Hi-Range Crane Forks is a specialised hi-rail equipment provider to the rail industry. As one of the largest suppliers of telehandlers in NSW, they have been servicing clients from Sydney to Narellan for over 15 years. Hi-Range Crane Forks differentiate itself from its competition by providing superior customer service on all its projects including the Central Station main works with Laing O’Rourke.
Scaling our business required an operations platform
Our business started getting busier and the legacy system we were using to manage our allocations was just not working for us anymore. We were using a calendar-type application and a whiteboard to allocate over 25 cranes and operators.
In our search for the right solution to support our operations as we grew, Assignar was the perfect fit.
“The platform has made my life so much easier to manage our equipment and staff. I am able to see what is happening on a weekly or monthly basis and plan ahead accordingly.” – Rebecca Waters, MD
Empowering our operators
For our operators, managing their competencies and checking their licenses was a very manual process, as it was all paper-based and kept in the office. Now with Assignar, our operators are accountable for keeping their competencies and licenses up to date. They can see when their license is due to expire, update it by loading the file onto the Assignar app and have it approved instantly.
“Having a digital file of their competencies and licenses gives me the visibility to schedule my crew and equipment more effectively.”
Assignar has also enabled our operators to be proactive with crane maintenance. Prior to implementing Assignar, I had to create a to-do list of action items for crane maintenance for the operators in our workshop. Now, all our operators have access to our cranes’ profiles on the app and can see current crane statuses and any defects or scheduled maintenance required. Our operators are now proactive in actioning maintenance as they can see what work needs to be done and how to prepare for each job.
Benefits as a business owner
As a hands-on Managing Director, I stay in tune with my business by allocating our cranes and operators for each job and approving timesheets and dockets for real insight into our labour costs as a business. Transitioning to a digital system for allocations, timesheets, and dockets has made the process so much easier as I no longer need to wait for days for physical timesheets and dockets to come in, I receive them at the end of each day and can invoice straight away. Assignar has made everything a lot more organised and the visibility I have of the business is now transparent and shared across the board.
Implementation = simple process
Implementing Assignar was a simple process. We held a toolbox talk with our operators and started with allocations, then as time progressed moved towards 1 on 1 training for timesheets and important forms. We ran through some test submissions of timesheets and forms to help familiarise our operators with the system prior to going live.
All throughout the process, the Assignar team has been amazing. Our Customer Success Manager has assisted us with the creation of forms and has always answered any questions we had. She checks in with our team to see how we are progressing and to inform us of any new features released on Assignar. The exciting thing about Assignar is that they are constantly improving their solution. I can see from the ideas portal that there are a lot of new things that are coming and proposed by fellow customers but as it stands currently, we are more than happy with the Assignar platform.”
