Category: Blogs

Why do we accept inefficiency in our workshops?

Why is it that some Service Managers focus on how little they can pay their technicians, yet rarely look at the opportunity cost associated with them standing at the back counter waiting for parts or fumbling around in a congested car park.

Regrettably many dealerships accept inefficient work practices, and have previously relied on increasing their labour rates, or upselling add-ons to attain their budgets.

With most manufacturers now moving towards capped price servicing, and focusing on fixed-right-first-time scores, such practices are no longer feasible, and as a result, many dealer’s bottom lines are suffering.

I recently visited a mainstream dealership and listened to a service advisor attempting to upsell a rotate and balance and a wheel alignment. Meanwhile, in the workshop I noticed a social gathering of technicians at the parts back counter, presumably waiting on their quotes for additional spare parts, or the indeed the parts themselves. Outside there was a congested car park, where I witnessed a technician wandering around clutching a remote key, holding it in the air and repeatedly pressing the remote in the hope they could identify the vehicle. Once found, they then had to return to service reception to find the keys for the two cars blocking this one in. All up, this technician spent around 15 mins getting their vehicle from the car park, to their work-bay, and then spent another 10 minutes at the parts back counter waiting for their parts.

I did some very quick mathematics and my findings were startling. If we consider conservatively that each technician spends 15 mins per job procuring the vehicle and the parts, and works on say four vehicles per day, then an hour of their day is wasted in time that could otherwise have been charged out at upwards of $135, or thereabouts. Then consider that there are 15 technicians working at this dealership, and all of a sudden, we’ve squandered $2,025 of labour that day, or $42,525 for the month. Granted, it’s unlikely we can eliminate this non-value added time altogether, but what if we could reduce it? Furthermore, what about the additional parts we sell, for every extra hour of labour we sell? This incremental labour isn’t a gross sales figure, it actually goes straight to the bottom line, since you’re already paying the technician’s wages.

Are manufacturers standard repair times unrealistic, or have we just accepted hundreds of inefficiencies associated with our current practices? The shrewd service manager will have already realized that survival means reducing every ounce of non-value added time from their workshop. This might mean employing parts runners to deliver parts to the technician’s bay, or vehicle-jockey’s to maintain an orderly carpark. It may include educating and training all involved in the importance of labour efficiency and recovery. Identifying any activity that acts as a road block and slows your technicians down. It’s also critical you employ technicians who understand your product, and can apply their experience in ensuring the most efficient rectification possible.

Extended service intervals mean less maintenance work and technological advancements mean more diagnostic work.When combined, efficient work practices and employment of highly skilled technicians has never been more important than it is today. Techs On The Move source technicians who are simply, ‘Plug and Play’, that is they’ll hit the ground running, know your product, and already possess the manufacturer training and experience you desire.

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Now none of what I’ve written is rocket science, and most of this has been known since Adam was a boy, so why is it then that inefficient practices remain? I believe it comes down to the fact that having an efficient workshop is a culture, it takes years to cultivate, and requires that everyone is committed to it. There is no one silver bullet, but rather, a hundred small initiatives which when accumulated make the difference between those that will survive, and those dinosaurs who will become extinct, blaming the manufacturers for their unrealistic standard repair times, or capped price service initiatives.

When the ‘A team’ just clicks…

When you’re an aftersales or service manager in the automotive world, or perhaps a small business owner or franchise manager in our industry, every now and again you should feel a beautiful moment where the team just ‘clicks’ and the world feels right. In this moment, the weight lifts and all the effort behind the click is smothered in a fulfilling sense of satisfaction. The work pays off and it all makes sense.

Better than awards or bonuses, that feeling may well be the highlight of your career in the automotive game. We are often drawn in by a passion for cars (or trucks) themselves, but the click soon becomes the end-game when you’re in a position of responsibility.

Every successful workshop runs on a million little things done well, and has an ‘A team’ of people making them happen every minute they’re at work (and sometimes even when they aren’t). That click moment comes when each member of the A team is working to the best of their capacity together, everyone playing their own important part in achieving a shared output, index score or profit – whatever it is that represents success in their business, and often all of these together.

This doesn’t mean that an automotive A team needs necessarily to be packed with the most highly trained, highly experienced staff imaginable – in fact, that often creates its own challenges and can make the click harder to achieve.

Every workshop with an A team we’ve ever been involved with rather is made up out of stakeholders with compatible skill sets, levels of experience and personalities. When they understand their role, and can see how everyone involved contributes to achieving shared goals together, motivation and dedication very often become more valuable than anything else. There can’t be an A team without this common ground, and there definitely can’t be the click moment we all crave.

Building that A team it is damned hard, and keeping it is even harder. Finding the right people to work together for that click moment is a real challenge, and it won’t keep happening if your team members don’t understand what they are a part of.

Techs On The Move was set up to help our clients build these A teams, and our Candidate Pool is dedicated to bringing the right people to your fingertips as you build yours. Learn more about it here – https://app-au.techsonthemove.com/our-candidate-pool/employers/