How TEKPAK cut 3-day certification audits to half a day
TEKPAK replaced the paper forms piling up across five departments with GoCanvas® mobile forms and now uses these to support GFSI, BRCGS, and other certification audits.
When GoCanvas first featured TEKPAK in 2016, the company had used the platform for two years and moved nearly all of its paper processes to mobile forms. A decade later, TEKPAK’s annual GoCanvas submissions have grown from about 20,000 to 30,000. The company now uses GoCanvas to support audits and certifications across GFSI, BRCGS, organic, environmental management, and kosher standards. Audits that once took three days now take half a day.
In partnership with
TEKPAK
INDUSTRY
Co-Packing
LOCATION
Marion, Alabama
TEAM
Safety, Operations, IT, Engineering, and Quality Assurance
SOLUTIONS
Mobile Forms – Workflow – Folders
CASE STUDY AT A GLANCE
A dry goods co-packer moved five departments off paper forms, then started using GoCanvas for its certification audits.
CHALLENGE
Keeping up with paper forms across five departments that employees couldn’t fill out or review properly each day.
SOLUTION
Mobile forms that replaced TEKPAK’s paper versions, with automatic routing to supervisors and a dedicated folder for each department.
IMPACT
Certification audits that once took three days now take half a day, with more than 320,000 forms submitted since rollout.
1/2 day
AUDIT TIME
Certification audits, down from three days
320,000+
FORM SUBMISSIONS
Completed since TEKPAK ‘s rollout
$1.5M+
CUMULATIVE ROI
Time and paper savings since switching to GoCanvas
01 – BACKGROUND
Co-Packing Dry Goods under Strict Food Safety Standards
TEKPAK is a co-packer in Marion, Alabama, that packages dry powder and granulated products — including food ingredients — for other brands. That work comes with tight quality requirements, and TEKPAK holds multiple food safety and quality certifications.
Every product that the company packaged also came with its own paper forms. Those forms touched five departments: Safety, Operations, IT, Engineering, and Quality Assurance. Ryan Hutson, TEKPAK’s technical services director, wanted to change how those departments captured and shared information. In 2014, he began working with GoCanvas mobile consultants to move the company’s forms off paper.
02 – THE CHALLENGE
Paper Forms for Everything and No Time to Review Them
Before GoCanvas, the paperwork grew faster than employees could fill it out and review it, and incomplete or unreviewed forms slowed work across all five departments.
On the production line, inspectors recorded results on clipboards. To get approval, they had to leave their stations and track down a supervisor.
Each department ran into the same problems. Teams couldn’t view or analyze form data as it came in, and documents were hard to organize and manage. The company also had no dependable way to track and review employee time. Late or missing information made mistakes more likely — and under strict food safety and quality standards, one mistake could cost TEKPAK thousands of dollars.
03 – THE SOLUTION
Department-Based Mobile Forms with Automatic Approvals
GoCanvas worked with TEKPAK’s team to rebuild the company’s paper forms as mobile forms. TEKPAK then took over form building with the GoCanvas no-code, drag-and-drop form builder and created more than 50 forms in its first two years.
TEKPAK’s rollout centered on Workflow, a GoCanvas feature that routes forms between employees. One employee completes part of a form on a tablet, and Workflow automatically sends the form to a supervisor’s device for review and approval. Line inspectors use the same process to log product inspections without leaving their stations or carrying a clipboard.
TEKPAK also set up a folder for each department. Employees sign in and go straight to their department’s folder, where their team’s forms are waiting. Back-office staff pull and export data by department or work group, and supervisors build reports from line inspections the moment forms come in.
04 – BEFORE / AFTER
TEKPAK’s Results, Then and Now
TEKPAK first shared its results with GoCanvas in 2016, two years after rollout. Here’s how those numbers compare today.
BEFORE (2016)
- 48,000+ forms submitted
- About 20,000 submissions per year
- 50+ mobile forms created
- $14,000+ saved on paper costs
AFTER (2026)
- 320,000+ forms submitted
- About 30,000 submissions per year
- 1,000+ mobile forms created
- $84,000 saved on paper costs
TEKPAK’s annual return on investment is $126,210, which accounts for both labor time and paper costs. Over 12 years, that adds up to $1,514,520. Paper savings are based on roughly $7,000 in annual paper costs.
05 – END-TO-END
Inspection Records Ready for Certification Audits
The biggest change in recent years has come during certification audits, which once took three days and now take half a day. That change builds on the system TEKPAK put in place on the production line. Inspection results move from line workers to supervisors through Workflow, and each department keeps records organized in its own folder. Supervisors use reports built from that data to maintain quality control and quality assurance standards.
06 – WHAT’S NEW
Expanding GoCanvas to More Certifications
TEKPAK has expanded its use of GoCanvas well beyond the production line. Today, the team uses GoCanvas to support audits across several certification programs:
The team has created more than 1,000 mobile forms, and yearly submissions have grown from about 20,000 to 30,000.
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