Awesomeness!

Brad Clayton · September 1, 2014

This is a topic over on the "boards"

Do You Look Up Your Labor Ops from SLTS?

The gentleman that started the thread opens with this statement:

I was told that I am not to look up my warranty labor ops and specifically, I am NOT to write them on the back of the repair order because FoMoCo doesn't like that by my warranty clerk.

I have been doing it this way for 30 years,(I am at a new dealership now), I am just wondering, does anyone else do this(write your labor ops on the RO ) Thanks..

There are numerous posts about how dealers do things and comments on what is allowed but this reply is......oh.. shall we say the bee's knees!

The new C-max has no op code for oil leak dye test. If techs are ignorant of the op codes, they will not punch off when the dye test is done. You cannot "flag" your own repair orders. That's all. It's in the manual. There is absolutely no published statement about technicians being prohibited from gaining knowledge. There is also no published prohibition about you suggesting appropriate op codes. You cannot "flag," therefore you are not guaranteed that your suggestions will be implemented, but you can make any reccomendation you like. If you're on an ERO system, you are not prohibited from typing your suggestions anywhere you wish, but, since you cannot "flag," someone else must make the final coding decision.

In this store, that person is me. I have had numerous consultants start in on me about the techs making suggestions. They go away wiser and somewhat chastened. I make the decision and I am subject to being disciplined and/or dismissed for my errors. Those who bombastically insist that the "techs are writing their own paychecks" inevitably have to deal with me. I don't go out of my way to be abrasive but I don't sugar-coat it and it's never a pleasant experience for them to pay the price for their verbal attack on my integrity and competence and the highly insulting aspersions they cast about the honesty and dedication of the techs I monoitor and serve. They can watch me change the written suggestions to what I choose as most appropriate and then go away. Don't go away mad, just go away. I'm responsible for coding and the coding is done according to my experience and knowledge. If a tech happens to write down a time and it happens to be the right code and the right time, that's a convenience for which I am grateful but that's all it is- a convenience. I don't rubber-stamp any techs suggestions and I don't go whining about the tech's suggestions if I coincidentally come to the same conclusion as the tech about the code suggestion and it's rejected.

It just so happens that certification requirements and proper MT usage are integral to familiarity with SLTS and all techs need at least a basic familiarity in order to maintain the dealership's ability to get what they're owed.

Over many years in many different businesses, I have been accosted by both company insiders and outside consultants that say, in many ways, "you aren't supposed to be reading that" or "you don't need to know." I finally stopped leaving companies because of a few misguided or greedy and paranoid people that want to keep others ignorant in order to maintain their relevance or line their own pockets at other's expense. I now tell them that if they wish to enforce any degree of ignorance, they can get out of my office and answer to the owner for their actions. Only once, in the last 35 years, has such an attitude been upheld by an owner in my presence after I put the demand for enforced ignorance to him for a decision. I had the presence of mind to get out before that business inevitably failed. Bad maagement provides its own reward: failure.

With very rare exceptions, business owners want their people to be as knowledgeable and aware of all relevant information as possible and use it to improve the business. On the "tech ignorance of SLTS" issue, it always comes down to someone with an axe to grind, and that axe is NEVER used in the service of the organization. It is used purely for personal advancement at the cost of the efficiency and personal acheivement of others.

Everyone knows full well that Ford allows both seperate and combined time recording. Using the C-max as an example, if it took 30 minutes for the dye test but the tech made 105% on the component repair after completion of the diagnosis, failure to properly clock the MT6007D means that the 5% gain time goes away. When a tech has spent the last ten years diagnosing and repairing oil leaks without stopping to re-punch, the deliberate refusal of Ford to publish 6007D equates to lost pay for the tech and lost revenue for the dealer. Unless the techs look before they punch. And that's the deliberate intention of those who dispense such patently absurd nonsense as "you can't look at SLTS." Less money for those that work hard and a tighter squeeze on the revenue the dealership needs in order to survive..

I've invited several ignorance-enablers to come code with me. One or two have sat for a few minutes and then politely stated that they understand that, here, techs don't flag and they don't "write their own paychecks" and they don't "code the claims," regardless of their helpful suggestions to me. They leave and don't waste my time any further than they have already done. It's noteworthy that the most rabidly antagonistic of the "enforced ignorance" advocates inevitably decline the offer to witness and participate in the pre-coding review process.

For those that want to understand, my door is always open. For those that want to try to intimidate us into being less learned about our business, my door is always closed. Open the door at your own risk, if your purpose is to make me and my associates any dumber than God and nature have already made us. I absolutely guarantee you will pay a price for suggesting to me that my technician co-workers must remain stupid about things that they absolutely need to know. Your day will get much worse than you can imagine if you think you can bully me into voluntarily introducing willfull stupidity into my work environment.

No insult to the rest of you guys out there, but I lucked into a job wherein I work with the best techs ever. Anywhere. Nobody's perfect and I do not get angry over mistakes being pointed out but DO NOT INSULT MY ASSOCIATES with stupid unpublished mandates and definitely do no insult my intelligence with thinly-veiled accusations of intellectual bankruptcy.

This topic comes up periodically and I lost patience with it ten years ago. Forgive the intemperate tone of my response, it comes from watching people go into a workplace with the assumption that the techs are universally stupid or corrupt. We're not all geniuses with I.Q.s of over 180, but we're not as ignorant as many wish to believe. And most of us care deeply about doing the right thing. Very possibly the time has come when we must admit that we care too deeply. I hope not. God grant me the wisdom to accurately assess when that day has truly arrived.

Ted Schaad

Hansel Ford

Santa Rosa, CA

Aaron · September 3, 2014

Cool story bro. Lol.

Anyone remember when EGR cooler, replace paid .2?

Because it didn't include removing the intake?

The first EGR cooler I got flagged .2 for changing because our tower operator didn't read the work orders just went by parts, was the last one I didn't flag or look up the SLTS myself.

lmorris · September 3, 2014

The 3 dealerships I have worked at all told me the same thing, " If you don't flag your SLTS's you don't get paid."

forddieseldoctor · September 4, 2014

I've never had to worry about flagging my own labor ops. But at my previous dealer I should have. They had an office person who didn't know jack about cars doing warranty claims. I got called into the office on lots of occasions to help them pick out appropriate labor ops.

Matt Saunoras · September 4, 2014

I do my own labor ops plus write stories and do labor ops for other harder claims if I have a chance. As long as the notes are submitted correctly all my claims get paid for....and guess who figured this out?

Keith Browning · September 4, 2014

I've never had to worry about flagging my own labor ops. But at my previous dealer I should have. They had an office person who didn't know jack about cars doing warranty claims. I got called into the office on lots of occasions to help them pick out appropriate labor ops.

At least they thought to ask. I have a really good writer that can code out my repair orders very well but on occasion he does ask questions to get the correct and appropriate time. I have no problem with that. He gets me every tenth I should have coming to me (and for that matter the store) AND he is honest about it as am I. No worries here on warranty except that there is too much of it some times.

Brad Clayton · September 4, 2014

A good warranty clerk is a keeper for sure. One of the first duty's to be performed when flagging a claim is to read the workshop manual for the repair being flagged. This is mandated by Ford. How many warranty clerks do you think, do that? If they just straight up flag a water pump on a 6.4 and don't read the actual procedure involved with a water pump replacement, then much labor time would be lost. Ford will not kick a claim if the time to be paid is lower than it should be, you can bet'cher boots on that partner.