With eight high-volume shops at multiple locations across North Carolina, service management challenges for TranSource Truck & Trailer Centers can be daunting.
The medium- and heavy-duty commercial truck dealership group offers Mack, Volvo, Hino, and Isuzu vehicles, and is an authorized parts and service center for Mitsubishi Fuso Trucks, UD Trucks, Cummins engines, Allison Transmissions, and Autocar Trucks. The service operations comprise over 130 bays staffed by 100 ASE and OEM certified technicians.
With a range of technologies and the implementation of paperless processes across its network of facilities, however, the Greensboro-based dealership group is meeting the goals it has set for its service operations.
These goals include increasing customers’ asset utilization by reducing dwell time, as well as carrying out inspection and maintenance programs driving up service that drive efficiency and productivity, according to Kevin Bowers, TranSource director of service operations.
And these efforts are replicated at all eight shops.
“We’re focused on providing our customers with a consistent service experience across our locations,” Bowers stated. “Central to achieving that objective are advanced service, management, and business process technologies, such as the Decisiv Service Relationship Management (SRM) platform along with business system and partner integrations.”
Decisiv-built platforms in place at TranSource include the Mack Trucks and Volvo Trucks ASIST web-based service management platform, the INSIGHT Case Management platform from Hino Trucks, and the Isuzu Connect SRM platform from Isuzu Commercial Truck of America.
The dealership has also implemented the Karmak Fusion business management solution to handle its sales, lease/rental, accounting, and business processes. The single, unified dealer management system replaced three legacy solutions from Karmak and two other software providers.
“Integrations let us share critical information across systems and locations,” Bowers explained. “Every service event for every type of asset is managed on the same platform, and it is used by service, parts, sales, and lease/rental personnel to communicate and collaborate about maintenance needs. The solution also enables communication with customers about service status, estimates, and approvals.”
TranSource employs the various OEM platforms developed by Decisiv for vehicles that are serviced and repaired at its facilities, on-site at customer locations, and for the dealership’s lease and rental fleet. The dealer chain uses the solutions to keep track of all information associated with a service event, including diagnostic reports, estimates, approvals, warranty coverage, as well as each customer’s preferred inspection and service procedures.
Other integrations with Decisiv SRM partners are in place as well, where Bowers noted they are streamlining service in TranSource shops. At check-in, technicians use tablets with Noregon JPRO in-shop software to diagnose vehicles and automatically load fault data, service histories, and other in-context information in a service event case. The asset, service, and repair information is also available on laptops assigned to service advisors and on computers in shops used by technicians.
On a daily basis, the TranSource service management staff uses the SRM platform’s management dashboard to view real-time data on assets at every location. The configurable tool provides information about the status of every event by enabling a view into each case throughout the entire service process.
TranSource is also leveraging its management technology to work toward fully paperless processes. It sees those as a means of driving up efficiency and productivity by supporting technicians, service advisors, and managers during in-house, mobile on-site, and roadside service events.
To set the stage for paperless operations, TranSource used Decisiv’s Builder application to create nine new paperless inspection procedures for service writers and technicians. The digital inspections, which are an acceptable legal form of documentation, cover lease/rental and used truck turn-in, trailers, DOT requirements, and maintenance programs for customers.
Teams at Decisiv and TranSource worked together to convert inspection forms developed by the corporate trainer at TranSource based on OEM standards and recommendations. Also prepared for use in paperless applications are procedures covered under the dealership’s Express, Premium, and Signature maintenance packages.
“Eliminating paper from service management processes has been well received by service writers and technicians across our network of shops because they find it simpler and more accurate to access and provide service event information electronically,” Bowers said. “Paperless applications also make it easier to follow structured inspection and maintenance procedures more effectively.”
