The lean philosophies used to build cars can also be applied to servicing them. If done right, everyone wins.
We sell time. In our service departments that’s what we sell, time. For every dollar of time we sell in service there is an associated amount sold in the parts department.
That is called parts to labour ratio.
Concentrating on time in our service departments is just as important for our parts department because of this.
When we visit car dealerships we often wonder why we waste time in our aftersales departments.
We have seen technicians walking around looking for tools or waiting at the parts counter.
In our dealerships we obviously sell cars and cars are made in a factory. If you have ever been to a car factory you will definitely not see the workers on the assembly line leave their area and look for parts or tools. Everything is ready and accessible for them. It is all about having the right tools and the right parts at the right place at the right time.
This is called Lean Manufacturing.
When we work with our elite dealerships in our consulting business we teach managers about these lean manufacturing principles and apply them to our aftersales departments.
We work together with the team to develop processes to make them lean. What does the word lean mean to you?
When you think about this word we think of time saving and operational efficiency. Yes, lean manufacturing is a term used in factories and modern automobile factories will be operating on the principles of lean manufacturing but we can certainly apply this to dealerships.
When working with a dealership aftersales team we want to get the team obsessed about time. While they are learning to be obsessed about time they don’t know it but they are developing a Kaizen work culture.
A culture that focuses on constant improvement. One example of a lean process would be Just in Time delivery (JiT). This is where parts and assembled components arrive on the assembly line just when they are required.
When working with a dealership aftersales team we want to get the team obsessed about time. While they are learning to be obsessed about time they don’t know it but they are developing a Kaizen work culture.
So for example if the line requires the set of 18″ alloy wheels, they will arrive shortly before they are required to be bolted to the hubs on the car coming down the assembly line.
Why can’t we use the same principle in our dealerships? Let’s keep our technicians in their bays and bring them the right tools and the right parts at the right place and at the right time.
What does this mean? We should be able to develop a process to deliver tools, parts, shop supplies and so on to the technicians.
Remember when technicians leave their bays for whatever reason they are not making money.
Why do we ask them to come to the parts counter to get their parts? The parts department should have their parts pre-picked at least the day before by going through the appointment list and have them ready for the technicians.
Then when the techs have their repair orders assigned to them the parts should be billed out and delivered. In many shops we deal with the parts that are in their bay or on their bench before the tech brings the car in.
Now parts delivery to technicians is not a new concept by any means, but it is not often present or reliable in dealerships we visit. The parts department will often tell us we try to deliver parts but sometimes we can’t. They will say they are short staffed or had a huge parts order to receive and had to stop deliveries.
Have you ever called Domino’s and ordered a pizza and they tell you they are short staffed and can’t deliver your pizza today?!
Find a way to make this happen every day! I would bonus my parts advisors on how fast they delivered parts to the techs. We have said this many times, parts and service advisors are support staff…let’s start supporting the techs.
Your techs deserve to have their parts and shop supplies delivered each and every time. Remember they are our production workers making us money.
Another interesting concept in lean manufacturing is the principle of 5s. Quite simply put, 5s is a methodology that results in a workplace that is clean, uncluttered, safe and well organized to help reduce waste and increase productivity.
Have a walk in your workshop or your parts department and have a look at what is in there. Are the special tools organized and catalogued properly? Is your equipment room cleaned and maintained daily? Does your parts department have bins for every part? Does your aftersales department have a maintenance plan?
Finding out your balancer needs service in November in the middle of tire season is not ideal. This should be part of your plan. What needs to be done daily, weekly, monthly and yearly to keep your workshop properly organized and clean.
When you get your staff obsessed about time you will start to see them come up with great solutions to problems or ways to cut down on time in a process during your customer journey.
When this happens you will see the magic happen and then things really get exciting. I remember sitting in my office once and I just so happened to have glanced up and noticed one of my techs walk past me to go speak to one of the advisors. I didn’t say or do anything, he just looked at me and said: “I have to go speak to the advisor to show him something.” I just smiled. Another time I had a tech come to me and mention that he had some great ideas to make service reception more efficient. When staff become that obsessed about time too I could shed a tear….they get what I am trying to do.
