Little Guy Australia eases its administrative burden with Smartsheet, boosting sales

With travel and accommodation costs on the rise, camper trailers are gaining traction. With a small team, Little Guy Australia wants to bring teardrop trailers to the masses. With their distinctive shape, these trailers are lightweight, simple, and built for off-road camping, all while sporting a retro aesthetic. Drawing on decades of industrial design experience, Little Guy Australia uses the latest laser technology and computer driven cutting machines to ensure every Little Guy it produces is airtight, leak-proof and built to withstand the Australian elements.

Little Guy Australia needed to streamline its processes and improve productivity to keep up with a growing demand. “We used to document everything in simple spreadsheets, which was time-consuming and prone to errors,” shares Elissa O'Donohue, Operations Manager at Little Guy Australia. “It wasn’t scalable and we wanted everything to work seamlessly as we grew.” What’s more, recent Australian compliance requirements for small trailer manufacturers required them to meticulously document every step of the production process and ensure they followed strict safety and quality standards.

Setting up a comprehensive view

Looking for a more comprehensive solution to manage its builds, Little Guy Australia started experimenting with Smartsheet. 

“I like to click around and figure things out myself, and it was easy enough for me to pick up Smartsheet,” shares O'Donohue. “I quickly learned how to enter timesheets and create reports.” 

The team also benefits from the support and guidance of local Smartsheet partner, Cornerstone Alliance, to make the most of the solution.

Today, every step Little Guy Australia makes is documented in Smartsheet, enabling the company to monitor its inventory in real time. For example, when the company finishes building a roof, the team marks it as complete in Smartsheet. This triggers a process in the inventory system where the status of the 25 parts that make up the roof are deducted from the total stock count. This provides a timely and accurate stock count which was previously unreliable. 

Tracking build times

Little Guy Australia also tracks the time it takes to build a model. “We can see at a glance how far along the build is for any project,” adds O'Donohue. At the end of the day, O'Donohue can then cross-check that what is completed on the floor actually matches the reported stage of the trailer’s development.

“We also generate graphs to see the average build times for each model and spot any spikes,” adds O'Donohue. This enables the company to plan ahead accurately and investigate any inefficiencies.

Finally, Little Guy Australia exports worker data as a report for its payroll department. “The dashboard makes it easy to spot errors—for example if we mistakenly assign time to a different employee,” shares O'Donohue.

Saving hours, improving sales

“The biggest benefit is time,” remarks O'Donohue. “Instead of doing things manually, I click a button to generate quotes or reports. This frees me up to interact with customers." 

Taking into consideration the larger team, she estimates, “We’d spend five hours every Friday on our spreadsheets, and we don’t do that anymore. I estimate we’re saving around 10 hours every week, and we dedicate that time to sales. Closing a sale can take as little as half an hour, so we have greatly enhanced our income.”

The full picture in sight

Another major benefit is visibility into its inventory and team progress, enabling the company to optimise its costs. “We’re almost like control freaks, we want to make sure that everything’s seamless and done properly to maximise the time and effort we spend on tasks, and Smartsheet has allowed that,” notes O'Donohue. “I’ve talked to a lot of friends who are builders, and no one does what we do in terms of stock control. They’re quite amazed by the level of detail,” notes O'Donohue.

Over time, Little Guy Australia has gained a clearer picture of the company. “Thanks to various labels, we can easily differentiate between overhead and building costs, and it has been interesting to see where the money goes,” adds O'Donohue. 

"Before, we used to have lengthy conversations about why certain numbers were off. There was so much missing information, which we’re able to fill in now in Smartsheet. Thanks to that, all the noise has stopped.”

Evolving constantly, scaling smoothly

As a result, Little Guy Australia can continuously improve its processes. “We can easily identify mistakes on the floor, and we use these insights for research and development. This lets us prevent future mistakes and reach 100% efficiency,” adds O'Donohue.

Unsurprisingly, having well-documented processes ensures business continuity for Little Guy Australia. Before, if a team member retired, it would have been very hard for another person to understand what was going on in their spreadsheets. Now, if someone steps out, another person can take over without issues. 

“Thankfully, Smartsheet is also priced reasonably, and the cost of software is a key thing for a small company like ours.”

With automated, transparent processes, Little Guy Australia can scale sustainably and empower everyone from weekend campers to birdwatchers to enjoy outdoor time in comfort. 

“The key is that we are no longer bogged down with administrative tasks, and we can grow sales and multitask effectively,” concludes O'Donohue.