Driver/Technician Communications
The Great Divide
No one knows a truck like its driver. But Sometimes getting the right message from driver to technician seems about as easy as Evel Knievel jumping the Snake River.
Deborah Lockridge
Senior Editor
No one knows a truck better than its driver. He'll be the first to notice if something's wrong, and should be the best source to help find the problem and get it fixed.
But when you're short on technicians as it is, the idea of a driver standing in the shop complaining on and on about the latest squeak or rattle or how the truck doesn't have enough power may make you shudder.
Yet systems put in place to keep drivers out of the shop often result in garbled information getting to the mechanic. Sort of like a children's game of "Telephone."
The issue came up during a technical session on transmission troubleshooting at a recent meeting of the Technology and Maintenance Council. Improper diagnostics on automated and automatic transmissions, it was noted, are often based on not having enough information to begin with.
"This has been an industrywide problem for years, and it doesn't seem like it's getting a whole lot better," says Doug White, who was moderating the session and is director of fleet maintenance at Maryland-based Dunbar Armored. "When the information is relayed through different chains of people, parts of it are lost in the translation, and that ends up costing diagnostic time."
There has always been an adversarial relationship between drivers and mechanics. Technicians think drivers tear up the truck, and drivers say mechanics never get it fixed right.
"We've got to open the lines of communication," White says.
Put in place a program designed to facilitate this communication without wasting your technicians' time, and you can make your shop more productive, improve truck utilization and keep your drivers happier.
"We encourage our technicians to spend some time with drivers and work together as a team to maintain the equipment," says Chad Johnson, vice president of vehicle maintenance with Ruan. "The driver's got to tell us what he or she has noticed, and it's up to us to fix it and fix it right the first time."
Put It In Writing
A driver/technician communication program starts with the post-trip driver vehicle-condition report (DVCR) required by federal regulations. Instead of just viewing this as yet another piece of bureaucratic paperwork, make it work for you. Darry Stuart, of DWS Fleet Management Services in Wrentham, Mass., says many fleets use forms that are largely a page full of boxes to check. But checking a box that says "brakes" or "lights" doesn't tell the technician much. For the fleets he works with, Stuart uses a form that meets DOT requirements but encourages drivers to actually write down a description of any problems.
In addition to getting drivers to fill out the form completely, it's important for that form to go to the right person.
Many small fleets don't have a procedure for what drivers are supposed to do with their DVCRs. "It's chaotic," Stuart says. "Drivers will turn it in with their paperwork or at the fuel island or leave it on the picnic table in the lunchroom, or it's on the back of their logs, or they'll write it on the back of a napkin."
Without a procedure for written documentation, driver Sam may just walk over to lead mechanic Jimmy and say, "Hey, Jimmy, I got a vibration," and walk away. But what happens when the phone's ringing and Jimmy's got a new mechanic needing help with something and a couple more drivers walk by with other problems? Sam comes back and the truck's not fixed.
If you have a problem getting drivers to follow the procedure, Stuart says, make it a rule: No repairs without a written DVCR turned in to the appropriate person. This keeps you in compliance with government regulations and helps make sure the truck gets repaired promptly.
Get A Translator
The problem with DVCRs is, they can be cryptic. That's why the person who gets that form from the driver is a key part of the communication process.
"The driver ought to be the one who can best explain what's gone wrong with the vehicle," says Joe Stianche, fleet manager at Sanderson Farms in Laurel, Miss. "The trick is, how do you decode that? Because what a driver feels and what a mechanic needs to do is the big gap you gotta step across."
Drivers may write something like "noise in truck" or "A/C inop," and that's not enough information for a technician to efficiently diagnose and repair the problem.
It's important for the driver to turn in the report to a real person who's familiar with truck repair as well as with driver slang, and who has the communication skills needed to draw the needed details out of the driver.
At larger maintenance facilities, the person is often a service writer, much like those at car dealerships. At smaller operations, it may be a foreman, director of maintenance, shop supervisor or lead mechanic.
No matter who you designate for this job, it's important they translate the driver's information on the DVCR into something a technician will find helpful.
Problems arise when the person taking the information from the driver is not mechanically savvy enough to understand what he's being told or what he should ask. "It's like taking a mechanic and telling him to dispatch," Dunbar's White says.
At Sanderson Farms, where they have five to 10 mechanics in a shop, Stianche explains, if it's a "straight-up deal" — flat tire, headlight out, etc. — the driver will write it up and give it to his supervisor. The supervisor will tell the driver to park the truck in a certain spot or perhaps to carry the paperwork down to the shop.
"If it's a second write-up or a problem that's hard to diagnose, we welcome the driver to come to the shop and explain it to the shop supervisor or mechanic on duty," Stianche says.
At Penske Truck Leasing, customers' drivers are instructed to bring their paperwork directly to whoever is in charge of the shop, whether it's a maintenance supervisor or branch service manager.
"When the maintenance supervisor gets a copy that says 'truck squeaks,' that supervisor or service manager has to not let the driver get away from him and get more in-depth information," says Brad Shimell, manager of field maintenance systems for Penske.
"At some transportation companies, I've seen a clipboard, maybe by driver name or unit number, and the driver will do his DVCR and just clip it on the board, get in his car and go home," Shimell says. "A day or two days later, someone takes that write-up down and if it's very vague, that can create a problem.
"Drivers have to be told that they can't hang them on the board or put them in a box and think we're going to be able to figure out 'truck has vibration.'"
Bruce Stockton, vice president of operations at Missouri-based CFI, took over maintenance a few years ago after 13 years in safety — and promptly dropped the company's service writer system. He said he'd heard enough complaints from drivers over the years to realize that mechanics often weren't getting the needed information from the service writers.
Now the driver actually talks to the team leader on the shift that the truck's going to be worked on. Unlike the service writers, this team leader is a Class A mechanic, so he can ask the right questions. For instance, Stockton says, a driver might think he has a transmission problem on an automatic transmission, when in reality it's an injector problem in the engine.
"When you talk with someone who knows how they work, it makes a difference," Stockton says. Today, he says, the number of complaints from drivers about repairs is a fraction of what it once was.
That doesn't mean a service writer approach can't work. The key is to have good service writers. U.S. Xpress in Chattanooga, Tenn., uses such a program.
"A good service writer takes the time to get the information necessary," says Marty Fletcher, director of equipment research and development. "History is key. When someone comes in and says the truck's overcharging, and we take a minute to talk to him and find out, 'Oh, by the way, I just had that alternator replaced in Albuquerque last week,' that narrows down what we need to look at.
"I really can't emphasize enough how the key to getting on the right path to the proper diagnosis stems from that service desk."
You can tell if you have a good service writer, Fletcher says, by looking at the repair orders they produce. For instance, if a driver comes in with "A/C inop" written on the DVCR, and that's what the repair order says, that service writer needs some improvement. Instead of "A/C inop," the repair order should say something like, "air conditioning problem, rear air freezes up during extremely humid conditions." This information should be gleaned from a conversation with the driver.
"You also have to remember that typically, the driver doesn't want to be in the shop," Fletcher says. "It takes a person with pretty good people skills, conversationally." If they're good at talking to a driver who's aggravated because his darned ole truck is broke again, they're usually good at getting the information needed, he says.
Allow For Follow Up
In most cases, if the driver information is intercepted and interpreted properly, the technician can make the appropriate repair. But sometimes there are situations where the problem is difficult to diagnose. It's these occasions where you might want to get the technician and the driver talking directly. Depending on the situation, this might be in person, on a cellphone, or via a text-based mobile communications unit such as Qualcomm.
"We can't allow drivers to talk to the mechanics for an hour on the floor, but we can't make them feel like they're not wanted, either," says White. "One of the biggest problems is drivers are made to feel they're not wanted in the shop under any circumstances."
Fletcher says sometimes a driver has to come to the truck and show the mechanic where the problem is, maybe even take it for a drive.
"There may be a legitimate problem that we can't reproduce because whoever is testing it doesn't drive the same way," he says.
When you have drivers in the shop talking to technicians, however, the supervisor needs to stay on top of the situation to make sure that the five-minute conversation that's needed to help with the repair doesn't turn into an hour-long bull session.
White notes that it's important for the supervisor to break up the conversation tactfully, perhaps reminding the driver that in order to get the truck repaired promptly, the technician does need to get back to work on it.
"The supervisor needs to be smart enough not to come over and say, 'Get back to work, you lazy @!#&%," says White.
It's also important to let the driver know the status of the repairs when he gets back in that truck. If the technician wasn't able to repair a problem, better to know it then than when the same problem happens down the road. Some fleets give the drivers a copy of the DVCR with the technician's notes regarding the status of the problem. U.S. Xpress also uses a 3x5 "Good to Go" card — signed off by the technician — that is placed on the dash or in the seat for the driver.
Outside The Shop
The best maintenance operations encourage communication between drivers and mechanics outside of the truck-repair scenario. A prime way to do this is through driver meetings.
Maintenance managers and technicians should attend driver meetings and discuss topics such as procedures for turning in repair requests, common problems the fleet is experiencing, and new features on trucks that drivers may perceive as a problem. Part of the meeting should include fielding comments from drivers, which gives them the feeling that they have a forum for their complaints.
At Ruan, for instance, Johnson cites the example of a group of new trucks that were going through headlights quickly. Finding replacements on the road was difficult. Through technicians going to driver meetings and discussing the problem, the problem was brought out and spare headlights were put in those trucks.
Educate both drivers and technicians about each other's job, whether it's in a formal training program or one on one.
The importance of communication with drivers is a key part of weekly shop team meetings at Penske, Shimell says, whether it's a critical safety item such as steering or brakes, or a simple problem such as a squeak in the driver's seat. "It's not safety related and it won't make the vehicle break down, but it's very aggravating to the driver."
Similarly, Ruan's Johnson says he has talked to technicians on a one-on-one basis about the fact that the truck is essentially the driver's home.
"If you have a squeak in your car and you only drive it an hour a day, it's not a big deal. But if you live in that vehicle, it's different."
At Ruan, technicians are also encouraged to have a commercial driver's license. Not only does this allow technicians to road test the vehicles, it also may give them more credibility in the eyes of the drivers. Consider sending technicians along on a short trip with a driver so they can get the feel of what the driver goes through each day.
"You gotta preach it and you gotta do it by example," says Stianche.
Likewise, drivers need to understand that some problems are tough to diagnose, such as electrical problems, and that sometimes the technician is under time constraints that make it difficult to find and fix every squeak or rattle.
"Some places I go, there's animosity between drivers and technicians," says Ruan's Chad Johnson. "In a successful shop, those two groups not only understand each other, but appreciate each other."
