Counterman in the shop

[BRIAN8474]

It has been decide at my dealership to put a parts guy at a mobile work station in the shop. I have concerns about how all of this will go, and I am wondering if any of you out there have a similar situation at your stores, or have tried it in the past. If you have tried this how well did/does it help with tech production? The goal (I guess) is to improve tech turn rate. Currently the shop average per tech is ~130% and the goal is to improve this number.

[C8RFAN]

I would have concerns also.. I cant imagine it will work well Does mobile work station mean the parts guy has to stand and walk all day?

If the techs are currently 130%, Im not sure how much further you can really push that?

[olepartsguy]

I had the idea to do the same. The only reason for me was to educate the parts people that do not know anything about cars. I had a guy here that had no idea, but was a quick learner.
Bought a laptop put a catalog on it .installed the DMS and then never did anything after that. the parts guy eventually left after 4 years and became parts manager at a Honda store upnorth.

[Denise Trimble]

of course, I have questions. Not knowing the size of the shop or your expendable counter people: but could you designate one person for the job without having to put a remote station elsewhere? A lot of stores have a Technician Counter. Why a remote station? Getting parts to techs faster or possibly being closer to a tech who needs a part looked up? Why is 130% underachieving the goal?

[BRIAN8474]

We currently have 15 main-line techs that are serviced by a single counterman. He is very busy, works his ass off, doesn't complain, and needs next to noting in the way of support. He personally doesn't want to work with another counterman because his workflow will be affected by throwing another guy into the mix. I'm not blind to the fact that he should have a back up, but I do have 5 other countermen that can help if necessary. Where it stands now is one of my wholesale/retail countermen will be using a Goliath Cart (used in body shops and has a computer, printer, and runs on a pair of 6 volt deep cycle batteries) an solely exist in the shop. So near as I can tell the GM wants to keep the techs in their stalls turning hours instead of going to the back parts counter (in case you are wondering, the back counterman runs 90% of the parts out to the techs already). We do also have CDK service for electronic parts requisitions that give the tech the ability to stay in their bay and request parts from the parts department through their computer. The techs have not been made aware of the upcoming change, but I'm sure they figured it out seeing the cart sitting in the parts department. I have spoken to a couple of them and they flat out told me they wont use the guy in the shop because the current back counterman takes care of their every need and they all love him for it. This all came about at a 20 group meeting and I was told to make it happen. As to 'why' I cant explain because as I see it the production cant be improved much more without tech burnout. I'm going forward with what I was asked to do, and was just wondering if anybody out there has a similar situation that could give me a little insight as to if it helped anything or if it made little to no difference.

[Denise Trimble]

Please let us know how this plays out. Sounds like your GM heard it will be helpful, and some of those 20 Group ideas work well. I know I liked it when one owner I worked for said "Charge all internal at retail price!"

[C8RFAN]

Please let us know how this plays out. Sounds like your GM heard it will be helpful, and some of those 20 Group ideas work well. I know I liked it when one owner I worked for said "Charge all internal at retail price!"

We do currently, and its glorious... but Ive been waiting for that bomb to go off for almost 2 years now

Still gonna get em while the gettin's good