How Kimberley Manufacturing Boosted Profitability and Saved 75% of Their Time with QuickBooks

Kimberley Manufacturing, a 30-year-old leader, struggled with manual, paper-heavy workflows that lacked financial transparency. They implemented QuickBooks Online Advanced, transforming their finance and operations into a streamlined, data-driven system, gaining real-time project profitability insights and significant new efficiencies.

Key Metrics Snapshot

• 75% reduction in finance-related workload: Moved from 5 staff to 2, freeing up 25-30% additional time for more impactful work.
• 60–70% of direct project costs accurately allocated to COGS: Efficient tracking and reporting enabled better financial management.
• 4 apps reduced to 1: Simplified systems integration, improving efficiency while lowering software costs.
• Real-time reporting for project profitability: Enhanced decision-making with immediate insights into margins and performance.

The Challenge: Navigate a complex market with manual processes

Kimberley Manufacturing, a 30-year-old Australian business, specialises in steel framing, roof trusses, and prefabricated housing for Western Australia's unique Kimberley and Pilbara regions. Their products are essential for addressing challenges like extreme weather and high freight costs, contributing significantly to local construction.

Despite their strong reputation, Kimberley Manufacturing faced significant operational hurdles due to outdated, manual processes:

• Error-prone invoicing and timesheet management.
• Time-consuming payroll calculations, especially for overtime.
• Fragmented systems for tracking inventory, project costs, and profitability.
• Difficulty generating actionable insights for strategic business decisions.

Gareth Owen, CFO, highlights the previous struggles: "Staff were manually creating invoices and checking them back and forth between teams," leading to errors and delays. These inefficiencies created bottlenecks, hindering transparency and strategic decision-making. Kimberley Manufacturing needed a comprehensive solution to centralise management, enhance integration, and provide real-time financial visibility.

The Solution: Leverage automation and insights for growth

Kimberley Manufacturing implemented Intuit QuickBooks Online Advanced, transforming their finance and operational workflows. QuickBooks' integrated features and intuitive interface streamlined complex manufacturing and construction processes, enabling data-driven decision-making.

Streamlined project tracking and cost allocation

Fragmented systems previously made accurate project cost and profitability tracking nearly impossible. QuickBooks' project tracking feature revolutionised this, allowing detailed transaction assignment to specific jobs. This provided real-time insights into project profitability and margins, even allowing them to separate costs for individual components like wall frames and roof trusses for the same customer.

"We're able, at any time using the project tools, to see where our margins are," Gareth explains. "We can really drill down into how the projects are performing comparatively." This granular insight boosted direct project cost allocation to 60-70% of costs recognised in COGS, fundamentally changing their quoting process and enabling them to eliminate unprofitable elements.

Automated invoicing for efficiency

Manual and paper-heavy invoicing led to errors and delays. "We spent hours manually correcting processes and tracking down discrepancies," Gareth recalls. The old process involved multiple manual steps between operational and finance teams.

QuickBooks Online Advanced introduced automated workflows for invoicing and purchase order matching. This significantly reduced manual workload, freeing up finance staff for strategic tasks. Now, operational staff directly generate and send invoices within QuickBooks, with the finance team primarily providing oversight.

AI-driven bank integrations

Manual data entry was a significant source of errors. QuickBooks' AI-driven bank integrations streamlined data entry and automated workflows, further reducing the finance team's manual work. According to Gareth, "The automation features, particularly related to bank transactions, have been beneficial."

Simplified timesheet and payroll management

Complex payroll and manual timesheet management were major time sinks. QuickBooks Payroll simplified these processes, improving accuracy and ensuring timely payments. Staff also gained direct visibility into their timesheets, fostering transparency and real-time operational insights.

Custom fields for tailored operations

Kimberley Manufacturing leveraged custom fields within QuickBooks Online Advanced to track unique operational details like authorisations and production timelines. This flexibility provided actionable reports and improved cash flow projections without relying on external applications.

Reduced reliance on external applications

Before QuickBooks, Kimberley Manufacturing used multiple disparate systems. QuickBooks' comprehensive features, including embedded payroll, allowed them to reduce their reliance on external apps from four to just one. This streamlined workflows, improved efficiency, and lowered software costs.

Seamless collaboration with external accountants

QuickBooks provided secure, real-time access for Kimberley Manufacturing's external tax consultant, streamlining income tax filings and ensuring efficient communication.

The results: Facilitate strategic growth and agility

The implementation of QuickBooks delivered transformative results for Kimberley Manufacturing:

• 75% reduction in finance workload: The finance team was optimised from five to two members, with an additional 25-30% capacity for other critical tasks.
• 60–70% of direct project costs accurately allocated: Dramatically improving financial transparency and operational decision-making.
• Improved quoting and decision-making: Real-time project tracking eliminated guesswork, helping to confidently expand their profitable modular housing segment. This shift from "art" to data-driven insights enabled accurate pricing and growth.
• Reduced external apps: Streamlined workflows and lowered software costs by consolidating from four applications to one.
• Seamless collaboration with external accountants: Ensuring accurate and efficient tax filings.

These improvements provided stability during economic fluctuations in the construction industry. Gareth noted, "There have been times when those insights have meant that we've known that we need to buckle down, and I'm not sure that we would have necessarily survived if it wasn't for those insights." He added, "Being able to have those insights in real time, on a project level, has enabled us to recognise opportunities for future business growth!"

Future: Success with data and innovation

With QuickBooks Online Advanced, Kimberley Manufacturing is well-positioned for future growth, leveraging data-driven insights to scale its modular housing division and refine processes.

Gareth Owen emphasises: "QuickBooks is not just a software—it has become the bedrock of our corporate knowledge and decision-making. The insights it gives us will continue driving our success for years to come."

Kimberley Manufacturing’s journey from fragmented manual operations to streamlined, data-rich workflows illustrates the transformative power of QuickBooks Online Advanced. By focusing on automation, accurate reporting, and real-time data, the company has gained a competitive edge in a challenging manufacturing environment, proving that strategic growth starts with the right tools.

Discover the benefits of QuickBooks Online Advanced today to achieve similar results for your business.