Getting Lean To Get The Job Done

Getting Lean To Get The Job Done

Lean is derived from a manufacturing concept. At its essence, lean is about finding ways to do things in a more streamlined and efficient manner to make more money and increase productivity. For many technicians, the application of the traditional lean "Seven Deadly Wastes" can lay the foundation for a little self-diagnosis.

A few times each year, I get the opportunity to teach one of my favorite topics — lean production.

Lean is derived from a manufacturing concept. At its essence, lean is about finding ways to do things in a more streamlined and efficient manner to make more money and increase productivity. For many technicians, the application of the traditional lean “Seven Deadly Wastes” can lay the foundation for a little self-diagnosis. Being somewhat obsessed with the concept, I had a recent reevaluation of my beliefs that leads me to this story.

For the last several months, I have been teaching 14 nights a month, traveling around the country to speak or learn at Advanced Vehicle Tech programs, managing NASTF and CARS@AAPEX, running my shop, and building a hot rod to avoid completely losing my mind. What started this re-evaluation was receiving a text from a friend who said, “I have no idea how you get so many things done.”

“I don’t sleep,” I joked back.

“No really, I would like to know your secret,” he said.

So, Here It Goes:

• Do it Now: If you were to run a stopwatch every time your brain agrees to take on a task until the time you actually complete it, I would be willing to bet it would take minutes, not seconds, on average. It takes far less time to just take a simple task and do it than to prolong things thinking about it. Need to fill out vehicle information on a car? You will spend just as much time putting it off or thinking about what’s next on your to-do list as it takes to just get it done right away. Cliché alert — objects in motion tend to stay in motion. Make sure you’re spending your time acting and not thinking.

• Prioritize Your Tasks: What is more important: reading that flashy email that just popped up on your computer or paying your bills? For me, the important thing is to always cut to the core of something. I like to make deals with myself. I will do three less desirable tasks before I do the one I really want to do first. Saving what you want to do for last feels like a bigger win because you are rewarding yourself by doing what you like.

• Have Discipline: When it comes to time management, disciplining yourself to stay on task is something that takes practice. No matter who you are, you are going to screw up once in a while. The key is to reel yourself back in when you notice your attention is drifting before you lose a bunch of time.

• Move Mole Hills, Not Mountains: I tend to get bored focusing on one task at a time, so instead of committing all my energy to one huge project, I like to work on several at once. With practice, you can even move multiple projects along on different timelines to meet your deadlines. To tie this to a technician’s environment, imagine having four cars to work on with three different completion time expectations. Rather than doing them sequentially, try a different approach. Start by triaging all four cars, get write-ups done for parts, diagnostic time, repair needs and load up your service advisor with all the info he or she needs to get approvals. Odds are you will have at least one that has some pre-approved maintenance. Take that on next.

If diagnosis is required, be stingy with your time — not your creativity. This means watching the clock like a hawk. If you know you are going to need to perform a test that requires some setup, refer to Step 1 and do it now. Don’t guess at the problem to avoid the five minutes it would take to get the scope out, connect it and run the test to get some certainty. As approvals come, you will have completed some of those tasks that we often put off because “that will hardly take any time. I’ll do it later.” If you get stuck in a holding pattern on one vehicle, move to another.

• Know When it is Time to Just Dig In: All of this works great when you are talking about a laundry list of operations that take less than an hour each. The job that is high on labor hours or completely new is an opportunity to sign your paycheck over to the car that was supposed to be paying you. This is when a couple of strategies have served me well. Read the service information. Not because you don’t know what you are doing, but because the little impatient child in all of us needs to understand that now is the time to focus.

I find that when I have a bunch of things that need to be done, I am not going to be very effective on a labor-intensive project because I will be distracted. Generally, the time-intensive projects can be negotiated to let you get other projects done first so you can then focus on your more difficult tasks.

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