The Client
Since 1992, Creative Closets and More has provided end-to-end custom closet installation services for residential customers. Based in Marietta, Georgia, and serving the Atlanta area, the company evaluates each customer’s closet space, manufactures a customized solution including shelving and cabinets, and installs the equipment.
The Challenge
Creative Closets and More installs approximately 10 closets per day, and each of these jobs requires about 100 individual parts. Because each job is customized specifically for the client’s home, the parts needed are different every time. After producing and pulling the parts for each job, the company's personnel were spending about 15 to 20 minutes checking to be sure that all of the needed components were present. And, of course, as they checked about 1,000 parts per day, Creative Closets and More employees occasionally overlooked a missing or incorrect part.
As Creative Closets and More manufactures its closet organization solutions, each part receives a label. But checking these labels manually took too much time and was fraught with potential oversights. So the company decided to move toward a barcode solution.
The Solution
Creative Closets and More invested in Wasp inventory management software and a Wasp mobile computer. The mobile computer was used to quickly catalog the items needed for each individual job before it goes out the door. After the items are counted, Wasp's inventory management software transfers the data back to a PC and creates an exception report, if needed.
The Result
“We’ve cut the checking time for a job from about 15 to 20 minutes down to about two minutes, and we get a clean exception report,” Thurman said. By saving about 13 to 18 minutes checking each of 10 jobs, Creative Closets and More saves between two and three hours per day. Plus, by using a mobile computer and automated inventory counting solution, the company has virtually eliminated human error. As a result, closet installers arrive on the job with the exact set of parts needed to complete their work, on the first visit.
“We are a just-in-time manufacturer, so the two to three hours we gain each day allows us to spend more time making doubly sure everything is right,” Thurman said. “We strive for a 90 percent first-pass completion for all of our installations. The time we gain helps us to achieve these rates.”
The barcode solution also prevents installers from having to return to the plant, which can become costly and negatively affect profitability. “For every job we have to go back to, it costs a minimum of $150 just to send the truck and an installer, not counting the time spent finding the error,” Thurman said.
Average patient encounter documentation:
30 minutes then; 10 seconds now
99.5% faster service with 100% accuracy
