Photo: Monster Industries Ltd.
Monster Industries Ltd., based in Houston B.C., is a full-service construction and maintenance company serving the mining, energy and forestry sectors. In 2004, the company started as a small welding shop and today has grown to include four locations across Northern B.C. in Houston, Terrace, Mackenzie and Williams Lake. As the company has grown, so have the challenges of managing a burgeoning business with a larger and widespread workforce.
“When it becomes difficult to wrap your arms around your business; when you can’t say good morning to all your staff, that’s the time to bring in systems and controls,” said owner Kyle Thomson.
As a business experiences growing pains, that is when a business owner may need to bring in outside expertise to help guide the growth and strengthen the company. However, when the need is most critical, businesses often hesitate to invest in outside expertise because the cost is a hurdle that they cannot overcome.
When Monster Industries’ management realized that their current accounting and project management system was causing delays in invoicing and paying vendors and could no longer keep up with the workload, they knew it was time to invest in a more robust system. After searching for a suitable solution, a new software program was acquired. Realizing that software alone could not provide the operational benefits without trained staff, Monster Industries turned to Northern Development for assistance through the Competitiveness Consulting Rebate program, to help train their employees on the new software system.
Northern Development’s Competitiveness Consulting Rebate (CCR) program supports industrial supply chain companies with the costs of hiring an external consultant to improve efficiencies and build capacity in the business. The Trust recognizes that businesses are unique and success through this rebate program is defined differently from business to business. Whether a company is growing and needs to hire more employees, increase operational efficiencies, or is looking to diversify into new markets, the CCR program can help mitigate the cost of bring outside expertise to achieve these goals.
With the guidance of an external consultant, Monster Industries successfully implemented their new accounting software and provided staff training on the new system to ensure a smooth transition and accelerated adoption.
“Without undertaking this project and making the substantial investment, we would not be able to gain the efficiency needed to build our business,” added Thomson.
Already, Monster Industries has experienced multiple benefits from the increased capabilities of their new software. Their job costing abilities have increased and staff can now perform in-depth analysis of individual projects in real time. Ultimately, Monster Industries is now in a more favorable position to grow the business with the confidence that systems are in place to better serve a growing market.
