Door Industry Journal - Summer 2014

Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk doorsets feature 66 THE door industry journal summer 2014 Surprisingly, although industry specific software does make a significant impact on a company’s overall costs, improvement in productivity was less than expected. The reasons for this appear to be that much of the software available does not completely eliminate order processing time. This seemed strange as at confirmed order stage the necessary information is already in the computer; post order processing should be close to zero. The research also points out that if the processing time for orders was eliminated then savings to companies in the industry should be in the region of £4,600 per £1M of turnover per year. This is based on the respondents estimated cost to the employer of £23.00 per hour, which is likely to be a very conservative figure. The cost of rectifying errors created whilst working with manual systems has not been considered here. Additionally, companies stated that the main purpose of using such systems was largely for improving customer service rather than increasing productivity and profit. New report finds greater automation saves companies 23% compared to Excel or pen and paper Survey also indicates the improvement in productivity in moving to more automated systems could stop a potential labour crisis as the construction economy recovers. Research sponsored by Rapid Spec indicates that door manufacturers that use automated systems showed significant savings could be made by greater automation. The research focussed on a hypothetical enquiry of £50,000 with 11 different variations in door type and how different manufactures would approach it. The example was designed to be similar in size to one quoted for by a Rapid Spec client, Door Kits Ltd in Ireland. The overall time it took businesses to complete the task was 19 man hours (compared to 14 in the case study) with computerised systems taking on average 6 hours less. Overall the cost of applying or responding to such an enquiry was £432, with estimating accounting for £157 and processing £257, based on a conservative hourly cost of £23. The enquiry would cost those using spreadsheets and calculators around £370 and compared to £295 for those using computerised systems. “80% of the difference in cost was due to the processing side and this can be reduced even further as programs like Automate with Software or use Excel, Pen and Paper? A report and survey sponsored by RapidSpec Door Scheduling Software According to Door Kits Ltd Managing Director, Eugene Cornally: “Two of us in the office recently quoted for a € 70,000 project in 2 1 ⁄ 2 hours. This would normally have taken at least a day. We then just printed a bill of materials in 5 minutes. Even project changes are no worry; we just make the changes, re-quote and re-print a new bill of materials immediately”.