About the client
Horizons Incorporated designs, manufactures and installs high-value product identification and asset tracking nameplates, labels and control panels that automate maintenance, inspections, compliance and other business functions.
It serves customers across four divisions, three of which are based in the US (two in Cleveland and one in Cincinnati, Ohio), while the fourth is located in the United Kingdom.
The company holds ISO 9001 certification and operates with a lean quality function responsible for document control, corrective action management, and compliance across the organization.
The challenge
Over a decade of growth, Horizons had evolved significantly. What had started as a smaller, single-division operation had expanded into a multi-site business with three divisions and a quality function with wider responsibilities than ever before.
Horizons had been using Waypoint for document control through that period of growth, and it had served its purpose well. But as the business expanded, adoption beyond the core quality team had not kept pace. The system existed; most of the broader workforce was largely unaware of it.
“We had a system and so we answered those questions at audit. But if an auditor asked anyone else, no one knows what it is. To me, that’s not compliance.” Patrick Miller, Director of Quality
The business needed something that could match its current scale and ambition. A platform accessible to everyone from quality managers to production line operators, with document linking, cross-module traceability and a user experience that didn’t require technical confidence to navigate. It also had to run alongside Microsoft Dynamics F&O, the company’s ERP, not attempt to replace it.
Six vendors were evaluated in full, including MasterControl, Qualio, and Arena Solutions. Most fell at the same hurdle.
“Some of these platforms just do everything. And if you’re looking just for one thing (or even several things) that doesn’t really help. And the others were just really expensive for totally changing how the company works.” Patrick Miller
MasterControl quoted 150-user named licences at $40,000. The cost bore no relationship to how many people at Horizons would realistically be active in the system at any given time.
Our solution
Because Horizons was already a Waypoint customer, Singlepoint handled the entire document migration on the back end – no export, transfer, or rebuild required. That removed a significant portion of the implementation workload.
Implementation ran to roughly four to six weeks, a timeline partly shaped by the opportunity the transition created to rationalise a document library that had grown without structured governance.
For organizations with a well-maintained document system, the team estimated go-live would have been closer to two weeks.
The concurrent user licensing model was the decisive factor in the purchasing decision. Rather than paying for a fixed number of named seats, Horizons pays only for users active simultaneously, a structure that matched the reality of how the quality team works, and created a natural measure of adoption over time.
“I can create any number of users but only get charged for how many are concurrently on at one time. For a small company, that flexibility was really important. And it means I can gauge how effective the system is by how often people are actually using it.” Patrick Miller
Alongside licensing, Horizons built a customised homepage using Singlepoint’s Visual Navigator, making the system immediately navigable for operators on the shop floor – limiting results by division and role so each user sees only what is relevant to them, without having to filter through the rest of the organization’s documents.
The document linking capability addressed another long-standing gap. Related SOPs, forms, and work instructions are now connected directly within the platform: opening one document surfaces the others alongside it, removing the need to search across separate locations.
Cross-module traceability completed the picture. Corrective actions link directly to the document changes they trigger, creating an end-to-end audit trail that previously had to be assembled by hand.
“A corrective action could trigger a document change and I have an audit trail of all of that. Before, I had to piece it together separately for our ISO audits.” Patrick Miller
Support throughout the rollout was consistently responsive, with the Singlepoint team providing training resources for new configuration requirements and working alongside Horizons on the homepage build when the team had a specific vision for how it should function.
The Results
A decisive audit outcome in year one
The most tangible outcome came at Horizons’ first ISO 9001 surveillance audit after Singlepoint was fully embedded and the first conducted by an examiner the team had not previously worked with.
“This was a gem I was saving. When it came up, I could show the traceability, the ease of use, how operators access it, how we’re fully embedded. It was a huge win. The auditor said “this is amazing!”” Patrick Miller
The ability to demonstrate real-time operator access, linked documentation, and a complete corrective action history, in the room, without preparation, represented a step change from previous audit experiences.
Whole-workforce access, without per-seat cost
The concurrent licensing model allowed Horizons to extend system access to every operator on the floor without the budget exposure of per-seat pricing. The customizable shop floor homepage means workers navigate directly to the documents relevant to their role and location.
“I wanted everyone to know we have a system and know what it is. They don’t have to use it if they don’t need to. But if we have a corrective action or a process change, I have a record of training, a record of who accessed it.” Patrick Miller
Adoption as a quality signal
Usage frequency now functions as a leading indicator for Horizon’s quality culture. Concurrent session data shows how actively the workforce is engaging with documents and procedures, all visibility that was simply unavailable before.
“As people are using it, it’s becoming easier and easier to push that change and for people to see the value. In another year or two we’ll be at a five out of five for how people actually operate with it.” Patrick Miller
Time returned to higher-value work
Document administration that previously consumed significant management time now runs on structured workflows, returning capacity to problem-solving.
The future
Having established document control and issue management, Horizons is now expanding into additional modules, following a phased approach: standardising on out-of-the-box configuration where possible to keep the system aligned with industry practice and straightforward to maintain over time.
“For manufacturing companies of any size, Singlepoint scales really well. It gives you a lot of flexibility and power without a stupidly high price tag. If you’re moving off spreadsheets and basic office tools or looking at other QMS systems, this is the route I’d tell you to go.” Patrick Miller
