Coordinate Your Efforts For Optimal Results

Guest Editorial

by David Peterson

What is "the secret to success?" Benjamin Disraeli's famous quote defined it as, "constancy to purpose." If you think about it, that's exactly what it is for people in our industry and every other. Successful repair shops constantly fine-tune their operations to maximize profits and maintain their competitive edge, always searching for new and better ways to increase productivity, improve customer service and manage their inventories. And because of their focus and their dedication to "purpose," they're the ones who finish each year ahead of the competition.

During the past decade, these more progressive, focused shops have utilized personal computers in every facet of their business. In the front of the shop, computers have improved estimating, service writing and job management. In the back of the shop, computers have reduced the time spent doing repairs and service by providing technicians with instant access to repair procedures, diagnostic tools and more.

But to date, computers have typically been dedicated to specific, stand-alone systems serving a single functional area of the shop. The service writer's computer, for example, probably runs a management system, but it's completely independent from the computer used by the technician. And, while no one questions the benefits delivered by stand-alone computers running dedicated applications, it is not the optimal solution.

Each time a vehicle is repaired or serviced, all of the separate functional areas of the shop must coordinate their efforts to get the job done. This coordination between each area is generally accomplished by a combination of formal and ad-hoc systems, including printed documents like work orders, verbal communication ("I promised that the F-150 would be done today, so get on it!") or manual systems such as peg boards used to schedule jobs. The bottom line is that the better the communication between all areas of the shop, the more productive the shop will be and --- more importantly --- the better each customer will be served.

So how can communication between the different areas of a shop be improved? Simple, through a local area network (LAN) with a central PC acting as a "server." The LAN provides the means to link business applications and allow separate functional shop areas to exchange and share information electronically (instantly).

Sharing information delivers several substantial benefits. For one thing, key information such as vehicle ID and customer data are entered only once under a LAN scenario, reducing both duplicated effort and chance for data entry error. It also allows everyone in the shop to have access to current inventory levels, up-to-the-minute status of every job in the shop, etc. In short, through the use of a LAN, the computers in the shop begin working like the people in the shop have all along, coordinating efforts to get the job done, only much more quickly, accurately and efficiently.

A LAN, combined with the right application software, can produce real business results, including:

In the next five years, networks will become as common as personal computers are today. Network technology is not only reliable, but in many cases, it's already less expensive than running stand-alone systems. Software application providers are delivering products designed to take advantage of network technology --- applications that integrate the front and the back of the shop.

Networks are the key to getting the separate functional shop areas to coordinate their efforts electronically, automatically and seamlessly. By doing so, they increase productivity, improve customer service, better manage inventories and maximize profits, thus accomplishing the primary goal for every shop --- maintaining a competitive advantage. And that is the secret to success.

Peterson is senior vice president of marketing at Mitchell International. He oversees all marketing management, product managers, customer service and marketing operations, including sales materials production, trade shows and industry seminars.

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Guest Editorial: Coordinate Your Efforts For Optimal Results
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AutoInc. Magazine ®, Vol. XLIV No. 12, December 1996