For a service department to reach its highest level of productivity, the techs have to be able to stay at their benches and keep turning wrenches. By adding a service coordinator to the service team, the shop can greatly improve the workflow through the service department and begin growing their next “B” level tech.

Process is everything in a service department. We all know that regardless of what’s happening in your dealership, there is one thing that can always be counted on — springtime. And with spring, comes the torrent of equipment from customers who didn’t take advantage of your winter service special, and who are in desperate need for you to fix their mower.

The reality of a service department is that we can only support so many techs. While it would be great to have twice as many for those crazy 90 days of peak season, it just doesn’t make economic sense to add people that you can’t keep busy 12 months out of the year. So, what do we do? 

Create a High Performance Dealership with Bob Clements is a new series brought to you by Yanmar.

More from Bob Clements

Yanmar — Don’t settle for less when you can have more. For example, Yanmar makes all its compact tractors’ major drivetrain components – the Yanmar engine, transmission, and axles — in-house. Because they’re made to work perfectly together, you and your customers get a hardworking machine with more usable horsepower, less power loss, and a smoother, more comfortable ride. Yanmar’s tractors are designed to work as hard as you do for a lifetime. Strengthen your dealership with Yanmar today: AgMarketing@yanmar.com or call 770-877-9894.

The answer is maybe simpler than you think. We add a person into the service department process called a service coordinator who does the simple work that your techs are currently performing. This gives your skilled technicians more time to do the work only they can do.

Supporting Technicians

A service coordinator is someone who is a support person for the techs and your shop, but who is not a technician. They work with the service manager or owner to keep the outside equipment organized and the shop clean and free of clutter.

I developed the idea of the service coordinator as I was sitting in a restaurant watching the wait staff moving people in and out during a busy Sunday lunchtime. There was a line of people waiting to get in and all the tables were full. Each of the wait staff was busy taking care of customers and I noticed that the bussing staff was removing plates, cleaning tables, and readying the tables for the next group of hungry customers. It happened like clockwork. No one had to say anything, everyone knew what to do and customers flowed in and out —happy with the experience and full from the food.

It hit me that the restaurant was like a shop during the busy season. At first there was no one there, and then all of a sudden the dam broke open and a flood of hungry customers mounted an all-out assault on the business.

I began to think about how the waiters were able to handle their tables and I became keenly aware that the better job the bus staff did, the more effective the wait staff was. The key wasn’t the wait staff; the key to keeping the flow moving through the restaurant was with the person cleaning and resetting the tables. That’s when it hit me. We need a bus person in our shops during the busy season. If the restaurant were to remove the bussing staff and require the wait staff to take care of all aspects of their tables, the volume of customers moving through their Sunday lunch would have been easily reduced by at least 30%. Instead, by having the bus staff take care of the simple, but critically important part of the process, the owners were able to improve the flow of customers.

This same concept can be applied to the role of service coordinators. Their primary focus is to make sure that the technician’s equipment is ready for them to work on and their service areas have the necessary parts.

Today, in every service department we consult with, regardless of the equipment they service or the number of techs they have, the service coordinator holds a vitally important role. They give us the possibility to increase the flow of work through shops without increasing the number of technicians.

Adding the Role

Keep in mind that the service coordinator is there to support the techs and the manager. They are sweeping floors, emptying used oil, pulling equipment in and out. They are washing equipment and running to get parts that didn’t show up in the triage process. (For more information on the triage process, read Part 2 of “Expediting Equipment Repair”)

For most outdoor power service departments, one service coordinator can support three technicians. The nice part about the service coordinator is that you can build a small part of their cost into each job. Plus, if you have hired the right person for the position, they will begin to learn about the basic servicing and repair of equipment. So, when you grow enough to need another tech, they are qualified to work in that position.

Staging to Build Efficiencies

One of the primary responsibilities for service coordinators is setting up each piece of equipment for technicians and staging it after the work has been completed. I recommend using different color ribbons to help the service coordinator and the manager know the stage of repair.

A red ribbon means the equipment has been at the dealership less than 24 hours and has not been evaluated by a technician. The blue ribbon means the equipment has been triaged and is ready to be washed. The green ribbon marks equipment that has been serviced or repaired by a tech and is ready to be handed back to the customer. A yellow ribbon is used with the equipment that has been in the service department, but is either waiting for another part or additional customer approval and must be moved back outside.

The service coordinator’s goal is to keep like-colored ribbons together, if possible, in the outside staging. We want green ribbons in one area, yellows in another area and the blues and reds in a separate area, with all of the equipment placed in a neat line.

Keep in mind that this will help your techs become more efficient. You will find that at about 2 p.m., they are going to be running out of the work you had scheduled for the day. In many cases, the service coordinator will need to move some of the next day’s work forward to keep the techs busy.

The service coordinator needs to be aware of where each tech is on their jobs and make sure that the next job is ready to go with all the parts necessary to make them and your shop as efficient as possible.

As equipment continues to enter the dealership throughout the morning, the process with the service coordinator is repeated until the service manager or service writer feels like there is enough equipment to enter into the triage stage of the service process. In most dealerships, this will happen twice a day during the busy season and once a day when the equipment flow slows down.

We encourage the dealerships we consult with to have the triage process occur an hour before lunch and an hour before quitting time to maximize the effectiveness of the technicians. 

Assigning and Assisting Technicians

Prior to the triage process, the service manager or the service writer will take all of the work orders that were created and assign them to the technician they feel would be the best fit, They will then take the work orders and put them on individual clipboards, getting them ready for the service coordinator to prepare the equipment for the triage process.

At this point, your service coordinator will start lining up equipment and the accompanying work orders by technician. By doing this, when the techs are ready, the service process goes smoothly.

The techs will be handed their clipboard and the triage process will begin. The service coordinator will stay with the technicians as they triage the equipment, ready to assist if need be. The goal again is to expose the service coordinator to how the techs work, so at some point they could move into becoming a low “B” technician and you would hire a new service coordinator.

Once the techs have evaluated the equipment, they will hand their clipboards and work orders back to the service coordinator and clock back onto the job they had in process.

The service coordinator will remove the red ribbons that were on the equipment and put blue ribbons on in their place. The blue ribbon signifies the equipment has been looked at by a technician and is ready to be cleaned by the service coordinator. At this point, the service coordinator is responsible for returning the clipboards with the work orders back to the service manager or service writer. They will then separate the work orders based upon the evaluation by the techs. If the tech didn’t uncover any issues beyond what the customer requested, the work order will be put on a clipboard marked as “Pull Parts.” The service manager or service writer will then give the Pull Parts clipboard back to the service coordinator. The service coordinator will give them to the parts manager, who will pull or order the parts.

If the tech found additional issues and the customer needs to be contacted for approval, the work order is put on the clipboard marked “Estimate.” Then, the price for the parts can be gathered so the service department can call the customer for approval on the additional work.

Once the work orders are in the hands of the parts department, the service coordinator will stage the equipment with the blue ribbons for cleaning. The goal of the service coordinator is to have the equipment cleaned to the point that it is ready to go back to the customer after the techs have finished working on it. Many times, I am asked why I recommend cleaning the equipment prior to it being worked on. The primary reason is to keep dirt and grass out of the shop. In addition, I find that techs can work faster if the equipment is already clean.

Keep in mind that if we look at the equipment the day it comes in as a part of the triaging process, the parts department will have 3 days at a minimum to get the parts ready for the equipment before the service department is actually ready to work on it.

As you can see, the service coordinator plays a valuable role in the service process. They are organizing the equipment; working with the service manager, parts manager and the tech to optimize the flow of equipment; and working to keep everything in the service department neat and clean to maximize the efficiencies.

Paying Attention to Details

The service coordinator is going to be extremely busy during the peak season, so it’s critical that they master their processes and look for ways to be more efficient. One of the most important things to keep in mind is when washing lawn equipment, it is always best to blow off grass before water is put on the equipment. Wet grass doesn’t move very well, so you can save time by blowing it off with air and then washing the equipment.

The goal is to have the equipment cleaned to the point that when the tech attaches the green ribbon to show the service is complete, the equipment is ready for the customer to pick up.

Another detail to watch is the gathering of parts. The service coordinator must make sure that the work order and all the parts needed are in the correct tub. The goal is to make sure there are 8 hours worth of work and parts behind every technician every day.

I encourage dealerships to set up shelves behind the techs where the service coordinator can line up the parts based on the order the manager wants the work completed.

The service coordinator must also make sure that before they leave at night, each piece of equipment is pulled into the shop. The next morning, each tech can take their parts over to the machine and immediately begin repairs or maintenance.

As you can see, the service coordinator works to make the process seamless, from the moment the equipment enters the service process to the point that the customer is ready to pick up their equipment or it is scheduled for delivery.

Create a High Performance Dealership with Bob Clements is a new series brought to you by Yanmar.

More from Bob Clements

Yanmar — Don’t settle for less when you can have more. For example, Yanmar makes all its compact tractors’ major drivetrain components – the Yanmar engine, transmission, and axles — in-house. Because they’re made to work perfectly together, you and your customers get a hardworking machine with more usable horsepower, less power loss, and a smoother, more comfortable ride. Yanmar’s tractors are designed to work as hard as you do for a lifetime. Strengthen your dealership with Yanmar today: AgMarketing@yanmar.com or call 770-877-9894.