How One Manufacturing Company Built an HR Department from the Ground Up
Learn how a family-owned company replaced manual HR processes with a connected system that makes work easier for both administrators and employees.
For 68 years, Acopian Technical Company has been known for delivering highly reliable power supplies to a wide range of industries. The third-generation, family-owned manufacturer prides itself on fast turnaround times, dependable products and a philosophy of “service above all else.”
That same reliability extends to how Acopian treats its people. To better support employees, the company needed to modernize its human resources (HR) processes and create a more connected experience.
Hear how Acopian Technical Company replaced paper-based HR processes with a unified platform that saves time and improves accuracy.
Manual Processes Slowed Everything Down
When Kristin Garrison joined the company as controller and HR manager, she discovered there wasn’t a formal HR department in place. Payroll, benefits and onboarding were handled separately and tracked on paper, creating inefficiencies, data errors and delays.
“When I first started, we really didn’t have an HR department,” Garrison said. “Most of it was done manually, very heavy on paperwork, which caused a lot of things to be missed. There were some just data entry errors, and it was not a timely or efficient system.”
Building a Foundation for Modern HR
To transform HR and improve the employee experience, Garrison turned to isolved. The intelligently connected human capital management (HCM) platform unified payroll, benefits, onboarding and employee data in one place, replacing paper-based tasks with automated workflows.
“Administratively, everything is a one-stop shop,” Garrison said. “If somebody needs an employee's phone number, wants to look at their personnel record, notes, attendance records, it's all right there. On the employee side, we've empowered them to have their information at their fingertips.”
Now, HR has a single source of truth for employee information, and employees have direct access to their own records. “Our employees are the heart of this company,” said Alex Karapetian, president at Acopian. “We want to provide them with the best benefits, the best services that we possibly can, and isolved has assisted in us being able to do that.”
A Smoother Experience for HR and Employees
Since implementing isolved, HR tasks take less time, data is more accurate and employees can easily find the information they need. Garrison said isolved’s support team worked side by side with Acopian throughout implementation, helping identify the right setup and modules for the company’s needs.
"It took us a lot of time to figure out exactly what our needs were, and they took the time to discuss each of those modules with me and to get a good understanding of what would benefit us," she said.
“It just makes everything run more smoothly. It helps HR run smoothly. Our employees are happier. It’s just been a wonderful experience for us having these updates in technology that isolved has provided to us.”
— Alex Karapetian, President at Acopian Technical Company
Karapetian credits isolved's support team for making it easy to get started. “Anytime we've had a question or needed further explanation, they were always available. They always got back to us right away, and they worked with us. They're more of a partner than anything else.”
Looking Ahead
To keep growing, Garrison plans to expand its HR capabilities with isolved by introducing performance reviews through Share & Perform, adding department-specific training in Learn & Grow and offering more self-service options for employees.
“We balance the organization's long-term goals with the employees’ personal goals by aiming to give clear career paths so that the employees know what direction they’re moving in in the long term,” she said.
