Best-in-Class Workforce Management Software from Industry Experts
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Depending on who you talk to, manufacturing has been on the decline for the last 15 years and counting and there is no end in sight. But despite the doom and gloom, The Institute for Supply Management’s report, which is highlighted by Industry Week, begs to differ. And, many of today’s manufacturing companies, especially the ones who came out of the 2009 recession, albeit leaner, in terms of workforce and production process are likely breathing a sigh of relief at this piece of news. Michelle Jamrisko article for Bloomberg on state of manufacturing, states in part;

“Manufacturing expanded in December at the fastest pace in two years, reflecting firmer output and the biggest pickup in orders growth since August 2009. The Institute for Supply Management said Tuesday that its index increased to 54.7, the fourth straight advance, from 53.2 a month earlier. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for 53.8. Readings above 50 indicate growth. The ISM’s measure of orders surged 7.2 points, while its gauge of prices paid for materials climbed to the highest level since June 2011.”

Is The Demise Of Manufacturing A Reality Or Overblown Rhetoric

The world of manufacturing is constantly evolving as it has had to keep pace with stiffer competitor and tighter margins. And, so in order to increase profits, many of today’s successful manufacturers have had to embraced cloud computing, robotics and business intelligence thus enabling them, to streamline production flows – and ultimately reduce their costs.

So, as the manufacturing sector continues to evolve here are three trends that will continue to dominate that industry in 2017:

Cloud Computing
Major new technologies especially ones built on the cloud will be take precedence over on premise applications by manufacturers. Deploying a cloud-based solution provides a rapid return on investment, and streamlines payroll costs across an entire supply chain.

Predictive Analytics for Real-Time Decision-Making
Today, unlike several years ago, manufacturers have access to a wide array of analytic and Big Data tools at the push of a button– that can be hugely valuable for business decision-making and process enhancements when used correctly. From budgeting and forecasting to employee production scheduling and benefit accruals – these tools, allow manufacturers to harness data properly and with ease and efficiency.

New Technology and Innovation
Traditional, version-based time and attendance solutions prohibited organizations and their users from sharing freely and collaborating, because the data always resided on a Server and it was incapable of integrating to other applications-thus, creating nightmares for users. Workforce management software built for the cloud is the network of the future. Open-mind manufacturers will continue to move away from Server-based software solutions and instead opt for cloud computing solutions—which is the future of software deployment.

ATS Workforce Management for Manufacturing is industry-built and helps drive business outcomes by engaging your employees, streamlining payroll costs, increasing productivity, and minimizing compliance risk. With ATS Workforce Management for Manufacturing, your business has access to a proven cloud platform that is secure, scalable, and mobile — allowing you to do business when or where you choose to access its power.

To learn about ATS Workforce Management for Manufacturing, go to our website, you can also download a demonstration and see why many of today’s fortune 500 companies choose ATS.

Keep An Open Mind When Deciding If The Cloud Is Right For Your Business

October 5th, 2016 | Posted by Apex Time Solutions in Business Intelligence | Cloud Based Time Management Solution | Cloud Computing | Hosted Time and Attendance Software - (Comments Off on Keep An Open Mind When Deciding If The Cloud Is Right For Your Business)

The cloud is slowly making on-premises time and attendance deployment an endangered species. It was only a few years ago when the very idea of a cloud-based time and attendance was met with a heavy dose of skepticism, and especially among companies who had big investments in on-premise solutions. The rise of Amazon, Salesforce, Spotify, iCloud, Google and slew of other cloud-based companies have seen a shift in attitudes, and thus, many business leaders have come to understand and embrace the cloud’s capabilities and its value proposition.

In an article ‘10 tips for a successful cloud plan’ by Brendon Butler for Network World, and in no particular order include;

 “Alignment Workshops
After a company has made a decision to use IaaS cloud computing services, it’s helpful to have a level-set meeting with important stakeholders at the company to get everyone on the same page. Typical groups involved in this meeting would be security managers, finance and procurement professionals, infrastructure engineers, operations workers and third-party consultants. Typically a senior IT manager or CIO leads the process. It’s important to have a clear message to this group of why the cloud is being explored.

 

Know Your Economics
One of the first considerations that will inevitably come up is cost. There is no simple calculation for determining if the cloud will be more or less expensive than on-premises infrastructure; there are too many variables. It’s important to know that different architectural designs will determine cost.

Find Agreement
If you have a faction within the organization that is against the cloud, this will be difficult. Get on the same page and make sure any outstanding concerns are addressed before moving forward. Executive buy-in can help.”

Those 10 tips are very useful and can be adopted by companies thinking about deploying the cloud. With ATS Time and Attendance in the cloud, you get guaranteed levels of server availability and up-time that are difficult and costly to replicate with and on-premise system. From employee data to HR and payroll mission critical core functions, ATS Time and Attendance in the cloud automates more than edge applications. We power entire industries in the cloud.

If your company is debating the benefits of a cloud time and attendance consider the following; ATS Time and Attendance in the cloud cuts out the high cost of hardware including Servers. You simply pay as you go and enjoy a subscription-based model that will not take a chunk out of your cash flow. In addition, the amount of time it takes to configure your company’s database, train users and set up data collectors are reduced by half when compared to an on premise deployment, suddenly that scary cloud-based project isn’t that bad after all.  From employee data to HR and payroll mission critical core functions, ATS Time and Attendance powers entire industries in the cloud.

To learn about ATS Time and Attendance in the cloud, download a demonstration from our website. You can also contact us by phone or register for one of our weekly webinars.

keep-an-open-mind-when-deciding-if-the-cloud-is-right-for-your-business

Empowering employees to make informed decisions is goal of most organizations. However, without the right tools it’s really difficult to see how these employees can be seen as being empowered.  ATS Workforce Analytics is a set of easy-to-use tools that seamlessly combines existing enterprise data, external data, and unstructured big data. Knowing that you need the power of data to help spur decision making is one thing-but having the right tools to extrapolate that right kind of information, within your organization-well, that’s 21 century thinking.

Today’s employee has a pretty good idea of what their company should look like when asked to use data collection terminals for the purposes of tracking their time. They expect these tools be; intuitive, mobile-ready and accompanied by automated processes with real-time visibility. And so, with this in mind, let’s talk analytics, ATS Workforce Management in the cloud encompasses; accrual benefits, absence planning, budgeting and forecasting and– has seamless integration to; payroll, ERP, HRIS and range of other software applications. And, with a solution that’s built on so much flexibility it makes easier than ever, to optimize productivity, eliminate errors and duplicative work thus– ensuring compliance to maximize bottom-line growth.

How You Like Us Now? We’re Talking Analytics

So, if your company truly wants to empower its employees, why not start with a modern day workforce management solution? It’s resides in the cloud, has a suite of best-in-class workforce analytics tools that provides concrete and actionable insights on workforce data to drive your business strategy today and help you plan for the future.

To learn more about ATS Workforce Analytics download a brochure. You can also download a demonstration or sign up for one of our weekly webinars.

We at ATS continually espouse the benefits of an automated time and attendance, but we have also stressed that it does not have to be a complicated process. And, while it’s true that an organization with multiple locations, different collective bargaining agreements, and its adherence to regional and federal work rules can increase the complexity and amount of time it takes to install such a system, sticking starting with the basics can make a world of difference.

removing-the-complications-out-of-employee-time-tracking

Here three simple rules to follow once you have decided to deploy a time and attendance:

Reports
Find out which reports are most important to you. For example, if you need a report that shows which or how many hours employees worked on a; daily, weekly and monthly basis, this should suffice as a starting point. Other simple reports may include; exceptions, overtime, daily time in and out and, a few payroll reports to ensure you have the proper information before exporting employee hours to your payroll, CRM, ERP, HR or talent management software. This, however, is not to suggest, you should not explore the full library of reports within a time and attendance system, or look for a solution that has the capability to provide analytics and Big Data tools to support your organizational growth.

Employee Time Clock
When deciding which time clock to use, think about your organizational philosophy and, more importantly, your actual work environment. Would biometric face recognition be better suited or would or a proximity or magnetic time clock avail itself as the better option? These are considerations that should be given once you decide which time and attendance to deploy.

Project Manager
Traditionally this role has fallen to the IT manager or consultant. But, in actuality, HR and/or the payroll practitioner and to some extent, finance personnel are responsible for the management of employee time tracking. So, would it not make sense that such a project be headed by one of these individuals? That’s not to say the role of IT is less important, it just means that the very people who manage the daily tracking of employee hours would know more, than anyone else, about your company’s time and attendance requirements. And, so, it stands to reason, that their role when choosing a solution should be elevated- in short, they are the ones that should be your project managers, with the understanding that they seek assistance and/or guidance from other departments including; IT and other operational managers.

Whether you are moving from paper time sheets to an automated time and attendance solution or merely upgrading to a new solution, removing the complications will help the deployment go a bit smoother.

To learn more about ATS Time and Attendance solutions, go to our website. And to register for one of our weekly webinars, contact us.

The rapid growth of the digital era provides a multitude of choices for manufacturing companies to improve their processes and decrease overall costs. If for example, your company has elected not to jump on the band wagon of these, progressive cloud computing technology, it simply means your competitor has a distinct advantage.

Here are some of things you are missing out on if you decide to remain on the sidelines

Workforce Management Manufacturing Scalability
If your competitors have adopted a workforce management solution they are taking advantage of today’s technology, the cloud—to innovate, streamline payroll costs and improve workforce productivity. Now, your plant manager and other operational managers can focus on servicing your customers instead of writing employee hours on manual time sheets.

Workforce Analytics
With ATS Workforce Analytics manufacturing companies have the ability to access and analyze real-time data and benefit, from sophisticated forecasting and budgeting modules to —help uncover visibility into critical resource gaps.

Robust, Agile And Productive Time and Attendance; Built For The Cloud

Continuous Innovative Cloud Computing Technology
Only an ATS cloud workforce management solution—designed for today’s manufacturing, entities, can—enable you to take advantage of innovations software updates as soon as they are available. In short, your company will no longer be hamstrung by backward technology.

Deploying an ATS cloud workforce management ensures that your manufacturing enterprise will leverage up-to-date innovation. The rich functionality of ATS cloud application can benefit manufacturers, because it comes with a much lower upfront costs than a legacy solution thus, helping your business to thrive. And, with a well designed architecture that provides real-time insights into key performance indicators—the intuitive dashboard provides a 360° degree view of business operations, from any platform, at anytime, anywhere.

To learn about ATS innovative cloud solutions, you can download a brochure or demonstration or register for one of our weekly webinars.

The term “Lean” is well known in manufacturing circles and has been adopted across various disciplines including; Lean Healthcare and Lean Accounting to name a couple. A brief description of lean principles in Wikipedia states in part;

“Lean manufacturing or lean production, often simply “lean”, is a systematic method for the elimination of waste (“Muda”) within a manufacturing system. Lean also takes into account waste created through overburden (“Muri”) and waste created through unevenness in work loads (“Mura”). Working from the perspective of the client who consumes a product or service, “value” is any action or process that a customer would be willing to pay for.

Essentially, lean is centered on making obvious what adds value by reducing everything else. Lean manufacturing is a management philosophy derived mostly from the Toyota Production System (TPS) (hence the term Toyotism is also prevalent) and identified as “lean” only in the 1990s. TPS is renowned for its focus on reduction of the original Toyota seven wastes to improve overall customer value, but there are varying perspectives on how this is best achieved. The steady growth of Toyota, from a small company to the world’s largest automaker, has focused attention on how it has achieved this success.”

Ye Shall Practice Lean Manufacturing

Today, several organizations have formal Continuous Improvement methods that leverage the “lean” process –but may leave others to chance or perhaps feel it’s not as important. ATS Cloud Workforce Management for Manufacturing was developed with lean thinking from its original inception and as such has many built-in capabilities to support your lean initiatives. “You can’t improve what you don’t track or measure.” This in and of itself is one of the tenets that have shaped the ATS Workforce Management for Manufacturing with a robust database, embedded with sophisticated user dashboards, and business analytics.

For example, users can extrapolate reports in real-time to measure payroll costs, through a set of forecasting tool and workflows–and compare key performance indicators (KPIs) against goals to clearly measure on-going improvements. Now, that’s taking the holistic approach to “Lean Manufacturing.”

To learn more about ATS Cloud Workforce Management for Lean Manufacturing go to our website and download a demonstration. And to reach us by phone, call: 866.294.2467.

Ye Shall Practice Lean Manufacturing

A recent survey of global manufacturing companies found that 25 % of them say they have invested in artificial intelligence and cognitive computing technologies as well as in 3D printing and additive manufacturing technologies.

This survey, conducted by auditing firm KPMG, reported that another 39% of manufacturing executives polled, said that over the next two years, they plan to devote a significant amount of R&D resources towards robotic technologies. Considering the competitive landscape that today’s manufacturing companies are faced with, it’s no surprise that many of them are migrating to cloud-computing technologies, as they grapple with tight profits margins and the confluence of emerging new technologies.

Manufacturing Companies are Embracing AI, Robotics and Other Advanced Technologies

And, according to Doug Gates, KPMG’s Global Chair of Industrial Manufacturing; “Manufacturers recognize a failure to evolve will leave their organization in a non-competitive position.” When you consider the upheaval that many of these companies went through after the 2008 recession, it’s no wonder many of them are adopting advanced technology.

Another part of KPMG’s Doug Gates, analysis states, in part, “The need to become more digital has never been greater and investments in new technologies are a way to enhance agility, flexibility and speed to market when launching new products and services-critical elements for manufacturing companies to win in the marketplace.”

If your manufacturing company is still deciding whether to deploy a cloud-based workforce management solution and/or other advanced technology, it’s never too late. To reach an ATS account executive by phone call, 866.294.2467 and to download a demonstration of our manufacturing workforce management solution, go to our website.

To learn more about ATS:

Your Company’s Policy States It Will Not Deploy A Cloud Solution. Really? But Why?

April 14th, 2016 | Posted by Apex Time Solutions in Business Intelligence | customer relationship management | ERP | Web-Based Time and Attendance | Workforce Analytics - (Comments Off on Your Company’s Policy States It Will Not Deploy A Cloud Solution. Really? But Why?)

It easy to become fearful of the unknown or listen to the naysayers when you are not certain-but let’s face it, the cloud is not your average “Johnny-come-lately” solution. In fact, it has been around for quite sometime despite the forecast of its demise by a few. And, much to the chagrin of the few doubters, it has not only endured, but has also won over the hearts and minds of many businesses executives who previously thought it was a fad.

Jo Bennett, contributor for Gartner, (the research and advisory firm) penned an article titled “Why a No-Cloud Policy Will Become Extinct” The article, states in part; “Businesses initially stepped gingerly toward the cloud, experimenting with low-risk applications. Today, applications for office productivity and CRM are tried and tested, and use cases are constantly developing in a wider sphere of mission-critical areas.”

Your Company’s Policy States It Will Not Deploy A Cloud Solution. Really? But Why?

Security has always been the concern for some businesses (understandably so) when weighing, the pros and cons of a cloud-based versus an on-premise solution. And so, on the topic of security the article continued; “Security concerns are most frequently the reason organizations avoid public cloud services. The reality is that cloud service providers typically have the ability to support more effective security systems and platforms than are practical for most individual businesses.”

ATS best-of-breed cloud-based time and attendance has helped thousands of businesses capture employee data in real-time with award-winning employee time clocks, and data integration capabilities to ERP, Payroll and HR applications. With ATS cloud-based time and attendance you get up-to-the-minute business intelligence, operational excellence and increase agility with a single global application that aligns to your business processes.

To learn more about ATS Cloud-Based Solutions or to read testimonials from some of our customers, or to download a free demonstration, go to our website.

Think you know the many things that are thrown at HR on a daily basis? Chances are, you are not even sure. In this week’s webinar we will feature a couple of HR executives who are ATS customers. These executives who both work for large organizations and have agreed to attend the webinar and answer questions about how their companies migrated from outdated and complicated time and attendance applications to an easy-to-use ATS TimeWork OnDemand.

Webinar The Challenging Role of Today’s Human Resource Executives

ATS TimeWork OnDemand includes a Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS), built-in module for both administrative and strategic human capital management and empowers your employees, Human Resources and overall company with complete accessibility, visibility and automation of workplace attendance and events.

In this webinar, we will explore in great detail how ATS Time and Attendance can transformation manual processes to operate faster, and deliver more value, with fewer resources. This session will be led by Software Engineer Geoff Green. He will share the success stories of companies, who transitioned from Excel and manual timesheets to ATS Cloud-Based Time and Attendance Solution. Your HR and payroll managers will walk away with a thorough understanding of the benefits of automation and how it can drive business results.

Date: Friday, October 30th at 1:00pm Eastern/ 10:00am Pacific. To register for this webinar, go to our website.

Webinar: The Challenging Role of Today’s Human Resource Executives

Workforce Management Software Webinar for Retail Industry

October 14th, 2015 | Posted by Apex Time Solutions in Absence Management | Business Intelligence | Forecasting | Workforce Management Solutions - (Comments Off on Workforce Management Software Webinar for Retail Industry)

Apex Time Solutions helps retailers better manage their human capital to drive sales and revenue. Get the most from your workforce and address retail challenges such as high turnover and employee scheduling by replacing time-consuming manual processes with the powerful workforce management capabilities of ATS TimeWork.
In this webinar you will learn how you can have a real-time view of your business and events as they occur. You will also learn how other retailers are utilizing ATS forecasting and budgeting module to give them a competitive edge to extrapolate financial data, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and up-to-the minute data metrics.

Webinar details:

Date: Friday, October 16, 2015
Time: 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. Eastern (10:00a.m.-11:00 a.m. Pacific)

To register go to our website. And to speak to an ATS account executive, call 866.294.2467.

Workforce Management Software Webinar for Retail Industry