When Universal Industries—a Cedar Falls, Iowa-based manufacturer of bulk material handling equipment—lost not one, but two HR team members in the middle of a major software transition, the entire project could have collapsed. Operating out of a nearly 100,000-square-foot facility, Universal Industries designs and produces bucket elevators, belt conveyors, and continuous cup elevators used in a variety of industries. Precision, timing, and reliability drive their operations—so when their HR and payroll system started falling behind, they could not afford to wait.
For years, Universal Industries relied on Optimum for HR and payroll. It was not ideal, but it was functional—until it wasn't. Support for the system was ending, and the company faced a hard deadline: migrate to a new HCM solution before the lights went out.
"There wasn't one 'aha' moment," said David Davis, Controller at Universal Industries. "We just knew we had to make a change. Optimum was slow, clunky, and couldn't handle modern needs like importing non-paid hours or tracking union attendance rules. We were patching things together with massive spreadsheets."
Universal Industries needed a platform that could:
Two months into the implementation of Scissortail HCM, Universal Industries lost their primary HR contact. Then they lost the backup. For most companies, this would derail everything.
But CS3 Technology stepped up.
"Brandi, Robyn, and the rest of the CS3 team didn't flinch," said David. "They took over the setup that our HR person was supposed to do. Performance reviews, profile builds, onboarding setup—they just made it happen."
"They kept us moving forward, week by week, breaking it down into manageable pieces," added Bridgette Peters, who came onboard mid-project to help manage payroll. "Even with limited staff on our side, CS3 kept us on track and taught us the system as we went."
Before switching to Scissortail HCM, Universal Industries' weekly payroll was a full-day event. Verifying hours, running reports, and checking deductions took up most of every Wednesday.
"Now we're done by lunch," David said. "And instead of clicking through 10 different reports, everything we need shows up in one email the second payroll is submitted. That alone made a massive difference for our small team."
Beyond payroll, Scissortail HCM's impact spread across departments:
Even union-specific needs—like attendance point tracking and unexcused absence reporting—moved from bloated spreadsheets into Scissortail HCM's reporting suite, streamlining compliance.
When asked what ultimately sold them on CS3 Technology, neither David nor Bridgette pointed to features or pricing.
They pointed to people.
"Bonnie. Brandi. Robyn. They didn't just understand the software—they understood HR. They've done these jobs before. And that makes a huge difference," David said.
Bridgette agreed: "They didn't just train us. They sent us screen recordings, gave us workarounds, and answered our questions quickly. I've been through a lot of software rollouts, and this was hands down the smoothest."
If you're still hanging onto an aging HCM system, David and Bridgette have a simple message:
Universal Industries did not just survive a stressful system transition—they improved accuracy, recovered time, and built a more resilient HR and payroll infrastructure, even while short-staffed.
And they did it with CS3 Technology.
Let's talk about what's holding you back—and how to move forward.
