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Fully handles Booking-In process
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The process of managing upcoming work flow and determining in and out due dates often lies with workshop owners or estimators. With increases in workloads and external pressures, it is important for these key individuals to adopt time management practices to make the most effective use of their time.
WebTRIM has developed a simplified approach to booking-in which allows this time consuming process to safely be delegated to customer service staff.
Our booking process provides you with a structured approach to estimating turn-around time, as well as providing in and out due dates, which take into account your current capacity and existing booked-in work.
By using WebTRIM eXpress to handle the booking process, all staff will have a complete picture of the upcoming work flow. The application provides graphs showing your booked levels verses targets (on a day to day basis), allowing you to easily recognise over-booked or under-booked capacities. The targets also take into account upcoming absenteeism (such as Annual Leave), and will automatically adjust the targets to suit.
Beyond the features mentioned, our booking process also has an unforeseen side effect on culture. Traditionally, vehicles are booked in based on a Monday to Friday basis. The number of problems that can potentially arise from this culture is quite remarkable.
- Painters are often left idle on a Monday morning while vehicles are quickly Stripped and Repaired.
- Administration staff are overwhelmed on a Monday morning with incoming customers dropping off vehicles, and the same applies on a Friday due to pick-ups.
- Minimal Invoicing occurs on a Monday and Friday due to the number of clients that need to be handled. This can have a direct impact on incoming cash flows.
- Number of vehicles onsite is larger? due to booking style. Greater amount of time in moving vehicles is required, as well as the space required to store vehicles.
The WebTRIM eXpress booking module provides precise in and out due dates, and takes into account your capacity levels on a daily basis. The result of this is an ability to provide your customers with accurate dates that do not necessarily conform to the traditional Monday to Friday culture.
The impact of changing this culture can improve work flows, increase customer satisfaction, as well as having a direct impact on profitability. The following outlines the key advantages that can be obtained by using the WebTRIM eXpress booking module:
- Customer satisfaction: Reduce the duration that the customer is left without their vehicle by providing accurate in and out due dates.
- Increased volumes: The reduction in turn-around times will have a direct impact on your cycle times. Work providers use cycle times in conjunction with other key indicators to analyse your business. By reducing cycle times, you may be eligible for a change in rating, or may be able to better negotiate increases in volumes.
- Storage Costs: Booking in vehicles when they are required, rather than the traditional Monday to Friday method, will mean that there are less vehicles onsite at any one time. This can potentially lead to a reduction in insurance premiums, as well as reduction in additional parking required – which can be quite a significant saving where car parking is rented.
- Increased productivity: In addition to the above mentioned saving in storage cost, a reduction in vehicles onsite means that there is less vehicles in the way when moving vehicles in and out of the workshop. This may seem like a minor point, however the accumulative time spent each week moving vehicles out of the way to get to other vehicles quickly adds up. Every minute spent moving vehicles is one less minute that can be spent on productive, chargeable time.
- Administrative benefits: As mentioned, the Monday to Friday practice of booking in and out means that either of these days are hectic, and chaotic at best. By distributing the incoming and outgoing work across the week – the administration burden is reduced on these two days, and more evenly spread across the entire week. This can reduce stress levels and tension in the office, as well as increasing cash flow due to faster invoicing.
The general feedback that we receive after clients adopt our booking in system is an overall improvement in the work flow throughout the shop. The common bottlenecks, whether it be the paperwork in admin, or the progression of vehicles through the workshop, are greatly improved. It is often commented that “things just work a lot more smoothly” after having implemented WebTRIM eXpress.
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