Mastering management: again this month, we present some of the best business management ideas and concepts from consultants, trainers and shop owners.
Author: Motor Age

1 PREVENTATIVE MEASURES CUT COSTS

IF YOUR COMPANY HAS CONTRACTS for maintaining and servicing your equipment, it's likely you're spending more than you have to.

According to the Automotive Parts Rebuilders Association (APRA), a guaranteed way to save money is to hire your own staff to do the work for you. This will cut in-house maintenance costs, and it's more convenient and boosts efficiency, says APRA.

By doing this, your company will be more productive if your vehicles and equipment continue to run during normal hours and are serviced by staff mechanics after hours.

APRA suggests taking an inventory of your employees' skills and then assigning them to jobs that match these skills. These assigned tasks can be part of an employee's job description or they can be in addition to their traditional assignments. Extra compensation can be paid for completion of these tasks.

If you don't have any employees who can make major repairs, hiring a maintenance staff, rather paying for long-term service contracts, can still save money.

Small and regular repairs and service handled by your staff keeps your gear tuned up, prevents maintenance from becoming an overwhelming nightmare and eliminates costly downtime.