Why we need another Henry Ford

Time was cars were built in workshops by individual craftsmen. These custom cars were often excellent examples of craftsmanship, but there was no commonality between any two workers and any two vehicles.

 Henry Ford changed it all when he popularized the concept of the assembly line. Parts were pre-made to exact configurations and assembly procedures were standardized. As a result costs decreased and profits increased.

 Now let’s jump to today’s world of repair and service.

 Every day, thousands, if not millions of service technicians are on the road heading to locations to perform repair tasks and activities. There is the old adage that no two repairs are alike, but we believe that conclusion needs to be questioned. Sure, no two problem faults may be alike, but the repair methods should be exactly the same.  

 Companies should no longer depend on the innate abilities of their service technicians; they should provide training and knowledge tools to make every repair exactly alike.

 Large national chains have already realized that this is the best approach, but unfortunately many SMBs still have not stepped up to make their repair activities routine.

 That is not to say that these small firms have not made progress in their operations. Many have automated dispatching systems, vehicle tracking and text messaging between the office and field force, but when it comes to the actual performance and visibility at the last mile of activity; many companies have not taken the extra step to standardize job tasks and to provide real-time feedback.

 Companies cannot just depend on the experience of the tech. If the tech wants to complete the job accurately then he must repair the problem under a set of standards that make a broken product operable.

 Imagine if aircraft mechanics performed repairs based on regional standards or the experience of some of their technicians and without federal standards and guidelines.

So we ask why repair technicians don’t adopt the same approach.

 Here are the recommended stages that a firm should do to establish repair standard

Functional Activity 

• Create internal project team comprised of management and staff
• Review operational processes
• Document IT infrastructure (current and future plans)
• Gather sample paperwork for task related activities
• Accompany mobile worker on field trip to observe and record tasks
• Provide guidelines on how to transfer existing tasks into new
• Create project team on building task framework
• Engage a vertical expert consultant if required to provide guidance
• Build vertical task management data base
• Create workflow scenarios
• Conduct live workflow test using host and wireless platforms

 These repair standards can now become the basis of the expert data base that could be used to assist field technicians.

The next step is to provide the field technicians with software and hardware to utilize these repair operations steps.

 So just like Henry Ford skilful adoption of assembly line car manufacturing, companies could create their own version of Repair Instructions Assembly.