Success Stories

In 1992, when a well established plastics company discovered a new and innovative use for its product, K'NEX Brands, L.P., was born. Today, K'NEX Brands building sets are perennial award-winners, inspiring creativity, building self confidence, and encouraging interaction between children and parents. K'NEX Brands products are distributed in over 30 countries, and are still made at the company's manufacturing facility in Hatfield, Pennsylvania. K'NEX Brands is also the North American distributor for BRIO trains and toys and Lincoln Logs.
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The Pieces Fit
For nearly 15 years, K'NEX Brands has relied on Sage Abra HRMS and the talented team at HRMG Solutions to ensure its payroll and human resource operations run as efficiently as its toy manufacturing operations. The company started with the Abra HR module first, using its existing DacEasy accounting software for payroll. The lack of integration between the two systems resulted in frustration for Lisa Christman, Senior Director of Human Resources, as it meant time-consuming duplicate data entry. Christman said the company considered outsourcing its payroll operations, but abandoned the idea because of cost and the fact that it would not eliminate duplicate data entry.

Instead, Christman encouraged the company to adopt the Abra Payroll module, citing the product's longevity, popularity, and price. "It's been a huge win for the company," Christman says, "We have no problems — which is imperative for payroll operations."

In-house PayrollSaves $20,000
Part of that win has been generous cost savings. "We employ a full-time payroll clerk and a full-time HR clerk for less than the cost of outsourcing our payroll. I have calculated that we save about $20,000 a year by keeping payroll in house with Sage Abra," says Christman.

Employees enjoy the convenience of Direct Deposit and the detailed attendance information provided on their pay voucher. “We get fewer questions because the voucher includes the details our employees want to know,” says Christman.

Adding Value
The Abra HR module eliminates much of the administrative work by organizing employee data. "Abra HR is our listkeeper," says Christman. "We use it to track awards, trainings, contacts, birthdays, reviews, pay increases, you name it." Christman says that the ability to rapidly generate reports and queries makes the software invaluable to her team. "We can get at the information we need quickly and in the format we want."

Using Sage Abra, K'NEX Brands produces an annual benefit statement for its employees, detailing the value of the combined salary and benefit package. "We're proud of the benefits we offer our employees, and the benefit statement helps remind employees of what we're providing," says Christman.

Building the Future
K'NEX Brands is currently working with HRMG to identify an electronic time keeping system the company can use in its warehouse operations. "We will structure it so that we can import the data directly into Abra Payroll," Christman says.

The company is also considering the Abra ESS (Employee Self Service) module. "We already offer Direct Deposit, and with ESS, employees can view and print their own pay stub online." In addition, employees will be able to update dependent information, change their address, and view and change their W-4 data.

HRMG Is Perfect Partner
Christman and her staff regularly attend user group meetings hosted by HRMG. "The user group meetings are great networking opportunities, plus we always learn something we can use," says Christman.

"HRMG continues to be a great resource to us. They are knowledgeable, nearby, and very reliable. We really feel like they're looking out for our best interests," she concludes.