Athon LabsEst. 2021
Athon LabsEst. 2021

One gate.Every hour [accounted_for]

Our work — Maersk (Damco), Canada

Maersk's Canadian subsidiary was coordinating hundreds of third-party workers through one crashing Excel file. We built them a workforce management platform — from shift assignment down to the photo taken at the gate.

> Case study 01 — Maersk
ClientMaersk — Damco
LocationCanada
ScopeFull-stack platform
Outcome100s of hrs saved / week / site

Illustration of software we built for this client; names and figures in the UI are changed.

Case study — not affiliated with or endorsed by Maersk. Maersk and Damco are trademarks of A.P. Møller - Mærsk A/S.

[N.01]> How it works
[W.01/06] — The problemDemo
damco_shifts_FINAL_v47.xlsx
37 editors · no alerts · hours by hand
Agency A
editing cell B14
Agency B
editing cell F9
Agency C
editing cell D22
> everyone works in the same file <
Maersk ops
Open shifts
Assigned & notified
Agency A
+4 shifts this week
Agency B
+3 shifts this week
Agency C
+5 shifts this week
> the moment work lands, they know <
Agency B — roster
S. Kaur
M. Osei
J. Tremblay
A. Petrov
R. Singh
Shift board — wk 32
Matched to availability> nobody edits a stranger's cells <
Gate 02
IN 06:58
06:58 — #A113 in ✓ photo
15:02 — #A113 out ✓ 8.1 h
15:02 — invalid shift ✕ denied
> valid shift in — photo on record <
Auto-tally — week 32
#A11306:58 → 15:028.1 h
#B22107:02 → 15:118.2 h
#A98707:11 → 15:348.4 h
#C05407:15 → 15:027.8 h
Σ site total1,284.5 h → 3 agency invoices
0 manual calculations> records both sides can trust <
Fire alarm — 14:22
Site 04 — live register
L3
L2
L1
Muster 00/32 — all accounted, photos on record> workers · union · office · visitors <
[W.01/06] > The problem

One shared spreadsheet

Damco — a Maersk subsidiary in Canada — coordinated third-party labour through a single Excel file. The team posted how many people they needed per shift; every agency worked inside that same sheet. It grew so heavy it started crashing. No alerts, no accountability — and when pay came due, every hour was calculated by hand.

Shared ExcelManual hoursNo audit trail
[W.02/06] > Assign

Shifts, routed to agencies

We replaced the sheet with a platform built on real roles. Maersk ops post open shifts and assign them to worker agencies. The moment work lands on an agency's board, they're notified.

Roles & permissionsInstant notifications
[W.03/06] > Staff

Agencies fill every slot

Each agency manages its own roster of workers. Based on availability, they slot people into the shifts they've been assigned — no more overwriting a stranger's cells in a dying spreadsheet.

Worker profilesAvailability-based
[W.04/06] > The gate

Scan in. Photo on record.

On site, workers scan their ID at the gate. A valid shift lets them through — and a photo records exactly who walked in. When they leave, a second timestamp closes the loop.

ID scanPhoto on recordIn–out timestamps
[W.05/06] > The ledger

Hours that compute themselves

Entry and exit timestamps become worked hours automatically. Agency pay is calculated from records both sides can see and trust. No manual math. Full transparency.

Automatic payrollTransparent records
[W.06/06] > Headcount

The safety net nobody planned for

Because every entry ties to a photo on record for the shift, Maersk always knows exactly who is in the building — workers, union, office staff, visitors. When a fire alarm sounds, every person on site can be counted from those gate photos — not from memory.

Emergency musterEveryone accounted for
[N.02]> What we built

Four roles, one source of truth

The spreadsheet failed because everyone shared one surface with no rules. The platform works because everyone gets their own: Maersk assigns, agencies staff, workers scan in, and the numbers reconcile themselves. Nobody edits anybody else's cells — because there are no cells.

[R.01] > Assign & oversee

Maersk operations

Post open shifts, assign them to worker agencies, and watch coverage across every site in real time — with alerts instead of guesswork.

[R.02] > Staff & manage

Worker agencies

Get notified the moment a shift lands on your board. Keep worker profiles in your own space and staff shifts based on real availability.

[R.03] > Scan & go

Workers on site

Scan your ID at the gate. A valid shift lets you through; a photo and timestamp go on record — and a second timestamp on the way out.

[R.04] > Count & protect

Site & safety

A live register of everyone in the building — workers, union, office, visitors — backed by the photo taken at gate entry, ready the moment an alarm sounds.

[N.03]> What it changed
100s

Hours saved per week, per site, once time and pay accounting ran itself.

0

Manual timesheet calculations left anywhere in the payroll process.

100%

Of the people on site accounted for in an emergency — from photos on record, not from memory.

> The spreadsheet died. Nobody misses it. <

[N.04]> The savings

What is your own shift admin costing a year?

140+
140+
$12$90

We count 48 working weeks a year and assume a fifth of the work stays with a person — checks and exceptions. Conservative on purpose.

Done by hand, per year$43,008
Labour cost we cut$34,406 / yr
Time back to your team26 hrs / wk

That's $43,008 a year to have people do robot work. Automate it and about $34,406 of that comes off the wage bill every year — plus 26 hours a week your team spends on growing the business instead.

Price my workforce build
Each bar = $2,000 of manual cost
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Taking on 2 clients this quarter

Running your operation on a spreadsheet that's about to give out?

[book_a_call]

Tell us where the hours go. We'll show you what Maersk saw — the parts worth automating first, and what that buys you back every single week.

Book now30 min · video · no deck, just questions
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