Well, you read it correctly, I am sure there are *gasps* of amazement and on the other spectrum there are pshh's of "that's nothing".
With every dealership being different, that comes with how many different ways can they dispatch the work to me? Whether it be the Service Advisor, Central Dispatcher or a Team Leader, they all have their pros and cons right?...right.
Before you read any further, this analysis is only for BMW Technicians. Although, you can follow this base for other Dealerships. Bias you say? I do not want to give advice on how to work on other Brands that I have never worked on. Here is a little snippet about me when other people find out I am a mechanic; can you fix my Toyota? (Nope), Can you fix my Chevy? (Nope), Can you fix my Mercedes (Nope), So just BMW's? (Yes sir).
There are many different ways to conjure up these hours but here is my recipe using my two racks to my most recent 140-hour pay period in The Greater Los Angeles area. This was done though hours ranging from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. It was all dependent on my energy from going home and coming in to work.
1. Eat healthy and on time- Believe it or not, when you eat healthy vs. unhealthy you will have less drops in energy and more raised mental focus.
2.Once you get to work, get to work! It is nice to have a good convo with your coworkers and some may even be your friends. But they don't pay your rent, you do.
3. Use both racks to its full capacity- This means talk to who you get work from and see if one job can be getting done (like programming) while you work on another car. This is MAXIMIZING your time at work.
4. Ask for work before you finish the jobs you have- this can be the biggest difference between you working and you waiting for a job to come in. This is not a perfect science; learn what works best for you!
5. Take your 1-hour lunch- Refueling is not option, it is a MUST. Just like cars need gas and oil, humans need food and water. Plus, fresh air is always good to get when you are in an enclosed shop. Like most of the shops around the LA area. Cough* cough*
6. Second half of your workday is where you push to:
- finish any recommendations you found for the vehicle should be approved or declined
- check in on initializations on programming cars
- ensure all windshields are cured for 1-2 hours
- confirm all special ordered parts came on the second DMDC
- verify you properly punched your times correctly.
- confirm that the work order is not missing any services or key battery replacements if you did not catch this when you first received the work order
7. Set your self up for tom! Have two cars’ ready to go when you get in, program cars overnight, do alignments in the morning or at the end of the day when it is not packed, grab all the parts for the cars tom.
8. Remember, it is up to you on how efficient YOU want to be. There will always be hiccups, aka rechecks, sidetracking, helping others, getting stuck and among other things in working in a dealership environment. How good can you deal with all these things and produce your hours is the Challenge.
9. Repeat!!