The Background

Demmer Corporation is a large manufacturer serving the defense, aerospace, automotive, transportation and energy industries. They not only seek to make great products, they seek to create products that give their customers a competitive advantage. This mission puts their business at the edge of innovation.

The Problem

Manufacturing great products, though, requires numerous safety inspections of sites, equipment, and people. Recording all of this on paper, however was taking both time and money away from creating innovative products. Each process required intensive amounts of paperwork for safety, inspections and workflow processes.

It became more difficult because forms would have to go from plant to plant, taking hours or days to arrive at the next site. Multiple inspectors across several plants meant a huge amount of a paper and sluggish data collection. Worse, errors could take weeks to find let alone correct.

Demmer could no longer afford to let paper determine the pace of their business.

The Solution

Demmer began to look for, “real time data straight from the point of collection,” said Jen Malesky, Director of Corporate Quality, Demmer Corporation. They also needed a solution that could be rapidly deployed to their workforce without the need for extensive training or upfront costs.

They decided to go with GoCanvas, the global leader in mobile apps for business. Thousands of organizations leverage GoCanvas’s cloud-based, “Software-as-a-Service” mobile app platform to replace cumbersome paper forms with highly customizable mobile business apps. 

Businesses can search from over 20,000 ready-made apps in the GoCanvas Application store, or drill into the collection of Transportation and Warehousing mobile app templates, that can be customized to an individual business user’s needs. In addition, GoCanvas offers a do-it-yourself app builder that enables non-technical users to build apps in minutes.

The Outcomes

From the beginning, Demmer saw dramatic results. “We realized very quickly the platform was beneficial,” said Kevin Ouellette, Quality Supervisor.

GoCanvas has provided significant benefits to Demmer including:

Major Financial Savings

They’ve estimated their cost saving at $1 million annually. Switching to mobile apps has made their information gathering streamlined and reduced errors. One app, for example, helped streamline one machine’s efficiency. The resulting savings? $250,000 annually.

Additional savings have also been found by bypassing the need for data entry. All inspections and forms are transmitted directly to the cloud. There, Demmer can easily access these files or export them into their own system. What once required additional administrative time and money has become a simpler and faster process.By skipping paper entirely, Demmer also finds huge cost savings in storage. Filing cabinet costs in a year are between $1,500 to nearly $2,500. By switching to GoCanvas, Demmer can invest money in numerous new ways to grow and innovate their business.

Major Time Savings

More than money, the company is excited by the hours saved. Their safety department estimates they have saved 300 hours a year. With rapid response times, they’ve also seen a reduction in workplace injuries. Production has also become a faster process. Because mobile apps make forms immediately available in the cloud, sites no longer have to wait hours or days for a form to move from one site to another. Instead, sites work together more efficiently with real time information.

Flexibility to Meet Evolving Business Needs

As a cloud-based, mobile platform combined with an easy-to-use mobile app builder, GoCanvas provides Demmer the flexibility to add new features and functionality to any of their mobile apps. As needs evolve and change, GoCanvas makes editing apps a frictionless process.For instance, as new regulatory mandates are introduced and data collection procedures change, apps can be modified to meet the new requirements and instantly made available to the end user. Other mobile app alternatives make this process cumbersome or costly, weakening the effectiveness of their platforms. With GoCanvas, this is a frictionless process at no additional cost.

Demmer has embraced GoCanvas’s potential with a vast library of mobile apps. From their original 3 apps, they’ve now expanded to 140 apps. “All kinds of ideas are coming in, from every department,” Ouellette said. “Sometimes we have to rein them in,” Malesky joked.With hundreds of users and growing, Demmer has saved paper, time and money that has more than paid off its investment in mobile apps. GoCanvas has given Demmer an easy-to-use mobile experience that allows the company to create a safer work environment and continue to create innovative products

Ready to Rethink How You Work?

GoCanvas has helped a variety of businesses across multiple industries transform their safety processes and rethink their efficiency, ultimately saving them money. Why not do the same? Reach out to one of our experts today to kickstart your process revolution.