HR in Manufacturing: How Yaskawa Saved 120 Hours a Year
Jelena Rašula, Head of Marketing
Yaskawa Electric Corporation is globally known for industrial automation, robotics, and drives & motion controls, with over a century of innovation since its founding in Japan in 1915. They have a strong presence across Europe, and in Slovenia, the company operates two production facilities and sales in Kočevje, employing over 220 people across multiple legal entities.
When a global robotics leader operates across multiple production sites, HR complexity quickly follows. Disconnected systems, manual processes, and limited visibility can slow down even the most capable teams.
This was the challenge facing Yaskawa Slovenia. With a clear vision to modernise HR and unify processes, they turned to Gecko HRM to deliver a single, scalable solution, led by Andreja Petelin.
The Challenge: Fragmented Systems and Manual Workflows
Before implementing Gecko HRM, Yaskawa’s HR processes were reliant on manual work and disconnected tools.
Key challenges included:
- HR data across spreadsheets and external systems
- Limited integration with payroll providers
- No unified platform for employee lifecycle management
- Manual tracking of assets, onboarding, and offboarding
- Production employees without direct system access increase the administrative burden
As noted in the initial assessment, much of the HR function depended on different sheets, even for core processes such as payroll preparation. The organisation needed more than incremental improvements.
The Goal: One Comprehensive HR Solution
Yaskawa’s objective was clear. Replace fragmented tools with a single platform that could support: End-to-end HR administration, recruitment and onboarding, absence and annual leave management, compliance-ready documentation, and integration with existing systems.
Most importantly, they wanted a solution that could scale with their operations while maintaining strict process control.
The Solution: From Fragmented Data to Full Control
Yaskawa was not lacking in capability. They were lacking cohesion.
HR data was dispersed, processes were manual, and workflows such as onboarding, leave management, and offboarding lacked consistency. This created unnecessary administrative pressure and limited visibility across entities and locations.
Gecko addressed this by introducing a unified, structured HR environment designed to align with Yaskawa’s operational reality.
Bringing Structure to Core HR
Instead of managing employee data across multiple tools, Yaskawa gained a single, centralised system that provides complete oversight of its workforce.
This shift enabled:
- A clear organisational structure across all entities and locations
- Automated annual leave calculations, removing manual errors
- Built-in document generation with compliance-ready records
- Reliable payroll data preparation through structured exports
The result is not just efficiency, but confidence in data accuracy and compliance.
Turning Hiring into a Seamless Experience
Previously, recruitment and onboarding required multiple steps and manual coordination. With Gecko, these processes became connected and predictable:
- Job postings now flow directly from the system to Yaskawa’s website
- Onboarding follows structured workflows, ensuring consistency
- Training completion is tracked, giving HR and managers full visibility
This creates a smoother experience for both HR and new hires, while reducing administrative overhead.
Creating Consistency Across the Employee Lifecycle
Offboarding is often overlooked, yet critical for compliance and knowledge capture. Yaskawa introduced a standardised, traceable approach:
- Exit interviews are captured digitally
- Offboarding workflows are consistent across the organisation
- Every step is documented, creating a clear audit trail
This ensures that even the final stage of the employee journey is handled with structure and accountability.
Gaining Control Over Assets and Equipment
In a production environment, tracking issued equipment is essential but often manual. They brought clarity to this area by enabling:
- Full visibility of who holds which assets, from uniforms to safety gear
- Improved accountability and reduced operational risk
A simple improvement with immediate operational impact.
Driving Adoption in a Production Environment
A key consideration was that production employees did not have direct access to computers and the system. Instead, managers handled inputs on their behalf. Gecko’s flexible design ensured that:
- Managers could efficiently manage teams without adding complexity
- HR retained full oversight and control
- Processes remained consistent across all employee groups
The success of the project was not only driven by technology but also by strong collaboration.
This level of engagement ensured rapid adoption and a high-quality rollout.
The Result: A Unified HR Platform Ready for Scale
“On a monthly basis, our HR team prepares a wide range of reports and analyses for management, our headquarters, and sustainability reporting. By digitalising HR processes, report preparation has become significantly faster and simpler, saving us at least 10 hours per month, or 120 hours annually compared to our previous way of working.”
Andreja Petelin, Yaskawa
With Gecko in place, Yaskawa did not just modernise HR. They fundamentally changed how it operates. By replacing fragmented tools with an all-in-one platform, HR shifted from reactive administration to proactive management, gaining the visibility and control needed to support a growing, production-driven organisation.
What was once a collection of disconnected processes is now a structured HR ecosystem that supports both operational efficiency and long-term strategy.
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