MAREK

MAREK is an interior construction company based in Houston, TX, with operations throughout the southeastern United States. MAREK provides a wide range of services including metal framing and gypsum assemblies, ceiling and acoustical solutions, paint, specialty coatings and wall coverings, fabric panels, stretch systems and window treatments. They pride themselves on delivering only the highest level of quality to their customers. MAREK is committed to fostering a safe and committed workforce and embracing the most cutting-edge technologies.

THE CHALLENGE

Working primarily onsite in the field, MAREK’s projects range from small residential services to huge commercial construction projects, and many tools of varying sizes are needed at any given site. MAREK was using a manual system to check out tools. An employee would come into a warehouse and check out a tool by filling out a paper ticket. Because the paper tickets were the only record of tool location, it was impossible to know where inventory was in real-time.

As MAREK grew, they needed a more reliable and efficient system to track tools across locations and make decisions to better manage assets. They wanted a solution to eliminate paper-based tool tracking processes and improve visibility into inventory. It needed to work with all kinds of equipment, from screwdrivers to forklifts, regardless of size or location. Lastly, MAREK needed something that would work seamlessly with their JD Edwards EnterpriseOne ERP system to avoid cobbling together a solution that would become unmanageable down the road.

THE SOLUTION

MAREK selected Cloud Inventory® and Field Inventory™ solutions for their mobile application development capabilities. With Cloud Inventory, MAREK can develop applications for specific business problems, including tool tracking. An important factor that MAREK couldn’t identify anywhere else in the market was the ability to have two-way tool assignment confirmation. Employees in the field need the capabilities to check out tools for themselves rather than just being assigned tools. Other solutions allowed the warehouse to assign tools to employees but not the other way around. With the Field Inventory™ solution, MAREK’s field employees can assign tools themselves to achieve self-sufficiency in the field.

After a smooth implementation of the tool tracking application at one location, MAREK was able to go live at their other locations with minimal help from Cloud Inventory. MAREK timed the Cloud Inventory application rollout to correspond with deploying iPhones to field employees, and even with all these changes, the biggest learning curve was learning a new device rather than a new application. Once employees opened the application, user adoption was almost immediate. Many intuitively understood how to use the application before completing the training.

THE RESULTS

Since implementing Field Inventory, MAREK’s visibility into inventory becomes more accurate every day. Now that MAREK can track which tools are in the field in real-time, they have gained insight into how they can better manage the entire workforce.

Looking forward, MAREK will use Cloud Inventory’s Insights as a way to collect and use data across all branches. Branches typically operate independently, but with Insights management can understand processes from branch to branch and make more informed business decisions that will most efficiently impact the entire organization.

“We make a significant investment in new tools every year and as our fleet ages and requires repairs,” said Dan Schnippert, Procurement Director at MAREK. “Managing the effective life of the equipment does have a tangible financial impact for us, and we’re very excited about the opportunity to better manage that financial impact through the better visibility that we’ll have by using the Cloud Inventory solution.”

INDUSTRY

Engineering & Construction

ERP: JD Edwards EnterpriseOne

HIGHLIGHTS

• Established real-time tool tracking capabilities for all employees across locations

• Boosted efficiency of tool tracking with Field Inventory™ solutions

• Integrated seamlessly into existing JD Edwards investment

“...things were running so smoothly we handled the other locations on our own…I think that’s about as strong of an endorsement of a successful implementation as you can have, if you don’t need someone to hold your hand.”

- Dan Schnippert, Procurement Director, MAREK