Saulsbury Deploys Holistic Construction Asset Management With AlignOps

Overview

Saulsbury Industries has been the trusted provider of full-service engineering, procurement, and construction solutions since 1967. Headquartered in Odessa, Texas, the company specializes in serving clients in the energy and heavy industrial sectors. Saulsbury’s reputation for delivering safe and high-quality projects has allowed them to expand their services across multiple active job sites spanning eight U.S. states.

In 2014, the Saulsbury team began their search for an asset management solution that would enable them to track their physical assets and fully manage them. This included providing various levels of access to all departments to unify their construction operations enterprise-wide.

The Results

Time Savings

Saulsbury eliminated the wasted time waiting for tools and equipment in the tool room. They utilize AlignOps to scan workers’ hard hats and instantly collect critical information such as their names and requested items.

The streamlined process reduced tool room wait times on the job site by approximately 90%.

Fleet and Heavy Equipment Management

AlignOps’ integration with Geotab serves as a vital tool for precise GPS tracking information and visuals to help Saulsbury locate valuable assets quickly and easily.

The warehouse team took these capabilities one step further by installing a 50-inch TV monitor, which displays Excel spreadsheets automated by AlignOps Pick Tickets and the Viewpoint Spectrum integration. The data updates every 60 seconds, providing the warehouse staff with the most current pick tickets and fleet status information. The names and the locations represented on the screen correlate to:

• Employees in Workday created as employees in AlignOps via an integration
• Trailers as locations in AlignOps
• Job sites from Viewpoint Spectrum imported to AlignOps as locations via an integration

In addition to that, the spreadsheets are color coded to highlight critical areas where the Saulsbury team is falling behind so that priorities remain in focus and critical tasks are addressed quickly. The system works similarly to airport arrival and departure screens, making it easy to track and manage assets.

The status board provides a comprehensive overview of Saulsbury’s 285 trucks, 37 semi-trailers, and 158-trailer fleet, displaying the location of each asset in the field, warehouse, yard, and the entire supply chain. It also offers real-time financial implications for every data point.

By keeping this critical information accurate and up-to-date, warehouse management can organize inventory, accurately complete pick tickets, and efficiently prepare deliveries.

To further improve its asset management, Saulsbury also utilizes AlignOps to extend the life of its valuable assets by automating notifications for all service needs, which include determining the necessary time for an oil change and identifying when the transmission needs to be flushed. The increase in operational transparency also means that IT no longer needs to navigate multiple platforms to see work orders and preventative maintenance paths.

The streamlined process allows Saulsbury’s team to maintain peak productivity without the risk of errors.

Interdepartmental Communication and Streamlined Operations

AlignOps became a nucleus for interdepartmental communications, connecting teams with actionable operations data enterprise-wide. Here’s how adopting the construction operations platform improved processes for each department within Saulsbury:

Project Managers and Superintendents

At the beginning of a job, the project managers and superintendents must provide an initial loadout list of necessary tools, equipment, and materials. The list is crucial for ensuring the correct items are available and delivered to the job site on time.

However, creating pick tickets was repetitive and time-consuming for Saulsbury’s team. So they implemented AlignOps templates with standard loadout items to create pick tickets. AlignOps expedites initial field processes and ensures the correct tools and materials are available for the job, thus reducing the risk of delays and mistakes that could impact project timelines.

Saulsbury superintendents also utilize the Align Item Browser for accurate asset information on any project. Data is automatically updated, ensuring that the current point of contact is always available, even if the invoice approver changes during the project life cycle.

This capability is especially advantageous for supervisors when winding down projects with assets still assigned to them. Project managers request a list of inventory assigned to their job site toward the end of a project to gain insight into missing inventory. Inventory not found would result in the job paying back the asset management division for the loss of the items so it could be replaced in the company’s inventory.

Warehouse Team

AlignOps supports end-to-end warehouse logistics workflows, from requisition to pick-ticket to fulfillment and transfer to the job site in one of four ways:

• The items are loaded into a trailer that the Superintendent picks up from the warehouse.
• The items are palletized and picked up by a third-party for delivery to the job site.
• The items are boxed up and delivered by FedEx.
• The items are placed in a dedicated building outside the warehouse with individual locking chain link cages the job site workers can access after hours. This allows the site Superintendent to retrieve their tools outside of the warehouse's normal operating hours, typically very early in the morning.

By providing robust warehouse logistics workflows, AlignOps became the single system for maintaining accurate tool and equipment inventory information, including not only where an item is currently and who is responsible for it, but the entire history of the item, any service plans attached to the item, and more. This allowed Saulsbury to proactively manage its construction assets and avoid overstocking inventory or running out unexpectedly.

Human Resource Department

In order to streamline asset management and ensure assets and resources are appropriately assigned and accounted for, the human resource department now updates all employee information and the items assigned to them within AlignOps. By using AlignOps in combination with Workday, Saulsbury easily tracks:

• Employee with assets currently assigned to them
• Employee driver records
• Approved driver list
• Current CDL to operate Class 8 Semi Tractors
• The extent of utilization

Taking this proactive approach ensures accountability at all levels, making it easier to track down missing items or investigate issues that may arise.