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I am thinking about adding the position of a Shop Foreman to my Service Department. My reasoning for this is I have three new young techs who would benefit from a strong technically inclined shop foreman. I have a very good candidate in mind. Those of you who have a shop foreman or have had one at one time, I would be interested in the pros & cons. Also, I would like some ideas of how your payplan was set up for this position. He will be a working shop foreman but obviously will not turn the amount of flagged hours as he did as a technician. Thanks for any input.

I DO NOT HAVE A SHOP FOREMAN, BUT HAVE HAD ONES IN THE PAST. I FOUND THAT IN MOST CASES IT HAS TAKEN A GOOD PRODUCTIVE TECH AND GAVE HIM A WAY TO BECOME LAZY. I THINK YOU ARE BETTER OFF TO GET YOUR HELP TRAINED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AND MAKE THEM RESPONSABLE.YOU WOULD BE BETTER OFF HIRING ANOTHER EXPERIANCED TECH FOR A LITTLE MORE MONEY TO TAKE SOME OF THE HEAT WHILE YOU ARE TRAINING

I never had luck with a "shop foreman/technician" position. Always seemed like both roles suffered.

I now have a true shop foreman who doesn't routinely work on cars....(although, when the situation merits it, he does work on them) He has a *wide variety* of duties and is really more of an assistant manager or "shop manager". He is the primary "go to" guy for any/all repair problems and technician issues. His primary job, though, is to keep production up. He has the authority to hire and fire, etc.

It's been a great help to me and fortunately we have enoygh volume to be able to afford him.

Cheers
Doug

Thank you for answering my questions. The training offered by the manufacturer takes too long to train a technician to the point where he is productive enough to make it on his own. Although I have them on a fair (hourly) plan which also gives them a bonus for reaching goals of flat rate hours turned, it seems difficult for them to make the goal. I think in the long run they will make good technicians but was hoping their productivity would accelerate with the help of a shop foreman. Thanks for you ideas and input.