Technician Productivity

[mmotley]

Curious how others are keeping track of technician productivity. Is it something built into your shop management software that you are able to run a report on? Do you have a simple equation you run at the end of the week or month? Are you having guys punch a time clock? Do you even track productivity? If you do, do you mind sharing what your productivity numbers are? And do the fluctuate much?

[Joe Marconi]

Keeping track of tech's hours is crucial to understand labor profit. We use Mitchell Manager, and the techs hours are entered in to the system. If a tech works 40 hours and he bills 40 plus hours, that's good. But if he is billing lower hours than he is working, you need to find out why. Is there enough work? Is there too much down time between jobs? Is the tech waiting too long for parts? Is the tech waiting too long to get authorization for a job? Or is the tech too slow due to lack of training or experience? All these are factors that must be analyzed.

 

I can tell you that low billable hours vs. what a tech's potential hours is a big problem in terms of profit.

 

One more thing, efficiency and productivity are different. A tech can finish a T belt in 3 hours, but the book time is 4. That means the tech was efficient on that job. But if he has to wait an hour and half before he starts his next job, his productivity just went south. That's where a time clock can help you with understanding efficiency and productivity.

 

Hope this helps?

[mmotley]

Great! Thanks so much for the reply. Very helpful! I wish Mitchell had a time clock built into it, so techs could clock in and out of individual jobs on the computer.

[flacvabeach]

We use a product called Labor Profit Management. It tracks productivity and makes your techs aware of their performance. It also fulfills the requirement for a timekeeping system for wage and hour purposes.

 

Mark Anderton

First Landing Autocare

Virginia Beach

[mmotley]

We use a product called Labor Profit Management. It tracks productivity and makes your techs aware of their performance. It also fulfills the requirement for a timekeeping system for wage and hour purposes.

 

Mark Anderton

First Landing Autocare

Virginia Beach

 

Thanks! I just briefly looked at their site, lots of great information to go back and review.

How easy is it to implement in your shop? Is it a hassle to get the techs to clock in and out? Do they tend to forget?

[mspecperformance]

We use a product called Labor Profit Management. It tracks productivity and makes your techs aware of their performance. It also fulfills the requirement for a timekeeping system for wage and hour purposes.

 

Mark Anderton

First Landing Autocare

Virginia Beach

 

 

This looks like exactly what I am looking for however it seems pricey for what it is. As an add on management tool they are asking for $129+ a month and a set up fee. Thats on top of a shop management software you may pay for monthly or buy out right AND possibly other such management/profitability tools such as a digital inspection sheet service.

 

Does anyone know of a similar service that has a more affordable price point.

[mmotley]

 

 

This looks like exactly what I am looking for however it seems pricey for what it is. As an add on management tool they are asking for $129+ a month and a set up fee. Thats on top of a shop management software you may pay for monthly or buy out right AND possibly other such management/profitability tools such as a digital inspection sheet service.

 

Does anyone know of a similar service that has a more affordable price point.

^^^^Agreed. I would love to hear if others are using another system or method to track time

[Tires Too]

We are using Auto Vitals "Smart Flow" for digital inspections and technician tracking. I know many of you are looking for a less expensive option, but I think you are looking at this wrong. These tools make you money, the do not cost you. Since we've implemented Auto Vitals our ARO is up $55. This has been an increase of over $3500 per week, $14,000 per month. I think I can afford the $200 to $300 per month that Auto Vitals charges for their product.

[flacvabeach]

Exactly right, Tires Too. These are tools that are supposed to provide a return on investment. First, it has to be a good tool, second, you have to commit to use them as they were intended. Labor profit management requires that you have techs punch in and out of each job, each break, etc to effectively track where their time is going. Used to its fullest, both you and techs see the inefficiencies in their day. If you can measure it, you can manage it.

[ncautoshop]

But in smaller shops say 1 or 2 bays those expenses can quickly get to be too much. Great option for a bigger shop with more than 2 employee's.

 

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

 

 

[mmotley]

But in smaller shops say 1 or 2 bays those expenses can quickly get to be too much. Great option for a bigger shop with more than 2 employee's.

 

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

Agreed. If me and the other mechanic are sitting around with no work to do, it's hard to justify spending a hundred or two a month on software to tell me the obvious. Or if he is always taking a smoke break and chatting on the cell phone...

[mspecperformance]

Matt, you might want to look into a paper time clock then. Those can bemore cost efficient for the time being.

 

You should track idle time just as much as you should track billable time. You want to know where your hours are going. If your tech or you are not working on a vehicle then what are you doing? building maintenance? equipment maintenance? smoking? cell phone?

[flacvabeach]

Whatever you do, keep accurate attendance records (a formal system that requires employees to sign off on their hours) and pay overtime. Don't kid yourself into thinking there is some workaround for overtime. One angry employee filing a wage/hour complaint can make your life miserable and you are guilty until you prove you are innocent. We have put an amazing amount of time (and our coach's time) developing tech pay matrices that let us determine if a tech can work overtime and keep us within our labor margin targets. Hope I didn't spin this off topic.

[mspecperformance]

I believe I will be trying this program out. I am 95% there on jumping ship to Mitchell TeamWorks5 and Bolt On Technologies Mobile Manager. Everything looks pretty good as far as the Mitchell side goes, I think the only gripe I have is with the scheduler, hes pretty sucky LOL. This little time clock is expensive but I think its definitely something I am sorely lacking.

[mikerisich]

mspecperformance,

Please let us know if we can answer any questions about Mobile Manager Pro or any other Bolt On Technology software solutions. We are always happy to help. Our team can be reached at 610-400-1019.

[SmartAutomotive]

Mitchell requires too much effort to reliably track tech efficiency.  I track weekly productivity using the old time stamp clock on the wall.  That works well but is a productivity killer when used to track job efficiency.  I plan on hopping on the autovitals bandwagon soon.

[Maria Garcia]

More specifically, it could be the number of service calls per working day or the total invoice dollars per working day.