Teph Seal
Automobile Detailer Reduces Labour Costs, Automates Billing Procedures, and Streamlines Payroll Processes with Mobile Technology
Teph Seal provides automobile detailing and refurbishing services for over 400 car dealerships across the United States. With over 2,000 employees that work inside their clients’ dealerships, operations management is extremely challenging.
“The automation capabilities of our handheld solution have allowed us to cut labor costs by 10% to 15%. With our labor costs exceeding $1 million a month, this solution will save us more than $1 million in labor alone in its first year of use. The solution also enables us to receive 85% of our billing data the same day the service is performed as opposed to waiting weeks for service paperwork under our old method.
Faster access to data enables us to bill customers in a more timely fashion, which improves our cash flow. Finally, because human error has been eliminated from the process, we have been able to achieve 100% billing accuracy.” — John Tricoli, President,Teph Seal
The Challenge:
- Teph Seal used a manual paper-based processes to track service fulfillment, customer billing, and employee payroll
- This system created a number of problems such as:
- billing inaccuracies resulting from human error,
- slow customer processing due to data having to be physically transported in paper form, and
- employees taking liberties with company processes such as negotiating pricing
The Solution:
- Teph Seal equipped its workers with Psion Teklogix WORKABOUT PRO rugged handheld computers
- Employees use handhelds to scan the vehicle identification number (VIN) barcode, which automatically captures important vehicle information
- Employees then use handhelds to input the services performed and for what dealership
- Costs are programmed by corporate and cannot be changed by individual employees
- Dealer signs a signature screen to verify work has been done to its satisfaction and to authorize billing
- Data from each handheld is downloaded to Teph Seal’s central database, which generates billing data for the accounting department and automatically creates invoices for dealers
The Benefits:
- Reduced labour costs by 10% to 15%
- 100% billing accuracy
- Increased process speed as solution now enables Teph Seal to receive 85% of billing data the same day of service
- Better cash flow as a result of being able to bill customers faster
- Enhanced reputation and added business as a result of improved service tracking capability
