment used for transferring energy and data for applications like cranes, material handling equipment, people movers, light rail system, amusement rides and many types of automated machines. It manufactures large spring reels, motorized reels, slip rings and heavy-duty I-beam festoon systems via its two Omaha plants and a 110,000 square-foot facility in Harlan, Iowa. 

But the company’s HR processes needed to continue to automate to match its tremendous manufacturing and production growth. Amber Chase, HR business Partner, says some HR tasks were still being done manually, which put constraints on both the employees’ and HR’s time. And even as the company added employees, the HR department needed to remain lean. 

One of the first things they changed when moving to an HRIS nearly 15 years ago was the paper processes. 

“The employees were keeping track of their hours on pieces of paper and turning that in to be approved by management and then be sent to payroll, annually during open enrollment and for new hire events,” she says. “All of those things were manual pieces of paper that the employee was having to fill out.” 

Challenge 

HR needed a way to manage the company’s growing workforce without adding to its growing workload. And with essential staff retiring, the company needed a way to automate processes, so Chase wasn’t consistently tied up with paperwork. 

Yet moving from manual to automated processes was a big change for all staff, even though the benefit would equal a tremendous time savings. Chase says they had to convince a few employees to pivot from paper to an automated system. For example, making the switch from HR handing out pay stubs, to having employees log into the system themselves. 

Solution 

The company reached out to Arcoro for solutions. It added several modules that automated its most tedious processes. 

Core HR, Benefits Management and Affordable Care Act Management Arcoro’s Core HR streamlines HR processes while providing employee self-serve technology. The employee portal gives workers access to their pay information, PTO requests and balance, employer handbook and more. It also can create custom workflows that support HR processes, so everyone could get their work done faster. Chase says once the employees got familiar with using an HRIS, they quickly adapted to it, appreciating its efficiency. 

“It was really cool to see their eyes kind of light up with, wow, I didn’t think it was going be that easy, or, wow, this is saving me time,” she says. “We no longer have to have employees filling out manual papers for each individual [benefits] vendor. Instead, they do it in one place and from there it spits out to our various different vendors once a week. That alone has saved hours and hours and hours of not only HR’s time, but the employees’ time as well.” 

Conductix Wampfler also added the Affordable Care Act (ACA) module which takes care of reporting and filing, easing benefits administration while ensuring companies stay compliant with state and federal regulations. It’s another automation that Chase and HR don’t have to update themselves. 

But one of the biggest benefits Core HR offered was when it came time for annual raises. Arcoro’s system automated the formerly lengthy process, providing a HUGE ROI. 

“I went from a process of manually putting in 300 employee raises to instead I just simply took that spreadsheet and uploaded it into Core HR and with the click of a button, everyone’s raises were put in place.  

“And I’m not exaggerating when I say it was a five second process that used to be an eight-to-16-hour process. I couldn’t wait to go into my boss’s office and say, I just saved us 16 hours. By automating this process, having the freedom to go out and speak to employees and, and do more of that side of the HR job, which is what I think most of us probably enjoy more.” 

Conductix Wampfler also added applicant tracking and employee onboarding, which further automated tasks saving HR large amounts of time, allowing Chase to focus more of her attention on the employees. 

“I love speaking to people versus pushing paper. (Arcoro’s solutions) allow me the freedom to be able to do that. And, and that’s a big part of my job that I love.”