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Standard operating procedures


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My wife and I have been working towards a standard operating procedure manual to make sure everyone is moving seamlessly and in the same direction. We're looking to the group for 2 things:

1: what are the topics/areas that you really couldn't imagine not covering?

2: were there any items that were added later or items that had a "wow" effect when implemented.

Just trying to make sure we get a grasp on the initial coverage and will add and modify as we go.

As always thanks for the help!

 

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

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  • 6 months later...

Good reminder, too often the techs get an incomplete work order or spend their time doing customer service work Instead of repair jobs. When it gets busy it's easy to lose focus and spin your wheels all day. I'm going to review my plan it's been too long.

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I'm going to back up what Mr. Marconi said. When I came on board at our family shop two years ago we had a few SOP's already in place, uniforms, breaks, etc. etc.

The biggest change we made was to clearly define roles and responsibilities in writing. Beyond that we created a work flow chart that clearly showed step by step our vehicle check in, inspection, sales, repairs and quality check.

 

Our shop crew complains that we repeat our SOP's too often, but when we do everything runs smoother and customers are happier. Funny right?

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We have a shop practices manual that covers safety and standard processes for doing the defined services that we perform. It is an evolving document, but every time we make a major change to it, we print it out with a receipt form they have to sign and turn in. Do they actually read it and learn from it? Follow-on observation and training are required, but they can't say they didn't know the rules. Vin Waterhouse is big on documenting shop procedures and he offers tools to help you get started. Google him.

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  • Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?

         5 comments
      I recently spoke with a friend of mine who owns a large general repair shop in the Midwest. His father founded the business in 1975. He was telling me that although he’s busy, he’s also very frustrated. When I probed him more about his frustrations, he said that it’s hard to find qualified technicians. My friend employs four technicians and is looking to hire two more. I then asked him, “How long does a technician last working for you.” He looked puzzled and replied, “I never really thought about that, but I can tell that except for one tech, most technicians don’t last working for me longer than a few years.”
      Judging from personal experience as a shop owner and from what I know about the auto repair industry, I can tell you that other than a few exceptions, the turnover rate for technicians in our industry is too high. This makes me think, do we have a technician shortage or a retention problem? Have we done the best we can over the decades to provide great pay plans, benefits packages, great work environments, and the right culture to ensure that the techs we have stay with us?
      Finding and hiring qualified automotive technicians is not a new phenomenon. This problem has been around for as long as I can remember. While we do need to attract people to our industry and provide the necessary training and mentorship, we also need to focus on retention. Having a revolving door and needing to hire techs every few years or so costs your company money. Big money! And that revolving door may be a sign of an even bigger issue: poor leadership, and poor employee management skills.
      Here’s one more thing to consider, for the most part, technicians don’t leave one job to start a new career, they leave one shop as a technician to become a technician at another shop. The reasons why they leave can be debated, but there is one fact that we cannot deny, people don’t quit the company they work for, they usually leave because of the boss or manager they work for.
      Put yourselves in the shoes of your employees. Do you have a workplace that communicates, “We appreciate you and want you to stay!”
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