July 1999
Time Is On My Side
by Kirsten Tyler
"Time seems to go by much quicker to me now. When I was approaching 16, it seemed as if time stood still, but now... not in middle age. The weeks seem to run together. Everything is measured by nine hour plus workdays and the weekends. Now time seems to be something I never have enough of…or was that money... or both? Either way, I now know that time is an asset."
Time has become quite an asset to Glenn Robbins, president of Acroprint, as well. Ever since he was a boy he has understood that the concept of time is more complex than what meets the eye. His father, Wilbur Robbins, worked as a salesman in the time equipment business, first with IBM and then with Simplex, before he had the notion to stop punching in for someone else. In 1969, Wilbur Robbins founded his own time recorder company, Acroprint, in Raleigh. His plan was to develop a low-cost, high quality time recorder that was not only competitive with the least expensive machine on the market, but would also offer more features.
The first Acroprint time recorder was a heavy-duty mechanical clock which had to be set manually. Selling the original Acroprint product was Glenn's first official role when he joined the company permanently in 1973 after a stint as a summer employee during his college years at UNC-Chapel Hill. Fresh out of college, he was eager to join the workforce and not giving it much thought, joined his father at Acroprint since they got along well. While his father was busy traveling the country establishing dealers for Acroprint products, Glenn was selling and installing time clocks locally. For years, Acroprint operated strictly as a sales and marketing organization, outsourcing the assembly work as a dealer network was established. Then, to the dismay of doubters, Wilbur Robbins had the inclination to expand his customer base to include mass distributors and catalog producers.
"We were so successful in dealing with mass operators that our product had a great appeal in the catalog," Glenn recollects. He jokes, "This greatly increased our coverage. Even with 300 dealers, our coverage was pretty spotty versus a catalog that goes out to a million people."
Suddenly, the obstacle became keeping production up with sales. "It got to the point where the third party couldn't produce as quickly as we were selling them," says Glenn. "When something is made by a third party, you just don't have that element of control over the volume, quality, or sense of urgency so we decided to bring the manufacturing in-house."
Initially, nine ladies were hired to assemble the machines and three service technicians supervised the process. "Rather than be a fully integrated manufacturer, we decided to just be an assembly operation so we wouldn't have to make loans on heavy machinery to produce parts," Glenn explains. He says bringing production under Acroprint's wing allowed the company to focus on pursuing volume sales to catalog houses. Meanwhile, his father also found ways to penetrate the international market through industry trade shows and advertisements in foreign publications.
In 1976, Glenn was named executive vice president and began to function more as a general manager, second in command only to his father.
During the next ten years, Acroprint enjoyed steady, but slow growth. Perhaps it was the calm before the storm. In 1986, Wilbur Robbins suffered a heart attack and died six weeks later. "Overnight I was left holding the envelope," Glenn sighs. Suddenly, ultimate responsibility fell on his shoulders.
Over time, the electronic time recorders have evolved into semi-intelligent terminals with the ability to read badges and fingerprints. These computerized units interface with a PC and generate a variety of time and attendance reports. Today, these terminals are available with a range of configurable applications such as job costing, inventory control, machine monitoring, and controlled access. Some models will also interface with popular accounting software and export data compatible with payroll services such as ADP. Currently, Acroprint is developing complete software packages, such as the ATR 9800 (compatible with Windows 95 and NT) to automate every aspect of time and attendance such as reporting, employee scheduling, job costing, forecasting, and benefit tracking among other functions.
Thirty years have passed and Acroprint has grown from a small, mechanical time recorder manufacturer to a seamless integrator of computerized time and attendance products that even Ritz Carlton relies upon. Acroprint also remains the dominant time clock supplier in just about every office machine catalog. They sold over 65,000 units in 1998 translating into nearly $20 million in gross sales. Electro-mechanical units popular with small-to-medium sized businesses still account for 65 percent of sales, but Acroprint is projecting a 20 to 50 percent growth rate per year in its software product line.
Glenn agrees, "I try to make it so that everyone is having a good time." He pauses, "Or at least so that I am." Most importantly, Glenn is thankful that the transfer to future growth will be with a management team that views growth as opportunity and not as a burden. Giving up the day-to-day operations has allowed Glenn time to focus on Acroprint's future. He, too, may still measure his time in work weeks for now, but he has found a way to turn time into an asset.
Contact:
Acroprint Time Recorder Company
5640 Departure Drive
Raleigh, North Carolina 27616-1841 USA
Tel (within USA) 1-800-334-7190
(outside USA) 1-919-872-5800
Fax 1-919-850-0720
