teams

[meangreen4019]

Ive been considering getting rid of my dispatcher and going with teams but i cant seem to figure how to work it correctly.i have 3 adv and 14 techs but only one trans tech and only 2 good rear end techs.so im having a hard time trying to make three teams.has anyone had good luck with this and how do you share a guy with three teams.anyhelp would be great.

[TomB]

I have been putting teams and groups in auto dealers for about 11 years. I believe the answer to your question is simple. Your team leaders should "sublet" the specialized work to a team that has a qualified technician.

For example-you have a "blue" team and a "red" team, but only the red team has a qualified auto trans tech.

The blue team has a RO with a/c and auto trans work on it. The blue guys do the a/c work and "sublet it to the "red" team for the auto trans work. Each team gets paid for the work they actually perform and the S/A gets paid for what they write.

The actual communications of the "sublet" can be handled by the team leaders, but must also involve s/a's for scheduling purposes with the customer.

Good Luck;
TomB

[Michael White]

We had teams for 5-6 years with a 19 man GM store.We now have 28 techs with a dispatcher. The 2 reasons I do not like team concepts is 1. subletting hassles from one team to anoth er; and 2.extra time it takes to find out about the status of vehicles, especially subletted veicles.

The sublet issue was always an annoyance. One teamwould not want to take on some work that they could not do well with, and subletted reapris always seem to go to the back of the bus. Our team leaders spent too much time working with their teams. It did work in our shop, but for a 28-30 man GM store, I would never do it. A 10-12 man shop, its the only way I would.With a dispatcher, we c dispatch work better to the best tech available,considering their labor rate,type of job, and tech 's ability
Mike

[RMARTIN]

I once saw a unique solution to the subleting problem. This particular store had 4 advisors and 12 techs (of which 1 was trans and 3 were heavy line.) It was set up so that 3 of the advisors would write everything EXCEPT trans/heavy line work which went to the 4th advisor who then followed up until the vehicle was completed. They had been using this system for a while and they all seemed to be happy with it. Just one more idea for you to toy with! Good Luck!

[lovemotors]

I do not recommend going to the team concept. We went to the team plan and it did not work. The plan was set up by Ed Kovalcheck of Net Profit and this was for a chevy/honda dealership. 3 writers,18 techs and the idea was to do away with the dispatcher. If it was just a Honda store it would have worked but with GM there are too many engine/trans/fuel systems and too much specialized training. The "sublet" idea just does not fly in a fast paced shop.The writers were to organize the work with the team leader and hit the promice times. What happened was the wrong people were working on the wrong jobs. Not only did the cars not get fixed but we didn't hit the promice times. It took us about 2 weeks to find all of this out and cost the store a fortune. Good luck if you try it. What car line are you???????????????


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[David Cates]

I am curious why more service departments don't use ADP's ERO (Electronic Repair Order), R&R's ESI (Electronic Service Invoicing), or UCS's version of the complete automated repair order system. This is one of products that can actually pay for the system. It takes the "leg" work out of the status issue, and, if set up correctly, streamlines the entire process.

Is it because it is sometimes labor intensive, too complicated, or does it just cost too much for the average dealer? I have always thought it was a little pricey, but I have also seen it pay for itself many times over. In dealerships where the product is set up correctly, and used correctly, I have seen tremendous increases in tech productivity, and ultimately service department profits.

I know technology won't solve all of the issues, it just seems like it might resolve some of these. Just curious!