Editor’s note: This is the third part of a series highlighting repair event cycle time (RECT). Part 1 appeared in the July 2024 issue of RV PRO magazine and can be found here. Part 2 ran in the August 2024 issue and can be found here.
An article in the March issue of RV PRO included some data from an Integrated Dealer Systems (IDS) survey related to RV businesses. One of the indications of this survey is that 53% of the respondents stated that customers expect faster service. This directly relates to the importance of reducing your repair event cycle time (RECT) by identifying the need to measure your RECT so that you can more effectively manage it.
In the first two columns of this series, I have introduced three concepts, techniques and tools that could be used to reduce RECT. These concepts are:
- developing a Detailed Written Procedure (DWP) for each of your processes to increase your associates’ efficiency and to reduce errors.
- implementing the job position of Service Tech Parts Associate (STPA) that could reduce the W-Time expended by your technicians.
- reviewing the W-Time incurred by your technicians so you could use my W-Time Tool to calculate the lost income and time caused by having your technicians perform nontechnical tasks.
This third column of the series will fill in the remaining sides of our idea box.
PALS for Your Customers — Side Four of the Idea Box
In the early 2000s, I developed a concept with one of my clients who was interested in improving the efficiency of his service advisers and his parts technicians. He noticed that his service advisers were very busy in the early morning and at the end of their shift, whereas the parts associates were not as busy at the start of the day, yet their workload picked up late morning and through midday.
We decided to combine the two jobs into one, which his service manager named PALS: Parts and Labor Specialist. This required that each of the candidates for this new position had to cross-train. The service advisers had to learn the techniques of a parts associate and vice versa. After the first year, we discovered that his parts department income related to service requests almost doubled!
The benefits of implementing the PALS job position might be of interest to those of you who are challenged by operating with a limited number of staff. The efficiency of this position benefits your customers because there is no back-and-forth between the parts associate and service adviser positions.
Consider how often one of your customers calls to schedule some work with your service department and must be transferred to the parts department to determine availability of the part(s) or accessory(ies) involved with the service request. How long are these customers on hold waiting to speak to the other associate? How often are these calls “dropped” or disconnected because the customer gets tired of waiting?
When customers call their PALS, they only have to speak with one person who has access to the parts/accessories and labor availability related to the customer’s service request.
As with most of the ideas that I have posited, I suggest observing your parts associates and your service advisers for several days to determine if their individual workloads could justify the development of a team of PALS in your RV business.
The Operable Component — Side Five
Another component to consider when working to reduce RECT is TIME.
Labor time is the service department’s inventory. Unlike the inventory of the parts department, time has no shelf life. Each movement of the second hand of a clock removes a portion of that inventory. The four sides of our idea box that I have introduced contain concepts, techniques and tools that could assist you To Improve Mechanics Efficiency (TIME). For side five of the idea box, I offer some additional methods to make more use of the available time in your service inventory.
Anticipating what is required before it is needed could be one method of reducing the technicians’ W-Time and the RECT. This refers to those Routinely Efficient Communication Techniques (RECT) suggested in my August column. If the parts associates and the service advisers routinely communicate to review the scheduled service requests, then quite often the parts associates can provide the service advisers with the price and availability of the parts, accessories and materials that might be required for each of the requests in advance of the job.
In a previous column, I mentioned the possibility of photos to enhance this process. Customers could email or text photos of damaged or inoperable components of their RV before they arrive for the service. This provides your associates with information to anticipate the parts/accessories and labor required for the requested service. Or is that thinking too far outside the box? If you don’t think of better ways to serve your customers, another RV business will.
If the parts personnel are recording all sales and requests for parts and accessories, including lost sales, then there is a greater possibility that your parts and accessory inventory will have many of the routinely required items. And if these items are maintained in assigned bin locations with accurate quantities, this reduces the time required to source the stocked items. If your parts associates are CERTifying the accuracy of the inventory quantities through routine cycle counting, then this adds another opportunity to reduce the RECT.
Fill in the Blank — Side Six
This side has been left blank so that your parts and service personnel might have the opportunity to develop some additional methods of reducing the RECT in your RV business. Perhaps you could schedule a staff meeting to present your objective of reducing the RECT and invite your associates to brainstorm suggestions to enhance the efficiency of your parts and service operations. List each suggestion as it is offered and don’t evaluate them at that time. After all suggestions have been listed, review each to determine if it is applicable using the resources available to you. Decide which of the possible suggestions should be tried first and assign a person or a team to develop a plan for implementation.
My experience has proved that when you involve your personnel, there is a better chance of success because they have ownership of the plan.
In this series of three monthly columns, I have presented some concepts, techniques and tools that you might implement to reduce your RECT. If you develop a method of reducing your RECT, I invite you to email me the details, including the amount of time you have saved. Your success is my success.