Assignment Introduction

This assignment provides a method of assessing evidence of your ability to understand and apply the issues addressed in this unit. You are to consider the issues discussed in this assignment in a context related to automotive industry management standards and practises.

On completion of this assignment you will be able to satisfy the learning outcomes for Unit 14 'Managing Vehicle Service and Workshop Organisations', detailed below:

Learning Outcomes

The learner will:

1. Understand the principles of efficient vehicle workshop operations (Assessment Criteria 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4)

2. Be able to use vehicle workshop performance information (Assessment Criteria 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5)

3. Understand vehicle service customer groups and the significance of each group (Assessment Criteria 3.1, 3.2)

4. Be able to control quality of work, customer satisfaction and retention (Assessment Criteria 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4)

This assignment is not a timed test and you may find it useful to refer to the unit content and your notes when responding to the tasks. Your responses are to be structured in your own words however you may seek information from reference material, manuals, articles and the internet. It is your responsibility to ensure the accuracy of the information you provide.

Task 1

1 Define internal and external customers. Present your definitions in a brief paragraph format.

a. Vehicle service customers broadly fall into four categories which may be described as: Owner Drivers, Business Users, Fleet Operators/Contract Hire Vehicles and Executive

Briefly describe the impact each of the four categories may have on the customer services you need to provide to ensure that customer expectations are met and satisfied.

(Assessment Criteria 3.1, 3.2)

Key Words: Departments, Branches, Business, Private, Service, Support, Satisfaction, Care

2 State three examples that illustrate elements of risk for the following responsibilities (2a, 2b & 2c) of a service manager's role. (You may use a bullet point style answer this section.)

a. Condition of vehicles leaving the workshop

b. Planning the workshop labour sales targets

c. Planning staff required to achieve department objectives

d. Give examples of management skills and knowledge that can be applied to minimise each of the three risk factors described in (2) above.
(Assessment Criteria 1.1, 2.2, 2.3)

Key Words: investment, Cash Flow, Responsibility, Authority, Expertise, Resource

3 Explain the importance of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) wien applied to the service workshop operations.
(Assessment Criteria 1.1)

Key Words: Information, Control, Analysis, Performance

4 State three critical service and workshop department Key Performance Indicators, that should be measured daily and explain the following for each one:

a. What aspects of department performance each of the three KPIs measures

b. Select one of the three KPIs and describe by bullet point. List the actions you would take if the KPI reported underperformance for:

i. one week

ii. four consecutive weeks

(Assessment Criteria 2.3, 2.4, 1.2)

Key Words: Measurement, Review, Revise, Plan, Action, Trend

5 Prepare a reporting path for your own service operation. The reporting path must suggest a KPI that checks the critical aspects of performance of your service department, from booking the vehicle in to the workshop to satisfied customers.

a. Note your department's current performance outcome at each critical stage in your process. (Assessment Criteria 4.1, 4.3, 4.4)

Key Words: Plan ,Assess, Target, Quality, Process

Task 2

Project Scenario

The dealer principals of a new vehicle franchise dealership are in the process of conducting the half year department performance reviews with each departmental manager. The two dealer principals are both from a sales background and have asked you to contribute your after sales expertise to assist them in the review of the workshop and service operation performance. At the end of the last year, the dealership lost its experienced Service Manager and the current workshop controller was appointed to the role of service manager.

The service operation achieved reasonable results in the previous trading year, when taking into account a decline in market confidence, due to financial constraints stemming from economic recession. When the current year budgets were planned at the end of last year, the market forecast was for a conservative vehicle market meaning that fewer people would be buying new cars, therefore more will be retaining their vehicles for at least another year. The management team agreed that to maintain trading stability, budgets would seek marginal growth year on year and seek to capitalise on the after sales opportunity.

You have received the half year management accounts for the service and workshop department and have been asked to carry out an in-depth study of the management accounts, report your findings and recommend actions to improve negative trenils and capitalise on positive performances.

1. Examine the attached Half Year Management Report. Identify the aspects which indicate the strengths of the department performance and those that report underperformance. Investigate the connections and indicators that suggest possible causes of the strong and less strong aspects of the department's results. When you have completed your study you are to prepare a brief report that must include:
a. A minimum of three individual aspects of under-performance
b. A minimum of three strengths identified in the department's performance
c, Logical reasons extracted from the report to explain a possible cause for each of your identified aspects of strength and aspects of under-performance,
d. Prepare a proposal of action to:
i. rectify the areas of under-performance identified.
ii. capitalise on the aspects of strong performance identified
e. Assess the number of operational workshop staff and support staff required to achieve the annualised budget objectives and explain the process employed for assessing the staff requirement.

From the Management Report, identify two (2) potential needs for staff training and briefly explain:

i. the report field from which you identified the identified need
ii. the rationale supporting the need for training
(Assessment Criteria 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5)
Key Words: Review, Assess, Plan, Action, Improve, Identify, Development

2. Briefly describe Workshop Efficiency and explain (using brief statements):
a. The effects of poor labour utilisation on the profitability of the department
b. The relationship between Workshop Productive Efficiency and Workshop Overall efficiency
c. The difference between workshop Productive Idle Time and Non-productive Idle Time
d. Actions that the service manager can take to minimise technician down-time between jobs. (Assessment Criteria 1.2, 1.3)
Key Words: Measure, Assess, Control, Loading, Planning, Profit

3. Your workshop is currently equipped with five working bays and you employ five full time technicians. The qualified staff you can offer your customers are: 1 qualified vehicle electrician who is also a qualified diagnostic technician, 1 fully qualified and trained senior technician, 2 qualified technicians who are also trained on current diesel engine, petrol engine, chassis and drive train technology and I skilled service technician.

Your workshop is equipped with modern tooling and specialist equipment.

You also have two service advisors and a driver/cleaner.

Prepare a bullet point style procedure for loading the workshop and checking the quality of work produced. Start at the point the vehicle is booked on to the system and end at the point when the customer confirms their satisfaction with the work carried out.

(Assessment Criteria 2.2, 4.2) 4 4

Key Words: Plan, Process, Procedure, System, Quality, Control, Satisfaction

Task 3.

Each of the five aspects of service operations noted below directly influence customer satisfaction. For each of the five aspects state three key factors that can enhance the customer's experience and create customer satisfaction and loyalty to your services.
a. Work
b. People
c. Premises
d. Services
e. Care

Your list should comprise of single words or short groups of words.
(Assessment Criteria 4.1, 4.3)

Key Words: Quality, Satisfaction, Care, Appeal, Courtesy, Attention, Timing

Attachment:- Managing Vehicle Service and Workshop Organisations.pdf