How KLA Went from Guessing Who's Certified to Deploying the Right Crew to the Right Site in Seconds

KLA Laboratories deploys a specialized workforce of roughly 100 technicians from offices in Dearborn, Las Vegas, and Irvine to some of the most complex technology integration projects in the country — professional stadiums, arenas, healthcare systems, automotive manufacturing complexes, and hotel-casinos. Every project demands a precise combination of certifications, technical skills, and site familiarity. When Ford Field needs an AV upgrade or Corewell Health requires DAS work, KLA doesn't just need electricians — they need technicians with specific manufacturer training, IBEW classifications, and often prior experience at that exact facility. And when a project manager calls asking for someone who's worked a specific site before, the answer needs to come fast.

Before RIVET, that answer lived in one place: a spreadsheet that Nick Vettraino, Vice President of Operations, had built over years of managing the workforce. It worked — until it didn't. "We kind of figured out what would be a good fit on the contractor side, what the need was for us to see something that improves our workflow," Nick explained. "The spreadsheet was something we talked about — can we get to the point where this is digitized and more interactive?" The spreadsheet couldn't scale across offices. The Las Vegas and Irvine teams couldn't see who was available or qualified in Dearborn, and vice versa. And it certainly couldn't adapt in real time when a customer changed the schedule after the bid.

The labor challenges KLA faces are the same ones echoing across the specialty trades: finding qualified people is hard, keeping them deployed efficiently is harder, and absorbing schedule changes without killing margins is the hardest part of all. "The date is the date," Nick said. "And a lot of times, you have to figure out a way to make it work." When projects bid for weekday execution suddenly shift to nights and weekends — a common reality in occupied stadiums, hospitals, and manufacturing plants — KLA needed a tool that could help them react and plan in real time.

RIVET gave KLA three things their spreadsheet never could: visibility across offices, intelligence about their workforce, and a platform that evolves with their business.

1. One View Across Dearborn, Las Vegas, and Irvine

For the first time, all of KLA's offices can see the same workforce data. When a project at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore needs a technician with specific DAS experience, a scheduler in Dearborn can search RIVET, find who's worked similar projects before, and make the assignment — without a chain of phone calls to Las Vegas and Irvine. "People from other offices can go on there and be like, 'I need somebody that can do this,' and it's right on there," said [SECOND SPEAKER NAME, TITLE]. "Shows what their skill set is. They have this actual skill that I need for this job, so I need this guy."

2. The "Baseball Card" for Every Technician

KLA has built what they call a "baseball card" for each worker in RIVET — a profile that includes certifications, manufacturer training, IBEW qualifications, skill sets, work preferences, travel willingness, personality notes, and photos. For a company that deploys technicians to stadiums, arenas, hospitals, and manufacturing plants across the country, knowing who can do what — and who works well together — is the difference between a smooth project and a costly one. "You can just look at the baseball card and everything is right there," [SECOND SPEAKER] explained. "You can pull up the card, see exactly what the technician can do, who they might not or may get along with, what job would be good for them. They might not travel out of state. They might not work weekends. We have all that stuff right on there."

3. A Platform That Grows With the Business

As KLA's needs have evolved, so has their use of RIVET. What started as a digitized scheduling spreadsheet has expanded into forecasting, certification tracking, and worker profile management — with dispatch and project manager access on the immediate roadmap. "There's a lot of untapped potential for us," Nick acknowledged. "We're looking to do more in the forecasting side… get the PMs in there." For a company that's grown from a Detroit-area sound systems firm to a national technology integrator with 300+ employees and projects at Crypto.com Arena and Resorts World Las Vegas, a platform that scales with the business isn't optional — it's essential.

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KLA is honest about the fact that they haven't fully adopted every RIVET feature. Dispatch — the ability to send schedule information, job details, and contact info directly to technicians through the platform — is available but not yet in use.

Getting project managers into the system has also been a gradual process. With PMs managing concurrent projects at high-profile venues across the country, expanding beyond the core scheduling team takes time. But KLA sees this as an opportunity, not a problem. "There's a lot of untapped potential for us," Nick said.

The lesson: adoption doesn't have to be all-or-nothing. KLA started with the core scheduling pain point, proved value, and is expanding outward — at their own pace, with RIVET's support.

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