Discussion:
Looking for a better way to Dispatch work

We are streamlining our dispatch, with a central hub, hundreds of miles from our shop. This is creating a situation for our customers, as the out of town, random dispatchers dont know which tech to send. Like the Lube tech gets sent to diagnose, or the best diagnostic tech goes out on a hand pallet call. The work load is way out of balance. Some techs have little or no work, others handing in 3 sheets of overtime!
The directives from head office change like the wind. Our ship is sinking and the captain had too much rum! Management has weird ideas, and think other problems are more pressing, like our shirts are a slightly different shade than our pants!!
I'm wondering if a program exists, that can post available work throughout the area. We could see who is off on Vacation, who is on call, major jobs that need to be done.
It would show each tech's capabilities and specialties, zone of travel.
This way, a tech with no work could look this up, and call into to dispatch to say " I'm heading to dartmouth for that quoted job at the Beer store"
We are all paid a salary, work or no work. It cant last long. Us techs will have to figure out ourselves how to keep busy and post 40 hrs, before our Fashion conscience managers put us on flat rate to slow the ship from sinking.
  • Posted 2 Mar 2015 01:01
  • Discussion started by Bluenose
  • Nova Scotia, Canada
Showing items 1 - 3 of 3 results.
For Bluenose, change is very hard and there will be mistakes along the way. Maybe large mistakes, but if you don't keep moving you will fall down. I know that all companies want 100% billed time from their techs and when they see less than that they will fix whatever is broken to get that. Color of shirts and pant will take a back seat to DOLLARS. So keep pedaling as fast as you can or you may be changed just like those pants.
  • Posted 6 Jun 2015 00:20
  • Reply by Canada
  • Ontario, Canada
Most of the larger dealerships in my area (outside Phila Pa) have this type of dispatching service. It's touted as " we offer the best service, you'll get the next available tech from any one of our many dealerships."

This may be true- show up time is quick, I'll give you that- but the trade off is that the guy that shows up usually has no history with the machine, doesn't have the correct diagnostic tools needed, etc. But the biggest kicker is- the tech ALWAYS (at least this is my experience),ALWAYS seems to come from the most distant dealership in respect to where I need him. The mileage & destination charges can sometimes be more than the labor & parts portion of the bill.

All just smoke & mirrors, really jacks up the bill, & the lift doesn't really doesn't get repaired any quicker, at least IMHO.
  • Posted 3 Jun 2015 01:37
  • Reply by bbforks
  • Pennsylvania, United States
bbforks (at) Hotmail (dot) com
Customers love technology- until they have to pay to fix it!
this can be done (and it would be almost trivial to add to a PHP or ASP based web program), but I would doubt "the powers that be" would be willing to use it. I am firmly of the opinion that one of the primary reasons for "streamlining" centralized dispatch is to have _more_ control over the dispatching, not less control.
This does sound like a good thing to add to a program for customer relations management for independents. Thanks for the input/idea.
  • Posted 2 Mar 2015 22:32
  • Reply by edward_t
  • South Carolina, United States
"it's not rocket surgery"

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