HG Leach has been quarrying in Waikato for 60 years now. At last year’s 2019 quarry conference they agreed to trial WZLoad (loader scales software) in pursuit of eliminating hand written dockets and the errors that are inherit in them.
“The outputs in a system are only as good as the inputs,” says chief operating officer Mark Baillie.
“Paperwork gets lost, docket books forgotten, and handwriting can be hard to read.
“If the client is not in the database, the operator can write anything for the customer code. Worse, the operator might forget their book but thinks he can remember the job information and write up the docket later. He then either forget the details or forget the whole thing altogether.
“However, with the electronic system we have control of what information can and cannot be entered.
“This means we’re always charging the right people for the right products, and we know exactly what is happening in the quarry in real time.”
HG Leach has a number of quarries and Mark says it can be hard to justify installing a weighbridge at a smaller site. But this is where WrightZone’s software comes into its own.
WZWeigh is the office software, with materials and transport, price and cost. WZLoad is the loader driver app. Plugged into the Loadrite loader scales, they create an accurate and detailed transaction and docket. Even cash sale dockets are printed, with GST exclusive and inclusive totals.
“The capital cost is minimal compared to a weighbridge,” says Mark. “And having timely sales data is useful.
“Our operators made the switch from manual to electronic with no complaints and are enjoying the new system – even our 70-year-old operator has taken to it like a duck to water. But it’s our admin team whom are the most excited about it.
“Rather than sitting there doing data entry for hours on end, they can now focus on other parts of their job. This technology has probably saved us a day’s worth of data entry each week.
“Our real cost savings from the system have come from admin time.
“The quality of the information we’re working with is much better too: The right customers are being charged first time, which means fewer credit notes to issue and no need for reinvoicing. Taking a one week sample, Tirohia is averaging a 2.65% variance between Target and Loader net weight’s, that’s 110KG’s summarising quantity and quality loading.
“I always say, the more people’s hands touch the data, the more errors creep in.”
Operator Peter Mangan from Tahuna Quarry was happy to have a go with the new system when it was trialled, although he says it was a bit strange to start with.
“It is so different to what we had with hand-written dockets, but it didn’t take too long to get used to. And once I’d picked it up, it was easy.
“We changed over to WZLoad for good at the beginning of February and so far, it’s been great. The truck drivers initial comments were, “Is that it?” he says, laughing.
Delivering docket copies and reporting on daily or weekly material volumes are now also things of the past.
“It is a big step forward, no two ways about it.”
