Running Your Shop Like a Well-Oiled Machine

Every piece of complex machinery has parts working together to perform repetitive, difficult, or complicated tasks. If two moving surfaces in these machines aren’t sufficiently lubricated, it causes heat, surface wear, and eventual equipment failure. And you protect the equipment’s performance and efficiency by keeping that friction low. 

Your fleet runs on the same principle. On some level, it’s a complex machine with various roles and assets accomplishing intricate functions. Every inefficiency in the organization creates friction and drag which impacts your productivity.

And Whip Around can help you reduce that friction. 

Overcoming disconnected and outdated systems

A lot of companies run their shop on a disjointed system of analog and digital solutions. These could include things like:

• Whiteboards 
• Logbooks
• Spreadsheets
• Desk calendars
• Paper files
• Legacy applications

Every place where information is stored and managed in isolation introduces friction. Tasks get forgotten. Critical data goes unnoticed. Trends are unrecognized. It’s hard to quantify the lost opportunities and inefficiencies that come from maintaining separate processes with information that should be shared. 

Ultimately, you want to simplify those processes. Whip Around helps you do away with paper inspection forms, allowing you to stay DOT compliant, track costs and maintenance history, and manage faults and work orders all from a powerful app and dashboard. And it integrates with services like Geotab, Samsara, and Verizon Connect, making your data even more valuable.  

Poor communication 

Resistance can quickly enter an organization through communication channels. And it’s not just the friction that comes from different personalities. It’s the problems that arise from insufficient methods of conveying information and delegating responsibility. 

For instance, if drivers have to perform a daily inspection on paper, there are so many areas where problems can be introduced. 

• Are you sure that the inspection is actually being done?
• Does the form offer enough space for the driver to adequately explain defects or issues?
• Is the driver’s handwriting even legible? 
• Will the form make it back to the shop in a readable condition (if it makes it back at all)?

In this single task, there are so many ways for critical information to fall through the cracks. And the problem is largely the method used to convey that info. As much as possible, you want a system that diminishes the opportunity for transmission errors and makes the data easier to receive, understand, and circulate.

With Whip Around, information is captured digitally. There’s never any need to worry that drivers won’t have enough room to write an adequate description of a fault or that their handwriting is going to be a problem. They can use their smartphone to take pictures during an inspection, reducing the chances that inspections are being “pencil whipped.” Inspections are stored in the cloud, so you don’t have to worry about whether the form is going to get turned in.

The instant availability and utility of this information greases the wheels of the entire organization. When a fault gets noted, you get notified immediately. From there you can create a work order for a mechanic and they can sign off on the fix right in the app. No one has to wonder if there’s an information bottleneck somewhere or if a task has stalled out somewhere in the chain of communication. 

And the ability to automate certain details and tasks streamlines the process even further. Want to make sure a vehicle in your fleet gets serviced in a timely manner? You can choose whether that service is triggered by a certain number of miles, a specific time frame, or after a number of hours on the road. And that notification can be sent to you or another responsible party of your choosing. This does more than ensure that tasks are completed, but it reduces the opportunities for miscommunication among team members. 

Keep your fleet running smoothly

The benefits of using the right tool to digitize and automate tasks can be comprehensive, offering more than an easier way to perform specific duties. The right tool should help to smooth out processes and improve communication, raising efficiency across the board. If you’re interested in how Whip Around can reduce organizational friction, book a demo or contact us today.