20% productivity boost ‘because of TechMan’ says independent

Long established and widely respected, Herefordshire-based Gerry Dovermans has reported a twenty per cent boost in productivity since it adopted TechMan, an innovative garage management system.

Specialising in Mercedes, BMW and Porsche, the successful independent garage offers prestige vehicle servicing, repairs and diagnostics, attracting custom from as far afield as Scotland, Jersey and even France. The business employs 11 people, including six dealer-trained vehicle technicians, and boasts six ramps and an MOT bay.

Garage owner, Gerry Doverman implemented TechMan almost three years ago after the workshop outgrew its previous management system. The garage has since seen a 43 per cent rise in profits, which Gerry puts down to TechMan’s extensive list of powerful tools and features.

“We needed something that would cope with the demands of our workshop,” Doverman explains. “We’re an extremely busy garage, the biggest independent in Herefordshire. We do everything in-house so TechMan helps us control exactly what’s going on and when.”

Standout features for Doverman include colour-coded Calendars, Customer Management and Workshop Performance Monitoring, an effective solution which monitors technician workload and efficiency.

“TechMan makes every day work easier, because you can see your business at a glance,” Doverman explained. “The jobs timetable is absolutely excellent, it’s the best I’ve seen. I can tell you which technician is doing which job at any moment in time. All of our technicians are onboard too, they’ve each got a notebook and one of our favourite features is TechView, an electronic health check that allows you to keep digital records and photographic evidence of vehicle faults.”

Working closely with TechMan developers, Doverman has helped craft the garage management system by suggesting useful features and updates, many of which have since been implemented across TechMan to further improve the service.

Doverman said: “We’ve advised TechMan what to do from a user point of view and have rolled out updates based on our feedback, such as the colour coded calendar. Now you can quickly see what car is booked in when, where, how and if the parts are on order, if it’s a future booking, waiting for authorisation or waiting for repair. You can see everything you want.”

Gerry Doverman’s garage has grown significantly since he first opened the shutters in 1997. He puts much of his success down to forward planning, investment and careful management of all business operations. He warns garage owners that fail to properly monitor efficiency need to “wake up and smell the coffee”.

“There are some garages out there that are in the stone age, still using duplicate books,” he said. “We have to stay on top of it all and keep up with technology because, if you don’t, you’ve had it.”