Why Perform Maintenance In-house?
While there are some jobs that may need to be contracted out because your shop will not have the experience, time, or tools resources, there are many reasons to consider moving your maintenance in-house. According to the National Survey of Equipment Management Practices (Source), “By a factor of 4 to 1 respondents reported that outsourced work is more expensive, and by a factor of 3 to 1 they reported that outsourced work requires more bureaucratic steps”.
“Respondents reported that outsourced work is more expensive”
1. Cost control
By avoiding the parts and labour markups associated with outside repairs, your shop can save money while ensuring the quality of the repair and parts used. Plus, streamlining the process and decreasing the paperwork to outsource work improves your shop’s productivity allowing you to monitor the repair, decrease asset downtime, and save money across the board.
2. Turnaround time
With in-house maintenance, your maintenance team can prioritize jobs based on your shop’s overall strategy. You also have the flexibility to prioritize the work while a third party or OEM which may schedule your asset based on their prior commitments. So you can ensure the timeliness of jobs you need to complete first.
3. Real-time Insights
Even with the most communicative dealership, it is impossible to gain the same transparency into the repair process as you do when the repair is happening in-house. When you complete a repair inside your shop, you can monitor the labor and parts usage in real-time and maintain alignment across teams at every step in the workflow. Plus, you can respond to changing priorities and manage decisions that could affect cost.