Training & welfare 46 What if every technician could gain an extra working day a month? The automotive aftermarket has spent years discussing the technician shortage, and with good reason. As vehicles become increasingly complex, workshops are under growing pressure to recruit, retain and develop skilled technicians capable of diagnosing and repairing ever more sophisticated vehicles. While the shortage of suitably qualified technicians persists, Autotech is offering an alternative way to tackle the problem. But what if one of the biggest opportunities facing the industry isn’t finding more technicians at all? What if it’s finding more time? It sounds ambitious, but the maths is surprisingly simple. Give a technician back just 30 minutes each day, and that equates to two and a half hours every week. Over the course of a month, that’s more than 10 additional productive hours – effectively an extra working day from every technician on the payroll. Yet while much of the industry’s attention remains focused on attracting new talent into the sector, there is another question worth asking: are workshops making the most effective use of the technicians they already have? Technicians are estimated to spend between 10% and 20% of their working day on administration. The challenge is not vehicle technology – it’s workshop efficiency. For many workshops, increasing capacity is easier said than done. Demand remains heavily concentrated in technical roles, highlighting the ongoing challenge of sourcing experienced technicians. As a result, improving productivity remains one of the few levers workshops can directly control. That means reducing the time spent on administration, warranty reporting, searching for technical information and duplicating data across multiple systems. And this is where technology is beginning to deliver measurable gains. Assisted Reality technology Autotech Connect’s Assisted Reality solution gives vehicle technicians access to technical information, remote expertise and digital documentation while they work on a vehicle. The software can be accessed through RealWear hands-free headsets or tablets, allowing workshops to adopt the technology in the way that best suits their technicians and working environment. When using a RealWear headset, technicians can operate the system by voice command, allowing them to access technical information and repair procedures without stepping away from the vehicle. The headset can also connect them by live audio and video to a more experienced technician or specialist in another location, who can see what they see and provide guidance in real time. Combined with Autotech Connect’s AI-supported software, technicians can verbally capture observations, diagnostics and repair information as they work. Voice-to-text technology converts this into structured documentation, rather than the technician having to stop at the end of a job and manually write up their notes. The platform can be accessed through the headset or a tablet and configured around approved technical information, workflows and compliance requirements. For an independent workshop, the principle is straightforward: the technology doesn’t make the physical repair itself faster; it reduces the nonproductive time surrounding it. The old way of working is often like this: Stop work, find information, return to the vehicle, encounter a problem, find someone with the expertise, continue the repair, stop again, and then write up the job. Modern technology can offer a simplified and quicker route: Work on the vehicle, access information by voice, call in expertise remotely if required, and document the work as it happens. And it doesn’t need to save hours at a time to make a difference. Saving a technician just 30 minutes each day adds up to more than 10 hours a month – effectively giving the workshop an extra working day of productive technician time without increasing headcount. For a four-technician workshop, saving just
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