Fixed Ops Journal - August 2019 - F20

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

PASS IT ON

Mentoring programs allow veteran techs to share expertise with apprentices

RICK POPELY

foj@autonews.com

ave Wright watched older service
technicians at his dealership struggle to turn wrenches and contort
themselves into cramped spaces
after years of wear and tear on their bodies.
The fixed operations director at Shaheen
Chevrolet in Lansing, Mich., saw multiple
problems. His shop was losing production,
and older technicians were losing pay, because they couldn't turn the hours they used
to. The techs often were counting the days until they could lay their tools down and rest.
But Wright also saw an opportunity. The
older techs' bodies might be aching and worn
out, but their minds brimmed with years of
knowledge and experience that could help
young apprentices become productive line
technicians.
So last month, Shaheen launched a program that assigns two veteran techs as mentors to five apprentices.
The mentors don't do
any wrenching; they only
coach the apprentices on
diagnoses and repairs.
Their pay is based on
how much work the apprentices produce.
"We've told them that
Wright: Preserving we don't want them turning wrenches anymore,"
tech knowledge
Wright told Fixed Ops
Journal. "We want them to pass along their
thought process, their diagnostic ability, and
teach these young people what took them 30
years to learn."
One mentor, who is due to retire in two
years, has two apprentices; the other has
three. Wright hopes he can train five or six apprentices in that time to become line techs.
"If these guys can pick up 80 percent of his
knowledge over the next two years, I'm 300
percent ahead of where I would have been,"
Wright says. "Now I've got five guys with 80
percent of his knowledge, whereas before I
had one person with 100 percent and a body
that just couldn't physically do it."

Growing shortage
New-vehicle dealerships face a critical shortage of qualified technicians in the next five to
10 years, as more baby boomers retire and
community colleges and technical schools
PAGE 20

AUGUST 2019

Scott Mulholland, a veteran
service technician at Shaheen
Chevrolet in Lansing, Mich.,
works with apprentice tech
Wesley Eppard as part of the
dealership's new mentoring
program.

By contrast, a typical dealership training apscramble to produce enough trained replaceproach is to have students or recent graduates
ments.
of auto tech programs start on the lube rack.
The industry not only is going to lose thouThey wait for an opportunity in the main shop,
sands of experienced techs, but also will suffer a
where Wright says initially they often are
major brain drain, says Lee Harkins, CEO of M5
"parts chasers and parts replacers," doing easy
Management Services Inc., a dealership conjobs and little or no diagnostic work.
sulting firm that specializes in fixed
"Fixing the car is the easy part,"
operations. Most of the know-how,
Wright says. "Finding what the hell
tricks and shortcuts that older techs
broke and what needs to be fixed is
have accumulated isn't written down
the hard part. That's how they progfor the next generation, Harkins notes.
ress from C techs to Bs and As - by
"We've only seen the nose of the
figuring out what's wrong."
camel so far, but it's fixing to hit us
Most shops have informal mentorsoon," he says. "Without [mentoring],
ing programs in which older techs
we're going to continue to muddle
along just like we are right now and Harkins: Pick the advise and help younger ones. But
that approach typically works only to
continue to piss customers off be- right candidates
a point, Harkins says.
cause we can't take care of them."
"There's a hierarchy in the shop," he says.
Harkins says dealerships can accelerate the
"You've got your go-to guys, and they're usutraining and development of younger technially the guys who have a lot of experience.
cians by tapping into the stored knowledge of
older techs whose production has dropped
because of physical limitations.
see MENTORS, next page

Fixed Ops Journal - August 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Fixed Ops Journal - August 2019