Productivity and efficiency, which are undoubtedly the factors that have been calculated in service departments for the longest time in our industry, represent how well our technicians are performing and how busy the shop can and should be.

Efficiency, simply calculated is how long a technician takes to perform a specific job. A brake job is flat rated at 2.0 hours and the tech completes this job in 1.3 hours, resulting in 154% efficiency. (2.0 Flat Rare Hours divided by 1.3 Actual Time = 154%). From a management perspective, this calculation determines how many hours an individual tecnician and, collectively, the overall shop are capable of generating.

Productivity is a similar calculation and represents total hours produced in an entire day or shift, compared to many hours the technician was actually on site and available to work. When a technician produces 11.0 Flat Rate hours for the day, and the day itself was an 8 hour day, he is 137% productive. This calculation determines what was actually performed that day, whereas efficiency calculates capabilities.

Now let us analyze the numbers together. In the above examples, the efficiency calculation for our technician was 154% meaning the technician should be capable of producing 12.3 flat rate hours in an 8 hour day. (8 Actual hours available X 154% efficiency = 12.3) But in this case he produced only 11.0 hours for the day.

As a Service Manager, you must work towards maximizing your capabilities. If a technician is capable of 12.3 hours per day but only produces 11.0, he is leaving 1.3 hours on the table (provided there is enough work to keep him busy an entire day). In this case you must identify where you are losing available time throughout the day:

- Are breaks longer than they should be?
- Do the technicians begin turning wrenches at start time?
- Do they start walking to the dispatch at start time, ultimately resulting in the first car of the day not being worked on until 10 minutes past start time?
- Are techs cleaning up their bays before end time, meaning that the last job of the day, actually ended early?
- Do the advisors keep technicians waiting too long while they get approvals on ASR's?
- Are technicians waiting too long to get parts?
- Does your parking make it easy for techs to find the cars they are working on?

These are just a few suggestions. Just remember that efficiency calculations can only be determined based on when the technician actually starts working on a job. If it takes him 20 minutes before he starts, that 20 minutes will not be reflected in his efficiency calculation, but it is reflected in his production.

At Auto University, our Fixed Operations specialists will work with your Service Team to help you identify and understand your challenges, and customize for you solutions and processes that will ensure long term success overall!

Click here to learn more about the Service Numbers.