Rethinking the shop

FIRST THINGS FIRST

No matter how far along a fleet manager may think his or her garage operation is, it pays handsomely to review the fundamentals and make sure they're sound before even thinking about layering on the latest advances in maintenance software and shop equipment.

Management consultant and veteran fleet manager Darry Stuart (www.darrystuart.com) says one measure above all is critical.

“Everything that happens in the shop should be tied to repair time,” Stuart advises. “Every minute wasted in a shop is worth something. Repair time can be valued at $1 a minute minimum for a fleet and runs around $1.35 for a dealer shop.”

And it does not take rocket science, let alone complex time-motion studies, to positively influence this key variable.

“For starters, techs need space to work efficiently,” Stuart says. “The minimum bay width should be 24 or 25 ft., but often managers do not allow for space in the middle of the shop. The techs need to be able to work around the truck. This is not hard to analyze. Just stand in the middle of the shop and look around and you will see where the lost productivity is.

“It's easy to blame the mechanic [for lost time], but so much can be gained just by how clean and organized the shop is. I figure 70 to 80% of the productivity loss can be gained back by cleaning up and organizing the shop.”

Stuart suggests keeping the image of a supermarket in mind when tackling this — wide, clear aisles, a clean floor and “a place for everything — and everything in its place.”

If building a shop from scratch, he says PM bays can be set up so that waste oil is pumped out.

For existing shops, Stuart recommends using oil and antifreeze drain carts “to keep it clean.” And he says each technician “needs to clean his or her assigned bay at the end of the shift” in keeping with the supermarket theme.

Save steps, too, says Stuart, by installing small cantilevered benches off the wall around the shop with each fitted with a grinder and a vise. “It's a small investment to avoid lots of walking around,” which consumes valuable time. “Always think of what you can do to buy minutes,” he adds.

Stuart contends that “mechanics need to understand the basic principle of cost per minute. If in five minutes they can't figure it out, they need to consult a supervisor to keep the repair cost from ballooning.”

He adds that much time gets eaten up by techs going online to seek out technical info “given most of what goes wrong [with a truck] is well known.”