Program Works – a UCF Business Incubator Graduate Company In Winter Springs – Lands Major U.S. Contract with Global Potential
Winter Springs, Fla. — Program Works, a home-grown technology company that got a big boost from the University of Central Florida Business Incubator in Winter Springs, has signed a major U.S. contract that could go global and involve more than 50 companies on two continents.
Rob Catron, CEO of Program Works, said the firm’s contract was 18 months in the making and perfectly illustrates how incubator programs help entrepreneurs turn good ideas into great companies.
Program Works, now relocated to its new offices at 207 N. Moss Road in Winter Springs, develops web based and labor scheduling and management software, primarily for its flagship web service, WorkSchedule.Net.
P.J. Keating Company, a 93-year old Lunenburg, Mass. firm that ranks as one of the state’s largest providers of crushed aggregates, asphalt and road paving materials, needed a better system to track when and where its teams work on construction projects with the proper materials. P.J. Keating is a subsidiary of Oldcastle Materials, the nation’s leading producer of asphalt paving materials.
Program Works is currently developing a set of enhancements to their WorkSchedule.Net application that will accurately track key aspects of the business, making sure construction crews are scheduled with the proper amount and mix of materials at the right time.
Joseph Young, Account Executive for Program Works, has worked diligently with Peter Pavao, Paving Operations Manager at P.J. Keating, over the last 18 months to get the specifications just right. “Peter approached us with the idea of enhancing the WorkSchedule.Net system to streamline their scheduling process,” Young said. “Other Oldcastle subsidiaries immediately realized the benefits and have already come on board, making it a joint project.”
“We have made several enhancements to our proprietary software to accommodate P.J. Keating’s needs and we are currently looking at the possibility of additional enhancements and features,” Catron explained.
Catron said the program can be licensed to P.J. Keating and all other Oldcastle subsidiaries, which employ more than 39,000 workers in North America.
“We look forward to more opportunities down the road with P.J. Keating and Oldcastle,” Catron said. “We feel that we can refine their scheduling and inventory processes even more as we move forward.”
Rafael Camaano, site manager at the UCF Business Incubator in Winter Springs, said Program Works is one of the incubator’s fast growing graduating companies, starting at the site with only two employees and growing into a staff of six.
“They have steadily improved their software and followed our program of prospect, design, competitive research and sale,” Camaano said. “We are very proud of their success and look forward to the day when Program Works ranks as one of the largest and best known technology companies in Winter Springs, he said.
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For more information contact
Robert Catron, CEO, Program Works, 866-846-3123 ext. 817 rob.catron@workschedule.net
Rafael Caamano, Associate Director, UCF Business Incubation Program, 407-278-4881 rafael.caamano@ucf.edu
Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142 or LvershelCo@aol.com
About Program Works
Program Works was founded in 1998 as a software development and consulting company. In 2000, the WorkSchedule.Net service was created to serve an unfulfilled niche for innovative, easy-to-use online employee scheduling services. Over the last decade the web application has been improved, expanded and enhanced, and now provides thousands of customers with time-saving innovative employee scheduling and attendance solutions with efficiency and reliability in real time. Program Works currently has more than 20,000 users of the workschedule.net software. For more information please visit www.workschedule.net.
About P.J. Keating Company
Founded in 1923, P.J. Keating Company is a leading manufacturer of construction earth products, HMA and construction services. The company produces a range of dimensional stone products, Asphalt as well as graded base materials at its four facilities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. P.J. Keating’s clients include the Massachusetts DOT, New Hampshire Department of Transportation and Rhode Island Department of Transportation. The company is based in Lunenburg, Mass.
About the UCF Business Incubation Program
The University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program is a community resource that provides early-stage companies with the tools, training and infrastructure to become financially stable, high growth / impact enterprises. Since 1999, this award-winning program has helped hundreds of local startup companies reach their potential faster by providing vital business development resources.
With seven facilities throughout the region, the UCF Business Incubation Program is an economic development partnership between the University of Central Florida, the Corridor, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia Counties, and the cities of Apopka, Kissimmee, Orlando and Winter Springs. Participating companies sustain more than 3,600 local jobs and have had a total impact of $1.51B on regional sales and $2.48B on regional economic output. During the last fiscal year, the program has returned $7.95 for every $1.00 invested in the program. For more information, visit www.incubator.ucf.edu.
