Northwest Steel Fab Inc. fabricates the structural steel that supports buildings, hotels, hospitals, schools, bridges, dams, and other large projects, across the northwest region. Operating out of Deer Park, Washington, with a team of roughly 70 employees, the organization runs a demanding manufacturing environment where accuracy is everything.
For IT Services Manager Randall Ader, that means keeping every system running reliably, from servers and workstations to robotic equipment interfaces and cloud services. TCP time clocks, built to withstand the conditions of a working fabrication shop, combined with TimeClock Plus, play a central role in Northwest Steel’s labor tracking and payroll management, giving the team clear visibility into the true cost of every job on the shop floor.
Paper timecards created costly inefficiencies
Before reliable time collection and TimeClock Plus, Northwest Steel Fab relied on paper timecards filled out by employees and turned in every two weeks. It was a familiar system, but one that created consistent problems.
Foremen spent what could have been billable hours collecting and verifying timesheets. Accounting staff then re-entered that time data by hand. There was no reliable way to track time by station or employee, which made accurate quoting impossible. Errors were inevitable. Payroll dealt with missing hours, time billed to the wrong jobs, and a payroll process that could stretch across four full days to complete.
Plus, with no formal solution for handling time off requests, leave management was an informal and inconsistent process, further complicating the organization’s time and attendance tracking.
Hardware built for the shop floor
When decision-makers at Northwest Steel Fab evaluated their options for time and attendance software, one factor in particular set TCP apart: the remote data terminal (RDT). Most time tracking solutions relied on PCs or tablets for collecting employee time data that simply wouldn’t survive the conditions of a working fabrication shop. However, TCP offered physical terminals built to handle the tough manufacturing environment. The hardware also integrated cleanly with the organization’s accounting software, a key requirement for Ader, who led the implementation.
Today, Northwest Steel Fab uses a mix of physical time clocks, the TimeClock Plus mobile app, and Web Clock to capture employee time accurately across the shop floor and off site, while gaining clearer visibility into workforce operations.
- Time collection – Rugged time clocks allow shop-floor employees to clock in and switch jobs without leaving their stations.
- Mobile app – Keeps field and mobile employees connected from anywhere.
- Web Clock – Enables office-based staff to track project time from their desks.
- Global dashboard – Gives leadership a real-time view of activity and highlights anomalies.
- Accrual tracking – Lets employees view vacation and sick balances and submit time off requests.
- Clocking questionnaire – Captures daily activity notes for additional compliance documentation when needed.
- Equipment clocking – Tracks robotic and automated equipment usage to better understand operating costs.
Faster payroll. Better data. Stronger operations.
With reliable time clocks and automated workflows in place, Northwest Steel Fab saw results fast. And it started with payroll.
Payroll processing dropped from 4 days to 1
After implementing TCP time clocks and TimeClock Plus software, Northwest Steel felt the most immediate impact in payroll. With reliable clocks designed to support all facets of their business, accurate time collection, and automated time tracking workflows, payroll processing time dropped from four days to just one.
More accurate job costing
With employees able to clock in for specific jobs from the floor, Northwest Steel Fab gained a much clearer picture of how many hours are worked per station and per employee and the associated labor costs. That data has enabled teams to quote jobs based on real labor numbers, improving billing accuracy.
Better visibility into equipment costs
Northwest Steel also uses TimeClock Plus to track robotic and automated equipment use. Using the time tracking software, the organization can now see how long equipment runs per job, giving them better insight into and more control over operational costs that were previously hard to quantify.
Stronger compliance documentation
TimeClock Plus gives Northwest Steel Fab a reliable foundation for compliance and audit readiness. The clocking questionnaire captures daily employee activity notes at the point of clock-in, creating a consistent, timestamped record of workforce activity. Combined with detailed reporting and automated time data, the organization has the documentation it needs to respond confidently to inquiries from state entities without having to reconstruct records after the fact.
Consistent workflows and happier employees
Well-adopted by their teams, TCP time clocks backed by TCP’s TimeClock Plus software make clocking in and out faster and easier for every employee at Northwest Steel. Plus, they can see their accrued vacation and sick time and submit time off requests directly through the software or the clocks themselves, making the process straightforward for employees while simplifying leave management for managers and support staff.
Across the business, workflows are now much smoother and more consistent, improving workforce efficiency and the overall employee experience.
Built to last. Built to keep up
After years of daily use across every part of the business, TCP has earned its place as a solution Northwest Steel Fab doesn’t think twice about. From floor-level time capture and equipment tracking to payroll automation and leave management, it does what it’s supposed to do. Every day, without the friction they once had to navigate. In a manufacturing environment where every minute and every job needs to be accounted for, that dependability isn’t a small thing.
Looking ahead, Ader has one project on the horizon: refreshing the RDT hardware. The terminals have held up well in a tough environment, but years on the shop floor will eventually take their toll. When the time comes, he’s not worried. TCP’s continued investment in their time clock hardware means Northwest Steel Fab won’t have to compromise on the rugged reliability that made the RDTs the right choice in the first place.
TCP Software’s employee scheduling and time and attendance solutions are flexible and scalable to accommodate your business and employees as you grow.
From TimeClock Plus, which automates even the most complex payroll calculations and leave management requests, to Humanity Schedule for dynamic employee scheduling that saves you time and money, we have everything you need to meet your organization’s needs, no matter how unique. Plus, with Aladtec, we offer 24/7 public safety scheduling solutions for your hometown heroes.
Ready to learn how TCP Software takes the pain out of employee scheduling and time tracking? Speak with an expert today.
