Hello, my name is Andrew Rauch I work at an independent repair shop in Algonquin, IL as an ASE master certified technician and I'm constantly looking for ways to self improve and boost my efficiency.

As a shop we recently made the change from hourly to flat rate as well as big software and management system change. With being paid hourly my entire career thus far I'm finding it a little difficult to find ways to boost my productivity and up my weekly booked hours. I'm averaging 30-40 hours weekly currently and I'm looking to try to up that to a 50 booked hours a week at minimum. I do a lot of diagnostic work. I have a fairly well organized work station and tool box that helps me move from job to job. I Would just like to use this forum thread to bounce some ideas off of other techs who have been in the trenches a little longer than I have. What are some ways you keep organized? In what way is your scheduling set up? Are jobs "up for grabs" or assigned to you? Do you have project cars that you work on when things are slow? When things are busy and you feel bogged down what do you do to refresh or keep "focus" on jobs with higher priority? What are your go to diagnostic tools? Oscilloscope? Digital-Multimeter?Aftermarket/factory scan tools? What type of training and after-hours organizations do you participate in? Would love to hear any ideas or techniques from like minded individuals who are striving to better themselves and keep an edge on the competition.

Andrew J Rauch
Technician
Mastertek
Algonquin, Illinois, USA