Gilbert Mechanical Discovers the Benefit of Simplicity with Accountability-Based Tool Tracking Solution

There are plenty of technology companies out there who promise lots of bells and whistles in their solution for solving a particular problem. But in construction in particular, bells and whistles usually mean more confusion and work for a team already pressed for time. Your guys are busy doing what they do best – building things. The last thing they want is a new complicated process added to an overflowing plate of work.

Construction leaders have definitely seen their share of “Big Ideas” that only made their life, and their workload, harder. Often, a simple solution is indeed the best solution. ShareMyToolbox has approached tool tracking with one key focus in mind – keeping it simple.

ShareMyToolbox has never aimed to “revolutionize the industry. ” Instead, they focused on developing a simple app that solves a complex problem costing firms valuable time and money – the problem of tool loss. ShareMyToolbox assigns accountability to the person who “signs out” a particular tool rather than tracking the tool itself. By shifting the responsibility to the person last assigned the tools, ‘a peer-to-peer sharing of information’ is created, enabling good people to solve the problem.

Gilbert Mechanical – A Case Study

Shawn Miller is a very busy tool coordinator at Minneapolis contracting firm, Gilbert Mechanical. Being pulled a million different directions every day, Miller had to find a way to better manage the tools on each project. Even with a team of 200 great guys in the field and office, tools would go missing, get misplaced, or get left behind. That cost the company a lot of money and wasted a lot of time.  Plus, when temporary crews were occasionally used on jobs, the inevitable theft would sometimes rear its ugly head. Something had to change.

Instead of relying on the “honor system” and working off of an inventory grid or truck tool list for tracking tools, Miller decided that leading tool tracking app, ShareMyToolbox was the smartest choice for Gilbert Mechanical. He knew he didn’t want to add anything complicated to the mix for his guys, so simplicity was a key driver in his decision.

A tough guy to pin down due to managing so many things at once, we were thankful to get Miller to share a bit of his time one morning to explain why ShareMyToolbox was the right choice for Gilbert Mechanical.

As a progressive commercial contractor in sheet metal and pipe fabrication and electrical work, Gilbert Mechanical already understood the importance of technology. Project management software was a big part of their business so when it came time to look for a way to manage tools, Miller had the green light to find the right fit. 

Why ShareMyToolbox?

When considering the right solution for Gilbert, Miller felt that ShareMyToolbox was more malleable than the other options he considered and the user functionality was easier and more useful. He said many others seemed limited and rigid and less adaptable to what he needed. From a user perspective, it’s been fairly easy to get the crew to adopt it. Miller explained, “The App is so easy to navigate and use. Setting up the barcodes for each tool took a little while but then using the App was simple. For the older guys who are set in their ways, it’s still easy to check out tools on their behalf.”  

Perhaps most important to Miller was the ‘accountability-based’ model that the solution was built on. He explained, “We needed something that was simple and didn’t charge (track) by the tool entry, but instead tracked the user.” He added with a laugh, “ShareMyToolbox creates accountability and no one wants to be left holding the hot potato so the tools always come back!”

“ShareMyToolbox creates accountability and no one wants to be left holding the hot potato so the tools always come back!”SHAWN MILLER

Rollout and Deployment

When asked how the rollout and adoption of ShareMyToolbox has been, Miller was extremely enthusiastic. “Everybody is fully on board and they get it. That’s so important. It provides real transparency to where the tools are and how the location of that tool applies to them.” He continued, “For example, they can do a search for a tool and find out it’s at the job they’re already working on. That saves a ton of time since hourly labor rates are expensive. In that regard, the solution pays for itself.”

Another bonus Miller discovered since rolling out ShareMyToolbox was how the company’s management could see just how much it has invested in tools. He declared, “It was really the first time we could show the company just how much we have invested in tool inventory. It was alarming and helped justify the importance of having ShareMyToolbox for our tool management solution.”

The Bottom Line

Miller sums up his satisfaction in the most practical way you’d hope to hear. ShareMyToolbox does exactly what it’s designed to do. Miller summarized, “It doesn’t charge by the tool entry, it charges by the user, so since rolling out ShareMyToolbox, we see nearly every tool come back. It’s a rarity when we can’t find something now.” He concluded, “That means time and cost savings.” When asked if he’d recommend to others, he simply said, “It works fabulously for us. It’s simple and it’s been great.”

Want to learn if ShareMyToolbox is right for your business?  Check out ShareMyToolbox, at https://www.sharemytoolbox.com/tool-tracking or call, 866.768.8665

Learn more about modern tool tracking here. Also you can find numerous articles on tool tracking tips and contractor profiles of tool tracking success on our website www.ShareMyToolbox.com.