Out of the Crisis.Org

[MattFMN]

I once attended a popular shop management training class with my employer. It was put on by one of the area’s larger parts store chains. Over the course of two nights, we learned how to: analyze our businesses, motivate our employees, bill work, group services into packages, pay our employees, and advertise our services. Scam, scam, scam, scam, scam and scam. Well…that’s what I thought they were.

My boss took away from that class one resounding thing; in his mind…employees were “costing” him $2 per minute! It actually became a mantra of his. He’d walk by and holler, “$2 per minute, that’s what you cost me by not staying busy!” He changed the pay “scheme” on our techs, and added a bonus for the SA for a percentage of gross profit. All this was an effort to soften the “blow” of that $2 per minute “cost”.

For awhile, I sympathized with this theory. I could see where he was coming from…or so I thought. I started reading some posts on a network called iATN.net (International Auto Technicians Network). These posts were in a section known as the SMF (Shop Management Forum). A gentleman by the name of Louis Altazan had such interesting answers to many, many different questions. I did a search for some of his previous posts, and came up with something about 14 Points. I studied these, over and over and over. I finally emailed him with some questions, and he very kindly answered them. He sited many ideas and theories from another gentleman named W. Edwards Deming. I studied as much as I could find on the internet about this truly amazing gentleman. He was a fascinating personality and a very brilliant mind; one that to this day, still gets too little attention and admiration.

With these teachings and theories swimming through my brain, I began to look at the $2 per minute issue with new eyes. I began watching, and timing, oil changes with all our techs. I noticed that often a tech would have to walk back to his toolbox to retrieve a socket or wrench for a drain plug, then an oil filter wrench (sometimes a special socket to remove and replace the oil filter cartridge). On average, this added about 30 seconds to 1 minute to every oil change. Every single one… I didn’t just time how long to walk back to retrieve the tools, but also returning them to their “spots” after the car was driven out.

It occurred to me; why not try to “save” that extra 30 seconds to a minute (a dollar or two)? So, as an experiment (PDSA?), I selected two bays that would be “Lube Racks”. Mounted to the wall in front of each bay was a complete set of metric and standard wrenches along with a large and small oil filter wrench. A tire inflator with a built-in gauge was also hung on the wall.

I tracked LOF times. They were consistently 2 minutes quicker, with no effect (if not a positive effect) on quality. Consistently 2 minutes ($4?). 80 oil changes would pay for all the tools that would have been purchased to be dedicated to the two LOF racks. Basically, in 2 months or less, we would have paid for equipping those two racks and in less than a year been able to equip EVERY bay in the shop in the same manner.

The results of this experiment were very powerful to me. I approached my employer with the results, expecting a very positive response. I, of course, was astounded by the lack of enthusiasm and consideration of its implementation; and also, the lack of consideration in implementing similar practices on other operations in the shop.

Two different views on shop payroll “cost”, two different approaches to dealing with this “cost”. One a short-term method, the other long-term oriented.

How does your shop deal with $2 per minute? Can you think of any other operations in the shop that may make a good example? Does frequenting this site have you reconsidering how you deal with these issues now?

[Dave]

[Bud]

Hello Matt,

You raise so many good points that we could be discussing them for a month. I'll pick out one, a topic Louis and I have been discussing.

Learning. Your post illuminates the different outlook between you and your employer. You are trying to learn new things and putting the necessary effort into the process. Your employer was not trying to learn anything, other than sitting in on a seminar to pick up 'quick tips,' things he could do immediately. As is usually the case, the quick tips have no foundation of learning and knowledge, so they backfire.

In a broad sense most people want the quick fixes. But the quick fixes don't exist. Internet forums are full of posts asking "what would you do" or the like. They get huge responses; everybody wants to give an opinion.

The posts that say "Let's learn a new concept here" require efort to assimilate, so they get much lower responses.

But in the end it is hard to argue with success. It took the Japanese a full generation, from the end of WWII to the 1980s, to assimilate, learn and apply Deming's 14 points. Now they are killing us in the world economy. They didn't say 'what would you do,' but said 'come teach us how to prosper.'

Good post, Matt. thanks.

[MattFMN]

I couldn't agree more! I guess I like to pick on "us westerners" and our society. On reason that jumps out at me is martial arts. I think Japan was primed for use of Deming's philosophy. See, there never used to be such a thing as belts (colored belts designating level) in the martial arts. It took westerners, namely Americans, to force the "masters" to start using a "rating" system to satisfy our need for instant gratification. If there were no way for "us" to see the end (black belt/mastery) then we wouldn't stick with it. For centuries the "easterners" trained in the martial arts and looked at it as a journey, with no such thing as mastery. Often focusing on the very smallest movement with the goal of attaining perfection, even though perfection didn't or maybe couldn't exist (there was ALWAYS room for improvement). This very much mirrors Deming's outlook on business and on quality. I feel that it is atleast a small part of why the Japanese were so adept at sticking to the 14 Points and patient in its evolution. Short-term goals versus Long-term goals. It is amazing to me that we can get so hung up on short-term that we become near-sighted...and for lack of a better term: "can't see past the end of our noses".

I'm glad you liked it! Thanks for the response. Later, Matt.

[Louis Altazan]

Hi Matt,

[Bud]

A second topic that Matt touches upon in his post is knowledge; proven knowledge verses unproven theorem.

If his employer has been a serious student of business, he would have seen that class as untested theory. Maybe he would even have seen right through it in the beginning as wrong, or simply as distorted facts.

Knowledge builds upon knowledge. Buzz words are not facts, the latest crazes are not foundations to build businesses on.

As example, I once interviewed at a shop whose owner had been going somewhere out of state to attend expensive shop management classes. He told me how his new education was making money for his business.

After awhile he let the cat out of the bag and said they had taught him to lower his labor charge on 'brake jobs' to an extremely low number. Then he went on to explain in detail his stepped incentive pay plan, a flat rate ladder, so to speak.

Naturally I left, uninterested. A few weeks later he calls me, complaining about lousy morale in his shop and says he now needed a whole new crew.

Well, gee, all those fancy-sounding managerial strategies he had learned, and his 'new knowledge,' was backfiring and hurting his business.

That's why I'm so leery of requests for help, anywhere, that say "tell me what to do, so I can copy it." Don't teach me how advertising works, just give me your ad so I can copy it. Don't make me learn how people want to be treated, that takes too much effort. Just give me an incentive and pay plan that will make my employees do what I want.