J&S Drilling is a leading exploration, waterwell, geotechnical, and environmental drilling specialist with offices in Queensland, Western Australia, and Northern Territory. Before March 2022, the 35-year-old company faced challenges in tracking their field staff. They relied on spreadsheets, PDFs, and writable forms for tracking their progress onsite. A mix of technological advancements and client expectations meant that ‘everybody wanted everything – almost live’. Waiting until the end of a project to get the paperwork and analyze the data was not cutting it.
Key takeaways
- Faster resource scheduling
- Reduced equipment downtime
- Improved worker satisfaction
Small Crews in Remote Locations
J&S Drilling had three-man crews working in remote locations, and it was difficult to provide direct supervision and support.
So, they decided to look for a system that could bring all of this together. They prioritized operational support, live data, HR timesheet management, and asset management. The biggest challenge they faced was asset management, keeping track of assets, and ensuring that plant and equipment received timely servicing and maintenance. After assessing various options, the company chose Assignar as it provided all the required they were after.
“Assignar saved us having to go and buy other type of software packages in the market which would have overlapped quite a bit,” explains Safety and Training Advisor, Neil Croxon.
Automating Scheduling
Assignar provides operational support in the field, live data, and HR timesheet management. It also had capabilities for safety and training. They decided to implement Assignar in March 2022 and went live on July 1. Assignar’s scheduler turned out to be a considerable benefit for the company. It allowed them to schedule crews and assets, avoid double-booking, and receive allocation warnings.
Asset management was simplified, and timely notifications helped the company reduce downtime due to scheduled maintenance and repairs. Assignar’s pre-start checklists allowed the company to identify issues on-site and pull out data in Insight reports. This helped in quick identification of urgent requirements and allowed them to organize parts and send them to the site. The intervention feature allowed them to avoid downtime by replacing critical parts before they broke down.
Life After Spreadsheets
The scheduler helped allocate assets across projects while ensuring that maintenance times were not overlooked. Using Assignar allowed the company to streamline their processes. They could not go back to spreadsheets as they would lose touch with field staff. The scheduler gave the staff live information, allowing them to plan their life outside of work.
As a result of implementing Assignar, the company reduced downtime, improved efficiency, and enhanced staff satisfaction. The scheduler feature allowed them to allocate assets and balance across multiple projects. The company no longer has to wait until the end of a project to analyze paperwork. Assignar provided a centralized system that streamlined the tracking of field staff and assets, allowing the company to avoid downtime by replacing critical parts before they broke down.
“I think if we took [Assignar] away from them now, we’d have a riot,” says Croxon.
