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The service
foreman, one of the most misunderstood and undervalued individuals
in the dealership, has taken his rightful place at the forefront
of an effective and profitable service department. The first
level of supervision in any discipline is a very difficult
job during the best of times, and for the past 10 years, with
profit and employee empowerment as key issues, the role of
the foreman has been minimized in many dealerships.
We used
to look at a density of one foreman for every eight to 12
mechanics. This variation was based on the degree of difficulty
of the work supervised. Today, however, it is not unusual
to see 20 or more mechanics supervised by one foreman. Furthermore,
many foremen positions are working positions, meaning he is
required to perform mechanical repairs while supervising mechanics.
Labor
efficiency, shop floor schedules and repair quality are all
significantly impacted by the performance of a good foreman.
Yet we still see significant resistance to staffing the foreman
position at the right level. Too many dealers consider only
the cost and not the profitable, effective operation of their
service departments.
In my
service department models I strictly adhere to the old standard
of eight to 12 mechanics per foreman. After all, the service
department is responsible for the timely and effective repair
of components and equipment-with zero redos-at the level of
profitability required by the dealership. This requires many
tasks, including:
- Giving
the customer a complete review of the condition of the equipment.
- Making
sure inspections are consistent and done every time before
repairs are started.
- Telling
the customer the price and the schedule.
- Ensuring
that the customer is the one that approves what work is
to be done.
- "Segmenting"
the work before assigning it to the floor for completion.
- Monitoring
the work for quality and effective execution.
- Generating
the invoice promptly after completion of the repair.
How many
dealerships perform service repairs this way? Does yours?
Many dealers don't fully understand their service departments
and sometimes think things are in a state of disarray-and
rightly so. Customers today are demanding that more work be
done in the field, a reflection of the fact that many of them
do not trust us to do the work in our shops, out of their
sight and out of their control. There are way too many too-technical
things going on in the department. Computer systems are based
on outdated models for time and material repairs, with little
use of current technological tools.
In turn,
these are common complaints cited by service management:
- We
can't get enough qualified mechanics.
- We
do not train enough, and we are not prepared to pay according
to qualifications. In fact we do not even have a test to
review, on an annual basis, the skills of our mechanics.
- We
cannot hold a schedule.
- We
can't set a schedule unless we know what we are going to
do. We can't hold a schedule with constant interference
from others about setting priorities. In fact, we can't
set a schedule because no one, in service, is allowed to
set the schedule.
- We
have too many redos.
- We
have too many people working on the same job with little
accountability.
- We
never have enough time to do the job right the first time
but, true to the old adage, we always have enough time to
do it again.
- We
can't close and invoice completed work promptly enough.
Every
single one of these complaints is addressed by having skilled
and properly supported first-level supervision. A foreman.
Take a
look at your service organization. Do you have answers to
the above questions? Are the complaints listed common in your
business?
Chances
are you need to revisit the number and quality of your foremen.
More often than not the best solutions to problems are the
simple ones. Having proper floor supervision is a simple solution
to the complicated problem of running an efficient, safe,
high-quality and profitable service department.
And guess
what? It works!
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