I’m happy to report that since the last article, I’ve received feedback expressing that newly implemented features have significantly improved the benefits for shop owners, technicians, service writers and, last but certainly not least, motorists.

Let’s take a closer look at some of these features. Many are obvious, while others take you into a world of best practices for your shop in ways you would not expect. If you haven’t looked into paperless inspection, please check out the last article in the May/June 2013 issue of Shop Owner magazine. I’d also like to invite you to collaborate with me on www.AutoVitals.com/EIS. These resources explain how the prospect of paperless inspection can significantly improve your shop’s productivity.

Electronic Beats Paper

The obvious benefits of turning a fixed-size paper document into a flexible electronic inspection sheet include:

● Significant relief for technicians and service advisors. The technician no longer needs to write, and the service advisor doesn’t need to attempt to inter- pret the scribbling. This tedious process is replaced by the technician tapping the condition or action on the tablet, followed by the service advisor copy- and-pasting a link into the Shop Management software. Done!

● More complex problems can be described by utilizing the speech-to-text feature or even simply being voice-record- ed by the technician. Employees running back and forth between the back shop and front office or yelling across the shop floor will be a thing of the past.

● Because an unlimited number of inspection templates can be created, the arduous process of attempting to make template changes, and then print them, are over. In fact, our software allows you to print a paper version of the sheet in the event that no tablet is around. With this enhanced flexibility, technicians and service advisors will inevitably improve productivity.

● As the motorist looks at a professional leaflet of inspection results, including OEM service recommenda- tions and recent recalls, they not only clearly see the results, but also get educated. Images of problem areas help them to understand why the recommended action is important and what would happen if it were ignored.

●The technician selects OEM- recommended services and recent recalls as well as TSBs right on the tablet (see image 1 to the right). The service advisor will then confirm them or change the recommendations and inform the motorist.

● All inspection topics can be audited and changed by the service advisor. They can even be reassigned to the technician for completion so that no item gets overlooked.

● It’s been proven that using an electronic inspection sheet saves anywhere between 10 and 15 minutes per vehicle.

Creating A Baseline For Your Shop

Let’s take a look at some of the benefits facilitated by paperless inspection, which have the potential to make a profound improvement in technician and service advisor productivity, as well as shop effectiveness. Shop effectiveness is the measurement we use to describe how well technicians and service advisors work together, and how a shop owner can identify what practices are best to implement. The purpose of this assessment is to achieve higher shop profitability and maintain a high CSI (customer satisfaction index).

Technician And Service Effectiveness

Today, technicians identify a problem based on the inspection sheet topics on paper and write down recommended actions. The service advisor looks them over and selects the appropriate canned jobs for the estimate. Why not present the canned jobs to the technicians right away? This would not only simplify the service advisor’s work, but it would also set a baseline for any type of action.

In addition, with our integration into your shop management software, the job history for the list of canned jobs for the given inspection topic can be mined in the database and presented to the technician. Thus, the technician can look at the inspection history on the tablet to see whether or not the job had been sold in the past. A young, inexperienced technician can learn from a highly experienced technician by checking out the job history for the same vehicle type as the vehicle in question.

What if the technician needs to add more time than the job history shows? Just tap the labor increment and submit the inspection results to the service advisor. The advisor will be able to order the same part number and create the estimate in a heartbeat. Check out image 2 for an example.

Going Full Circle

Setting the standard by using the canned jobs as a baseline opens a whole set of very important metrics:

● Is the technician under- or over- recommending jobs compared with other technicians in the shop, or in the network of shops that specialize in the type vehicle?

● What percentage of recommended actions by the technician appear on the estimate? How often does the service advisor omit well-intentioned recommendations by the technician?

● What is the technicians’ value to the shop and how much of their recommendations will be purchased by customers?

● What is the rate of motorist satisfaction and how often do they return as a repeat customer?

If they are well defined and used effectively across the shop, you can imagine how valuable canned jobs can become for running your shop. Image 3 shows a typical report for shop effectiveness.

Using tablet and other mobile technologies not only initiates the road to a paperless shop, but they also enable the ability to measure shop effectiveness and hold technicians and service advisors accountable to each other.

What is your experience with mobile devices in your shop?

Do you want to try the AutoVitals Electronic Inspection Sheet and shop reports? Just check out www.autovitals.com!

Uwe Kleinschmidt is the CEOand founder of AutoVitals in Santa Barbara, CA. The company’s Web-based services focus on the independent automotive repair industry. AutoVitals’ products facilitate highly effective Concierge Auto Repair services, covering all aspects of the service advisor’s interaction with prospective and existing customers. Highly effective and optimized websites, workflow support in the shop, as well as customer retention and social media services are just a few ingredients. He can be reached by visiting www.autovitals.com or calling 1-866-949-2848.