How Moorhead Bros Rebuilt Dispatch and Job Costing in 120 Days

Company: Moorhead Brothers, a 3E Infrastructures company

Location: Blacksburg, South Carolina

Industry: Heavy Civil Construction

Speakers: Rick Wetherell, Director of Operations · Phil Suggs, Fleet & Logistics Director · David Nielson, Director of Finance & Accounting · Charlie Blanton, Fleet Coordinator · John Michael Spangler, Fleet Admin · Cole Bradley, Service Writer

Moorhead Brothers

Moorhead Brothers is a heavy civil contractor in Blacksburg, South Carolina. It is part of 3E Infrastructures. In 120 days on Clue, the team moved maintenance, dispatch and time cards onto one system.

"Hot dog, what they accomplished in seven days. That's pretty impressive."
Rick Wetherell, Director of Operations

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What They Built in Seven Days

The team laid out what they wanted from dispatch in a product feedback session. Clue's engineers came back in seven days.

"I was very surprised at what they had accomplished in a week. You know, this is what we'd like to see, and I mean, hot dog, what Anna was able to do in seven days. That's pretty impressive."
Rick Wetherell, Director of Operations

Every support ticket Rick and Phil opened in July closed the same day. The fastest one took 1 hour and 24 minutes.

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A Dispatch Board Built for How They Work

Scheduling ran by hand. Dispatch and mechanic time cards lived in the platform Moorhead was replacing.

Clue built them a magnet board. Color coded by division. Drag and drop scheduling. Shaped around how Charlie Blanton and John Michael Spangler dispatch every day.

"I loved it. I think once they get in there and play with it, we are definitely on the right track. Just looking at it, I know that's what they're looking for."
Phil Suggs, Fleet & Logistics Director

"Going from HCSS dispatch to Clue dispatch was initially drastically different. That magnet board was a huge step to bridge that gap. And I think we're getting farther with some of the other stuff that, unless you're dispatching every day, you probably don't even know about."
Rick Wetherell, Director of Operations

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Time Cards Rebuilt Around the Shop

Most shops clock mechanics in and out of each work order. Moorhead's mechanics are salaried, not billable. Rick and David brought that to Clue. Clue changed the model.

"We've asked them to fundamentally change how time cards function at Clue, and they've agreed to it. Our mechanics are going to do a single project time card each day. The work order time only generates cost against that work order. It doesn't go for approval, it doesn't go anywhere."
Rick Wetherell, Director of Operations

"We don't want guys having to worry about scanning in and out of three or four different work orders in a day, because you're gonna get garbage in, garbage out."
David Nielson, Director of Finance & Accounting

What they want is the real cost of a work order.

"We want to understand what really goes into the overall cost of a specific work order. We don't want mechanics stretching out time because they don't want to look unproductive."
Rick Wetherell, Director of Operations

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One Source of Truth for Every Asset

3E Infrastructures is rolling out NetSuite across its operating companies. Where assets live got settled early.

"If a new asset is created, or if we go buy a new piece of equipment, the first spot it's gonna go, and the only spot it's gonna go, is Clue. And then it's gonna propagate over to all the spots in NetSuite that it needs to go."
David Nielson, Director of Finance & Accounting

"We'll have Clue fully integrated, live running, every way we possibly can, long before we roll into NetSuite. Clue is now our source of truth for all assets, period."
Rick Wetherell, Director of Operations

Clue feeds the ERP, payroll and dispatch. Every new asset starts there.

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The People Behind the Rollout

120 days in, four user classes are live: Admin, Power User, Superintendent and Foreman. The last two were built in production the same day Rick asked for them.

"Josh has been phenomenal for us through this process, because he really understands what we're coming from. From HCSS. Our pain points there. We definitely know from trial and error what didn't work with that system, and he gets where we're wanting to head with this."
Rick Wetherell, Director of Operations

"Make sure y'all keep Josh happy."
David Nielson, Director of Finance & Accounting

"He can't go anywhere."
Rick Wetherell, Director of Operations

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What Comes Next

The NetSuite integration is in development. 3E manages assets in Clue, so the work is pushing equipment costing, asset records and financial data out to NetSuite.

The Miter payroll export is in final checks. Mechanic time cards in Clue will feed payroll directly.

A historical work order migration is loading years of maintenance records into Clue.

3E Infrastructures is watching Moorhead's rollout. Next comes the conversation about the other operating companies, starting with the rate module.

"I still fully think that you guys are going to be fully implemented and done prior to us going live on NetSuite. As long as we have a backup way of exporting that data out to get into the foundation, I'm gonna be fine."
Rick Wetherell, Director of Operations

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After the latest round of dispatch work shipped:

"Yesterday, we took a huge step forward."
Rick Wetherell, Director of Operations

"Absolutely."
Phil Suggs, Fleet & Logistics Director