MB Frames (Manufacturing)

Who are MB Frames?

MB Frames were established in 1991 and have been a customer of ours since 1992. Operating from their purpose built facility in Bristol, MB Frames are the biggest manufacturer in the Southwest of England of the Deceuninck PVCu Windows & Doors range, Deceuninck are one of the market leading brand names in the double glazing industry.

MB Frames are ideally placed geographically between their two main suppliers, Deceuninck UK we just mentioned and ALuK, both conveniently 45 minutes drive from their Bristol plant. The company has steadily grown its production capabilities over the years by investing heavily in the latest computer controlled tooling machinery and manufacturing software. This enables them to use the very latest PVC and Aluminium substrate manufacturing & fabrication techniques, resulting in an accurately made product of the highest quality. MB Frames have a well stocked showroom which displays all the latest ranges available, with boardroom facilities where innovation & dreams are first conceived. Thanks to their own in-house designers, they design, fabricate and deliver direct to the Trade, including architects, builders and homeowners too.

What were MB Frames challenges?

In contrast to their modern computer controlled manufacturing facility. MB Frames have always used a traditional electro-mechanical manual clocking machine to record employee time and attendance. Despite its many disadvantages, production manager Phil Purnell said the punch card machine they were using gave shop floor managers a sense of control, as it was a simple system they had grown familiar with over the past 25 years. Managers could simply write corrections or notes onto the clock in cards…the old pen & paper (clock card) was a system they were comfortable with and it worked for them. But in truth, this manual method did not work at the other end when it came to processing payroll. For the payroll manager this was a time consuming exercise, as with any manual system, pay errors and the system’s inability to notify absence when it happens can pose problems down the line. Their current clocking in machine no longer in its first flush of youth kept breaking down. We used this as an opportunity to discuss the option of modernising their employee time and attendance system.  We knew from experience when customers make the switch from their old punch card machine they never look back.

Modern Time and Attendance System with Biometric Fingerprint Readers

Previously in the past, we had tried to convince Phil of the virtues of a modern time and attendance system having now grown to the size they had. But after a meeting explaining the advantages of our systems, he agreed it was perhaps an appropriate time to modernise their current system, even though their expected outcome was that the new system would not be able to calculate the hours 100% accurately, due to some unusual pay rules they had. We recommended our TimeVue-Lite Plus attendance system, and assured them a special bespoke pay report would give them the exact calculation they required, and so the go ahead was given. Biometric fingerprint readers were chosen over standard proximity cards or key fobs to save on card replacements etc.

The installation took half a day. The software was installed onto their server and on three client pc’s. All the employee details were effortlessly imported from a csv file and all work rules programmed. Once we had overseen the enrollment of employees onto the biometric attendance system, we were ready implement the new time and attendance for the new pay week. Regular visits were made to provide further training & guidance, and ensure we delivered on our promises.

First day nerves and concerns all vanished and managers could now see the advantages the new system would bring. We helped with the first weeks payroll run, but by the second week they were certainly in the frame, happily processing the data by themselves, knowing we’re only a ‘phone call away if help was needed. Over the coming weeks things really settled down. Vital employee attendance information was now at their fingertips in real-time.

The cost and time consuming task of having to collect the old clock cards, write them out and distribute them every week was now a thing of the past. Any manual notes could still be made and relaid to payroll within the software using our clock card edit screen. Because the clocking data is now being fed to the managers in real time, means missed clockings and absence reasons could be addressed as they occurred and well before the payroll run.

MB Frames now find payroll super efficient, producing time and cost saving results that will see the new system continue to pay for itself for years to come. Phil liked it so much he ordered a second TimeVue-Lite Plus clocking terminal for the office…We asked Phil if he would like to go back to using his old time clock, his answer “not a chance”….