The Mechanics Association of Ireland has held its final information evening of 2018, rounding off a highly successful programme of events that have provided those attending with both technical and business development insights. The latest event was once again very well attended and this time focused on workshop productivity and developing business through online promotion.

The event was hosted by Grup Eina at its impressive training facility in Swords, with two high profile presenters, Any Savva and Dave Massey, flying in from the UK to address the audience of technicians and garage owners.

Andy Savva built up one of the most respected and successful independent garages in the UK and now operates a new business venture called the Garage Inspector. This allows him to put his extensive knowledge and experience of running a garage business to work, visiting and advising garages about ways to boost workshop efficiency and make their operations more profitable.

Andy’s presentation focused on the key issue of technician productivity and how to maximise the benefits of selling labour hours. He said that on average most technicians are only truly productive for around 56% of their working day, meaning only just over half or their time is spent working on vehicles as chargeable hours. He made the point that this meant that the vast majority of garages actually make zero, or negligible profit on selling labour hours, with most relying on the part sales mark-up to keep their operation afloat.

Andy then suggested various ways in which workshop productivity improvements could be made. These ranged from simple steps, such as having a tidy well organised working area, to more involved productivity improvement principles such as the 5S workplace efficiency organisation method. He quoted the example of a how a programme of continues improvement had taken Formula 1 car pit stops from 12 seconds to 2.5 seconds and how applying similar principles could dramatically improve technician efficiency in the garage, through good planning, effective work area design, training and investment.

Andy also spoke about how most garages fail to take the cost of doing business into their process of setting labour rates and how garage owners need to have the confidence to charge an appropriate rate for the level of service they provide.

The second half or the evening saw Dave Massey of ADS, a successful specialist workshop based in Preston, speak about how his business had developed and the importance of having an effective online presence. Dave first demonstrated how his workshop had moved from a 49% efficiency rate to 80% by applying many of the principles laid out earlier by Andy. He then went on to explain how he had managed to dramatically grow the business his workshop does through online marketing.

Dave now also runs the Garage Website Company which specialises in building websites and advising on online marketing strategies for independent garages. This came out of his own experience in building a highly successful online presence for ADS. He demonstrated the power of using key words and phrases in website content in order to drive business and boost search engine optimisation, giving some simple practical hints and tips that can dramatically improve results.

Dave also spoke about the needs to ensure that website design is fully responsive, as some 70% of searches are made on smart phones and the need to ensure a site is fast. He also emphasised that sites need to be personalised using genuine images of the premises and videos and spoke about the huge power of customer testimonials.

The evening proved to be very informative and enjoyable for those attending, with everyone taking away ideas and suggestions that they can apply in their own business or working environment.

Both Andy and Dave will also be speaking at Autoinform LIVE, the largest ever automotive training event to take place in Ireland. The training weekend takes place on Saturday April 27th and Sunday April 28th 2019 in Cork and will provide both technical and business training modules designed specifically for independent garages.

The MAI are planning further information sharing events for the New Year. Further information on these events will appear on MAI social media outlets and the Autobiz website.