Manufacturing industries worldwide face economic challenges, including staffing issues, excessive regulation, and supply chain disruptions. These issues can strain relationships between owners and contractors, ultimately affecting project performance.
Navigating these challenges effectively is critical for efficiency, accuracy, and collaboration.
Typically, disagreements or disputes between owners and contractors revolve around three general categories: safety, productivity, and cost.
Identifying and understanding where things go wrong between owners and contractors makes it easier to find answers and solutions. This is where technology and automation tools, like myTrack, can benefit both parties.
Owners want to boost productivity, adhere to schedules, and minimize costs.
However, many manufacturers lack the necessary data for informed decision-making. Manually gathering data is time-consuming, lacks transparency, and is prone to errors. By the time management processes this data, it’s often too late to positively impact productivity, costs, or payment accuracy.
Let’s take a closer look at these issues:
Accurate Payment
Contractors prioritize timely and accurate payment, but traditional pen-and-paper or siloed spreadsheets for tracking time and expenses can result in discrepancies and costly errors. myTrack automates the tracking of pre-determined variables in work agreements, incorporating built-in pay rules and schedules. This reduces errors like overbilling or underpaying due to incorrect skill level selection.
myTrack acts as a single source of truth for all contractor costs, schedules, and activities, minimizing disputes during audits. Contractors can be confident in accurate payments per the contract, while owners avoid overpayments and achieve cost savings. This improves billing and cash flow for contractors and ensures timely payments by owners.
Productivity
myTrack provides real-time data visibility for both owners and contractors, ensuring everyone is informed about project statuses. This enables proactive decision-making regarding resourcing, labor allocation, and equipment maintenance, reducing unexpected delays and associated costs.
With real-time visibility into job site activities and equipment usage, management can make informed decisions to allocate labor efficiently and meet deadlines. Increased productivity leads to significant cost savings.
Safety is a top priority for both owners and contractors, but it can be challenging when there is pressure to save costs and boost productivity. Traditional safety measures like protocols and protective gear are effective, but unplanned overtime and excessive shifts can lead to dangerous fatigue.
According to the National Safety Council survey, 69% of employees experience fatigue at work, and 13% of workplace injuries are attributed to fatigue, with manufacturing being particularly high-risk. Additionally, contractors working on projects or equipment they're not qualified on can increase safety hazards and reduce productivity and quality.
myTrack offers real-time insights into job site activities, equipment usage, and employee certifications, ensuring workers are not exceeding their skill levels. This helps maintain productivity and manage costs without compromising safety.
In emergencies, myTrack provides an up-to-date record of all personnel and their locations, facilitating efficient evacuations and accountability. This enhances safety and gives employees peace of mind, allowing them to focus on their tasks.
myTrack also provides insights into fatigue thresholds so manufacturers can determine when employees are approaching or exceeding them for safer, more productive operations. Real-time data empowers management to make informed decisions, benefiting both safety and productivity.
The owner-contractor relationship is an essential aspect of all manufacturing projects. If it’s not in a good place, it can create challenges that can permeate the job site and the project itself.
Manufacturing leaders should look to tech and automation tools like myTrack. The technology benefits owners and contractors, as it provides greater insight and visibility, helping to improve the owner-contractor relationship.
Ultimately, myTrack is a win-win solution for both owners and contractors in virtually any industry. Contractor timekeepers who embrace myTrack can become champions for efficiency, accuracy, and collaboration. Owners will benefit from a collaborative environment for smoother project execution, cost savings, and stronger contractor relationships.
Take the next step. Find out how to minimize the cost of contract labor and increase its efficiency with the myTrack Platform.