102 CLIENTS’ TESTIMONIALS

We did not track staff time on jobs previously. Empower is a big step up!

“Previous to Empower when we had quality issue for example “door handles” left off a kitchen 2 weeks ago I had to walk the factory floor and ask 8 staff “who did the door handles on Mr Smith’s job, to get 5 staff advise me it was not them and 3 staff advise they could not remember. This was time consuming, frustrating, and made difficult for me to hold staff to our systems and our quality control. Now with Empower Software I pull up the Job Number and I see exactly which staff member did the handles, I go straight to that staff member remind them they were assigned the job to do the handles on the Smith job and the discussion I have with the staff member a lot easier and the outcomes a lot better.

Empower is good for scheduling kitchens, more accurate time lines are provided to sales management, clients and our contractors.” 

Jasn Barz
Production Manager

(25 7 2024)

Accurate times on Jobs is helpful to ensure we are quoting labour with accuracy to ensure we have enough in each job.

“Empower is good for scheduling jobs and assigning tasks to staff.

We did purchase Empower to individual workshop staff job times and productivity reporting.” 

James Philpott, Director
Independent Kitchens and Joinery
ACT Australia

(23 7 2024)

I estimate using Empower Software our jobs are completed in 15 to 20 % less time.

“We are one of the largest joinery operations in Australia…

All our workshop staff and our office staff involved in pre production are tracked on Empower…

We have 3 touch screens on our workshop floor for our staff to access their job list and start and finish their jobs…” 

Paul DiBlasi
Director
Tel: (03) 9358 3721

(15 5 2024)

It is early days but I estimate that our labour times on Jobs are 20% less using Empower so our labour cost on Jobs has reduced by 20%, which is substantial

“When we implemented Empower for a month we ran manual time sheets in parallel with Empower to be genuinely shocked as to how vastly inaccurate manual time sheets were. Manual time sheets is information “too little, too late, too inaccurate and too expensive to produce”. Further manual time sheets did not make any of our staff time aware, time transparent or time focused

Empower saves us 5 hours per week in administration time rekeying in manual time sheets to Job Cost which at $80 per hour labour overhead cost was costing us $400 per week $20,000 per year."

Rick Martin (Director) and Cameron Auld (Factory and Installation Team Leader)
06 844 6105 / 021 532 269
rick@sunshinejoinery.co.nz

(29/2/2024)

Using Empower we estimate we achieve 20% Less time on Jobs at 20% Less labour cost

“We have been using Empower for 14 years to date, since 2009

Empower Software ensures Companywide Continuous transparency of Jobs, Times and Staff, which brings maximum accountability and maximum workshop productivity

Using the technology of touchscreens on the workshop floor and the Empower Software App has been very good for NeoDesign, we would not be without it”

Derek Saward, Director NeoDesign

(20/2/2023)

I estimate our Jobs would go back to taking 20% longer, and at 20% more labour cost, if we turned off Empower Software

“By using Empower Software technology we get away from the “dinosaur” old manual systems and the resultant companywide “chaos” that existed on our workshop floor and in our office. Our previous manual systems where very labour intensive and very costly and a real “pain in the butt” daily.

If we turned off Empower Software tomorrow the transparency and accountability would drop to “ZERO” and I estimate our Jobs would go back to taking 20% longer, and at 20% more labour cost.”

Jenny Muyoma, Administration Manager

(23/9/2022)

Too early to estimate

“We are moving away from the typical model of paying our staff solely on hours worked.  We are moving to paying our staff based on output performance, reported in Empower which incentivises our staff to work. There is a big difference in the two approaches…

Everyone in our “Value Chain” will be tracked on Empower including:
Pre Production – our draughters, materials orderers’ etc
Workshop floor – machine operators and assemblers, including contract painters
Install Teams - All our installers”. 

(28 4 2022)

Not tracking properly at present but intend to do so over the next 3 months

“Empower Software is a “very good” production management tool.

These key screens and reports, and many more, enable us to manage our growth and maintain margins on every job. Empower allows us to keep our business “on track”

Empower Software certainly makes our factory staff and management a lot more aware and a lot more accountable to their times taken on jobs.”

Roger Syme, Managing Director, 021 344 606 or 03 982 1700

(27/9/2021)

30% Less Time on Jobs.  30% Less Labour Cost on Jobs

“From using Empower Software at JR Hewitson the staff culture has improved enormously to be job and time focused and consequently our production, productivity and profitability has improved enormously.

We have reduced our labour time on jobs by 30%, that is we have reduced our labour cost on jobs by 30%, which has had huge improvement to profit

As a manager I like the fact the business has progressed from no and poor systems to using technology to manage and maximise our core business, which is our labour”.

Wayne Brazier, Joinery Management +61 4 0779 8044

(15 3 2021)

25% Less Time on Jobs. 25% Less Labour Cost on Jobs

“Previously we used manual time sheets that workshop staff filled in by hand at day end to record the jobs they worked on and the time they started, finished and spent on each job.  Manual time sheets are more accurately known as “Lie” sheets and “Cheat” sheets.  Manual time sheet information was “too little too late and too inaccurate”

Now that we have PCs on our workshop floor and Empower Software the culture of all our staff has changed entirely to consistently be job, productivity, time and profit focused.

We would recommend the Empower Software App to all manufacturers and engineers, as it is an essential tool to manage all your labour

Overall we estimate jobs take 25% less labour time at 25% labour cost.” 

Kate Munro, Director

(17/2/2021)

20% Less Time on Jobs. 20% Less Labour Cost on Jobs

“I estimate times on jobs are now 20% less using tablets on the workshop floor and Empower Software

I view Empower on 50 inch TV screens throughout the day in real time to see:
• which staff are working and which staff are not
• current job status (this saves me leaving my desk for approximate 10 minute walk to the workshop to sight each time)

I run Empower reports to back cost jobs accurately to 1) improve our quoting accuracy and 2) address with production management job times that significantly exceed budget”

Jeff Smith, Managing Director, +64 9 422 7804 wk

(24/11/2020)

28% Increase in Factory Productivity

"Using PCs on the factory floor and Empower we get an estimated 28% more kitchens per month from our factory staff. As a result we save $80,000 per year in wage costs"

Richard Hein, Managing Director, +61 8 8725 8755 wk

(29/04/2014)

20% Increase in Factory Productivity

"We have achieved a 20% increase in our factory productivity"

Dale Hodgman, Director, +61 4 1814 5900

(16/09/2016)

15% Increase in Factory Productivity

“Ingredients of high quality information from Empower Software 1) real time reporting 2) accurate to the minute times 3) Job times down to task level and 4) reporting individual staff involved in each task on the Job and their actual times involved – with all this information in most cases we can fairly and accurately pin point issues and discuss the issues openly and positively

I estimate our jobs are completed in 15% less labour time overall therefore 15% less labour cost on our jobs

Richard, Managing Director

(10/10/2020)

65% Increase in Factory Productivity

"Using PCs on the factory floor and Empower Software we get 65% more kitchens out the door each week, with the same factory staff number and same hours worked.

We have started up a new business, Jag Benchtops, that we use Empower in. Empower works equally well for us in kitchen bench tops as it does in kitchens"

Nick McLagan, Managing Director, +64 21 725 137 mb

(28/03/2019)

33% Increase in Factory Productivity

"Using PCs on our factory floor and Empower Job and Staff Tracking Software we have achieved a 33% increase in production from our same factory staff.

The lifting of our factory productivity by 33% has made a huge improvement to our cost competitiveness and resultant ability to win more jobs, which has made a huge improvement to our annual bottom line profit"

Blair Harris, Managing Director, +64 3 214 6030 

(08/07/2014)

20% Increase in Factory Productivity

"In the 1st year of using Empower we maintained output and achieved wage cost savings of $150,000 per year.

I am confident that if we turned off Empower we would go back to taking 20% longer to manufacture our kitchens"

Ken Monk, Managing Director & Craig Mackie, Production Manager +64 7 847 9174

(04/03/2014)

40% Increase in Factory Productivity

"We have significantly increased our annual production and turn over whilst at the same time reduced 2.5 to 3 staff. Overall our factory productivity has increased by an estimated 40%. Empower Software has saved us $120,000 per year in wage costs.  

In 7 years we have not missed one install date. 

I could NOT operate and grow my business as I do without Empower software."

Russell Reardon, Managing Director, +64 21 725 137 mb

(08/07/2014)

20% Increase in Factory Productivity

“We have been using Touchscreens on our workshop floor and Empower Software for 9 years. Over the last 9 years we have increased our production and revenue approximately 250%.

We have achieved and maintained a 20% increase in our factory productivity using Empower Software. We highly recommend Empower as it has certainly helped Misco Joinery with our growth over the past 9 years". 

Glen Colenso, Managing Director, +64 3 383 4384 wk

(27/11/2023)

24% Increase in Factory Productivity

"We achieved a 19% gain in factory productivity within the first 2 years.

Within 4 years we had achieved a 24% gain in factory productivity. Our wage cost savings from our gains is approximately $190,000 per year"

Glenn Sherborne, +64 21 515 801, Director Production Management

(11/07/2014)

30% Less Time on Jobs.  30% Less Labour Cost on Jobs

"We needed Empower Software largely because our main competitor in town was putting in Empower and we could not afford to be without it, as our kitchens would take substantially more time to manufacture.

Empower allows us to complete kitchens in the quickest possible time, therefore be cost competitive in our market place and therefore maintain our profit margin.

I am confident that if we did not have Empower Software I would get an estimated 30% less production out the door each day and each week"

Graeme Walton, Production Manager

(08/07/2014)

15% to 20% Less Time on Jobs.  15% to 20% Less labour Cost on Jobs

“Empower has conservatively reduced our labour times and labour cost on jobs by 15% to 20%. Empower also allows to budget our labour and quote considerably more accurately.  Both reducing labour cost on jobs and quoting our labour more accurately makes a substantial improvement to our profit”

Clive Roberts, Director. +64 27 241 9780    

(08/07/2014)

20% to 25% Less Time on Jobs.  20% to 25% Less Labour Cost on Jobs

"We have secured 20% to 25% less labour time on jobs therefore 20% to 25% less labour cost on jobs …. Empower is a great tool I certainly recommend it"

 John Crawford, Director, +64 27 222 7782

(13/07/2020)

“Touch screens and 50 inch TVs in workshop and offices and Empower Software App technology will definitely deliver substantial reductions in our labour times and our labour cost on jobs and also substantial reductions in all forms of our Downtime”

Key Points we have found using the Empower Workshop Productivity and Scheduling Software App:

1  Ability to have live view of; all jobs, all staff, all job times is valuable

2  Ability to “dive” down through extensive reporting options to see all levels of Jobs and individual staff times is valuable

3  Empower Scheduling is gold

4  50 inch TVs in office and workshop delivering total transparency always is gold

5  Empower is simple for management and staff to use, which is important

Michael McKim Partner, Operations Manager +61 4 1676 1315

(15/11/2022)

I estimate that without Empower Software Jobs would slowly slip back to taking 20% longer time.

I estimate that without Empower Software Overhead Jobs and all other forms of Unproductive time would slowly slip back to taking 50% longer time.

“15 years ago we used paper based manual time sheets for workshop staff to record their time on their jobs, which provided us with information that was “too little, too inaccurate, too late and too expensive to produce”. Then we progressed to electronic punch cards.  Then we progressed to Empower Software.  It would be a big step “backwards” for us to go back to electronic punch cards and it would be an even bigger step “backwards” to manual time sheets”

Tony Boakes, Operations Manager, 021 228 3921

(23/9/2022)

There will be labour savings on jobs, I will provide accurate data in a few months

“Empower shows us our issues and mistakes clearly and concisely on our 50 inch TV screens in the office and our workshop in real time so we can fix them in real time

All management and staff can see at a glance on our 50 inch TVs in our office and our workshop, viewing our three teams including: Workshop Staff, On Site Staff and Preproduction Staff, and everyone can see what Task each and all staff are working on, and how they are tracking actual to budgeted time” 

Keith Murphy, Owner, +1 914 965 1520, info@elmhallmillworks.com

(20/9/2022)

20% Less Labour Time on Jobs. 20% Less Labour Cost on Jobs

“I estimate that if we turned off Empower Software tomorrow jobs would go back to taking 20% longer at 20% additional labour cost. Workshop staff are so much more time focused and accountable when tracked in real time on each and all Tasks and all Jobs, using workshop floor tablets and Empower Software”

Scott Minter, Production Management, One 68 Shop Fitters
+61 4 6748 4289 / +61 3 9518 5168

(15/6/2021)

40% Less Time on Jobs.  40% Less Labour Cost on Jobs

"Using Empower Factory Productivity Software we have maintained our weekly production with 40% less factory staff. This is a 66% increase in our factory productivity."

Ricky Wagner, Director, +61 8 8584 5892

(05/03/2015)

25% Increase in Factory Productivity

"Empower and the factory PCs force factory staff to be aware of their budgeted and actual times on each job and take responsibility for jobs they work on.  Our factory staff are aware of how long they are taking on a job realise the importance of finishing on time.

Empower has helped management and the sales team ensure that our prices are accurate as far as our labour component is concerned.

We have achieved a 25% increase in our staff and factory productivity"

Mitchell Black, Production Manager, +61 4 3128 7866

(24/05/2015)

20% Increase in Factory Productivity

"Using Empower we are getting 20% more joinery out the door each month. 

Our business consultant confirmed that a 20% increase in our factory productivity would increase our annual profit by an estimated 60%"

Greg Tasker, Managing Director, +61 2 9540 4100

(24/05/2015)

25% Increase in Factory Productivity

"Our factory productivity has increased by an estimated 25%.

Empower is a great production manager's tool, I would not be without it.”

 Richard Grey, Factory Manager, +64 7 571 7354

(12/06/2015)

Significant Increase in Factory Productivity, Yet To Be Confirmed

"We regard Empower HQ as a strategic partner to our business.

We regard Empower Software as an essential tool and we could not contemplate running our business without Empower in the future."

 Andy Page, Chief Executive Officer, +64 21 660 611

(24/6/2014)

30% Increase in Factory Productivity

"Within 2 years of rolling out Empower we had a 30% increase in factory productivity. In summary Empower has been very good for us and we would not consider manufacturing without it. We recommend it to every manufacturer we talk to about factory productivity and profitability"

Gary Alternburg, Managing Director, +64 21 900 607

(07/08/2015)

Significant Increase in Factory Productivity, Yet To Be Confirmed

“Accurate time keeping and reporting with Empower Software enabled Ferndale Furniture to bank significant bottom line gains as soon as we started using it.

8 Years down the track Empower is still adding value to the performance of our business with incremental improvements every year.”

Grant MacDonald, Managing Director, +64 4 568 7879

(3/09/2020)

100% Increase in Factory Productivity

"At 10 weeks of using Empower Software we got 46% increase in factory productivity, at 6 months we had got to a 86% increase and at 3 years we had got a 100% increase in factory productivity. 

On factory productivity increases alone generated by Empower Software our annual profit has increased by approximately $200,000”

Mark Tozer, Managing Director, +61 4 0000 8172 mb

(04/03/2014)

20% to 25% Less Time on Jobs

"Empower Software has made a substantial improvement to factory productivity and bottom line and we would not be without it. 

I estimate that if we turned Empower off, in doing so go back to having no visibility and no accountability on the factory floor we would immediately require 20% to 25% more time to complete jobs"

Peter Langford, General Manager +61 4 0740 1612 mb

(08/07/2014)

30% Increase in Factory Productivity

"We have increased our factory productivity by 30% using Empower Software"

Jon Craddock, Owner, 1300 784 814

(27/02/2020)

We have been using the Empower Workshop Productivity & Scheduling Software App for 10 years, its been good for us and I recommend it.

Empower is a good tool, we mainly use it for:
- Scheduling our Jobs and Tasks
- Assigning Jobs and Tasks to our Workshop Staff
- Ensure all Jobs get put into our system
- Ensure all Jobs are invoiced and correctly
- Hours Worked for Payroll

Fraser Bickley, Managing Director, +64 3 384 7096, fraser@southerncreations.co.nz

(11/10/2023)

25% Increase in Factory Productivity

"Minimum 25% increase in factory productivity in the first year.  Resulted in no overtime required at any time including Christmas.

Empower provides us with efficient, accurate and live time recording on jobs and reporting of work in progress"

Andrew Pfitzner, Director, +61 8 8391 0492

(16/06/2014)

Significant Increase in Factory Productivity, Yet to be Confirmed

"Our factory staff really enjoy using Empower and look forward to the challenge of improving their individual productivity pie chart results each week.

Empower Software is an essential production and productivity tool to our business"

Simon Bowler, General Manager

(27/02/2020)

35% Increase in Factory Productivity

“Prior to using Empower Software we used to use cheat sheets (ie timesheets) where workshop staff at day end manually recorded their job times which were ‘a complete work of fiction’.  Job times recorded were typically 20% to 40%+ inaccurate and regularly job times were 100% inaccurate as jobs that staff worked on the staff wrongly did not record any time on those jobs at all…

Since last year we have increased production and revenue by 35% without increasing workshop staff or hours worked.  This has made an enormous improvement to our profit…

Empower is the tool we use to manage our core business firstly, ensuring we budget labour correctly in the first place and secondly ensuring we deliver the substantial majority of our jobs on budgeted time.  We should have put Empower Software into our business 10 years earlier”

Dean Taylor, Director, +64 21 486 233

(14/07/2020)

25% Increase in Factory Productivity

"I estimate that using Empower our factory productivity has increased by 25%. Using Empower we now have two less staff whilst at the same time increased our weekly output"

Brian Zanker, Director, +61 8 8349 8800

(09/05/2016)

Unable to Quantify

“We would not want to work without empower or an alternative to it.

Without doubt Empower significantly assists us in our business to remain productive and it was definitely a sound investment.”

John Cochrane, Owner/Director

(27/9/2021)

65%+ Increase in Factory Productivity

"Using PCs on the factory floor and Empower Software we get 65% more kitchens out the door each week, with the same factory staff number and same hours worked.

Our production management consultancy firm, Lean Manufacturing, who consult to and benchmark the performance of many kitchen manufacturers throughout Australia and New Zealand, advises us that other progressive kitchen manufacturers require three times the factory staff to manufacture the same number of cabinets per month that Jag Kitchens do

We have started up a new business, Jag Benchtops, that we use Empower in. Empower works equally well for us in kitchen bench tops as it does in kitchens"

Nick McLagan, Director, +64 21 725 137 mb

(28/03/2019)

If we did not have Empower Software we would have less clarity and less accountability and jobs would take estimated 20% longer

"Currently we have been using Empower for 10 years…

In my role as production manager at intervals during the day I get a good “snapshot” of the workshop from my PC, I can see the workshop staff are on the right jobs and I can see jobs are progressing. I see jobs, staff and times in real time and times are accurate"

Malena Cheung, Account Administrator

Chris Henasy, Production Advisor

(15/05/2024)

24%+ Increase in Factory Productivity

"We achieved a 19% gain in factory productivity within the first 2 years. Within 4 years we had achieved a 24% gain in factory productivity. Our wage cost savings from our gains is approximately $190,000 per year"

Glenn Sherborne, +64 21 515 801, Director Production Management

(11/07/2014)

33% Increase in Factory Productivity

"Using PCs on our factory floor and Empower Job and Staff Tracking Software we have achieved a 33% increase in production from our same factory staff.

The lifting of our factory productivity by 33% has made a huge improvement to our cost competitiveness and resultant ability to win more jobs, which has made a huge improvement to our annual bottom line profit"

Blair Harris, Managing Director, +64 3 214 6030 

(08/07/2014)

20%+ Increase in Factory Productivity

"It’s a great tool for factory staff to manage their own times and bring their jobs in on budgeted time.

Empower was easy to put in and we were using Empower well within 2 weeks.

In the first 12 months 20% factory productivity increase. We have made incremental increases in our factory productivity using Empower over the years as management have used it more comprehensively"

Anthony Van Erp, Director, +64 21 281 4188

(27/04/2014)

20% reduction in Labour time on Jobs therefore a 20% reduction in labour cost

"The future of Manufacturing is using touch screens on the workshop floor and the likes of the Empower Software App and presenting Job, Task and Individual Workshop Staff times in real time on 50 inch TV screens in the workshop and office 

I estimate that our Job times and therefore our labour Cost on jobs has reduced by 20%.  This is on top of a substantial reduction in time in all forms of our daily and weekly Downtime.

Empower is a great investment, we unreservedly recommend it and would not be without it"

Chris McQuire
+64 22 625 4582 or +64 3 384 1113

(26 11 2021)

30% Less Time on Jobs.  30% Less Labour Cost on Jobs (planned)

“We went live with using Empower Software on our workshop floor this morning.  Within 1 day we have moved from “manufacturing blind” to “manufacturing with 20 / 20 vision”.  Tablets on the workshop floor and the Empower Software app have dragged us out of the “Dark Ages” and into the “21st century…

It has taken me 5 days to watch Empower’s training videos, read the Empower Help system, use the Empower Easy Start system, and play with the software to then set up and start using Empower on our Workshop floor.  The phone and Zoom support several times a day over the 5 days from the Empower office has been great…

We confidently expect to achieve a 30% reduction in labour times on jobs therefore a 30% reduction in labour costs on jobs.”

Andrew Budgen, Production Manager, +64 204 184 2905

(18/3/2021)

25% to 30% Increase in Factory Productivity

"When I did due diligence on Empower Software it was clear that it is proven over many years and many manufacturing sites to be highly effective.  Also it was important to us that Empower provided a turn key solution of support that got us set up and using the software quickly and successfully

Using Empower I estimated we have achieved a 25% to 30% factory productivity increase"

Patrick Simkin, General Manager, +64 9 439 4910

(30/06/2020)

25% Increase in Factory Productivity

"I estimate that our factory productivity has increased by 25%. That is, we get 25% more production out the door each day using Empower which is 25% more daily revenue"

Allan Burt, Production Manager, +64 3 338 9199

(11/07/2014)