Schedule Smartly

Schedule smartly

A lot of time can be saved and therefore technician efficiency improved by taking a closer look at your service schedule. Penciling in items on the periphery, such as vendor visits and unit movement, can keep technicians on track, which means boat service is completed on time, making customers happy.

Westport Marina (Ranked 47) recently added new scheduling software for its service department to better time customer drop off and return, leading to better department efficiency. The new software allowed the Denver, N.C.-based dealership to build additional time into each day to diagnose customer boats quickly and handle emergency comebacks without upsetting the rest of the service schedule. Using the new scheduling system, the service manager ensures that all jobs are laid out for each tech at opening time and coordinates boat movement to make sure techs remain as efficient as possible. The process change has increased all of the company’s technicians’ efficiencies over prior years. The department collectively posted 116 percent efficiency through the first half of 2007. The new schedule worked so well for technicians, Westport expanded it to include lifts, wash and rigging personnel.

Improved scheduling leads to external benefits as well. Customers no longer have to drop off their boats and wait two weeks until the dealership gets to the job. Instead, the customer can bring the boat in the day before work is scheduled
and pick it up the day after. The new system allows Westport to e-mail the customer directly from the scheduling software, which increases the timeliness and level of communication. “This allows us to communicate with the customer immediately as to the repair quote and parts orders, and then deliver upon our promises with regards to price and time,” said Greg Hart, director of sales.