Hodge Clemco, a manufacturer and supplier of surface-finishing equipment, has introduced a fully digital job management system from Leeds-based
BigChange. Using the cloud-based system, Hodge Clemco has doubled the size of its mobile workforce, without having to increase its back-office support, and is close to achieving its goal of paperless working. The Sheffield-based company has also deployed the BigChange customer portal, which allows customers to directly access service and site history information and book engineer appointments.
Andy Peart, Hodge Clemco’s sales and service director, said: “Before BigChange we relied on carbon copied worksheets, which meant we had to wait for the completed paperwork to make its way back to head office and then had to manually enter the details for quotations, invoicing, payroll, customer reporting, for example. This was time consuming, labour intensive, and had the potential to introduce errors into our systems.
“Using BigChange, our engineers automatically receive job sheets that are completed while on-site using the mobile app and instantly available for the back-office team to access. This means we are currently about 80% paperless and improving all the time. Indeed, we have doubled the number of engineers we employ without having to add any additional support staff — and we are hitting KPIs for quotations and customer reporting.
“Moreover, as we introduce different elements of the BigChange system we realise more and more benefits. Each feature has the potential to improve efficiency, boost productivity and raise our customer service levels; and as we continue to roll BigChange out across the Group, these will have a significant impact on the growth and profitability of the business.”
Hodge Clemco has been designing, manufacturing, installing and maintaining surface finishing solutions, including blasting, abrasive blasting and coating equipment since 1959. Through acquisitions and mergers, Hodge Clemco has grown, employs 120 staff at two main sites and is now part of the Surface Prep network of companies. It has also worked on many prestigious installations for the Ministry of Defence and Rolls-Royce.