Quad/Graphics, the largest private printer of magazines, catalogs, and other commercial products in the world with over 12,000 employees, requires highly flexible staffing adjustments by shift and day and location, based on continually changing production requirements. To keep up with these variable demands, Quad/Graphics utilizes an ever-shifting mix of thousands of temporary workers, which raises significant management challenges.

"It is critical that we have the correct number of workers to operate each facility. We cannot afford to be a single person short at any station in our facilities," said Robert Quadracci, human resource director of Quad/Graphics. To complicate matters more, each contract worker is paid differently based on the job role they perform, the shift worked and the worker's seniority, and as workers shift from one position to another, they require different pay scales and training.

Quad/Graphics worked with many staffing companies to fulfill these labor demands, but coordinating the hundreds of job/location combinations each day proved difficult to manage manually. More importantly, it was impossible to reconcile invoices with hundreds of thousands of line items with the actual work performed each month.

As a result, in 2003 Quad/Graphics decided they needed to gain control of this aspect of their operations. They set out to automate the worker sourcing and scheduling activities, better manage their contract workers on the job and gain visibility and control into their temporary labor spending. Quad/Graphics selected and implemented IQNavigator to optimize its rapidly changing, around-the-clock demands for contingent labor.

Using IQNavigator7, Quad/Graphics sends its suppliers the next day's labor requirements including specific hourly shifts, locations, and activities. A specialized web-based user interface enables Quad/Graphics to define the number of workers required across dozens of facilities and over 40 job roles, any specialized skills needed, and the desired bill rate for the day's activities within minutes. "Our high volume day labor requirements change day to day and from shift to shift within each day. Using IQNavigator7's light industrial staffing capabilities, we are able to easily request our day labor requirements," said Quadracci. "The next day our suppliers have the appropriate resources lined up at every location to support our highly variable production operations.

IQNavigator also identifies rehires and past performance of the temporary workers, allowing Quad/Graphics to optimize the productivity of its temporary labor workforce.

After achieving success using IQNavigator to manage high volume light industrial contractors, Quad/Graphics expanded its use of the system to their technical and engineering contractors. As these jobs require specialized skills and a more involved selection process, IQNavigator7 enables a completely different workflow for the requisition, candidate interviewing and selection process for highly skilled jobs.

"From our high-volume requirements that require a day's notice to fulfill, to specific skill and talent needs that require a more in-depth evaluation and approval process, IQNavigator automates the process so that we can get the right services and control costs," said Quadracci.

Instead of hundreds of invoices a month to manually reconcile and process, Quad/Graphics now receives one consolidated invoice from IQNavigator for all temporary workers -- already reconciled to contract terms and approved hours worked. This has allowed Quad/Graphics to streamline the supplier payment process and have complete and accurate visibility into their services spending.

In addition to Quad/Graphics, IQNavigator is being used at three other manufacturing organizations within the Fortune 200. The key element enabling success is the light industrial capabilities to manage high volume temporary workers.