When it comes to reimagining shop efficiency, it starts with one key question: how much time are your technicians actually spending working in the bay versus walking between tasks, tools, or information? For us, that question led to a series of small but powerful improvements that, when stacked together, radically changed how we operate.
Cutting down the back and forth
As a shop owner, one of my main priorities has always been reducing wasted movement, especially the back and forth between toolboxes, computers, parts areas, and equipment. That inefficiency adds up fast. If a technician loses five to ten minutes per job doing something as simple as hunting for a scan tool or walking over to a desktop computer, multiply that by every technician, every day, every bay, and you’ve got a time sink that cuts directly into productivity and revenue.
One of the very first changes we made to improve bay-level efficiency was simple. Every technician got a dedicated tool cart. (Figure 1) While some shops might hesitate due to cost, our situation is a little different, we purchase all tools for our technicians. That allows us to control the setup, eliminate duplication, and ensure every technician has what they need where they need it.
This model may not work for every business, but even if your shop doesn’t supply all the tools, there are still valuable takeaways you can adapt. The key isn’t necessarily in buying everything. It’s in centralizing what technicians use most often and making sure it's mobile and available at the bay.
Creating convenient digital support
Most technicians today have at least some digital support, whether that’s a laptop at their bay or a shared shop computer. In our shop, we’ve taken a hybrid approach. There are stationary desktop computers in fixed locations as well as rolling laptop carts equipped with OEM scan tools and programming devices. (Figure 2)
This setup matters because before it, technicians had to stop what they were doing, walk to a shared computer, look up a diagram or procedure, then walk back. That constant interruption killed focus and flow. Now, the mobile carts let them access what they need on demand. The desks are still there for deeper dives or when more screen time is needed to study a system or series of diagrams, but they’re no longer a bottleneck. Even shaving off five minutes here and there turns into hours over the course of a week.
A place for every part
One of the smartest things we picked up came from our collision center partners: dedicated parts carts for every job. (Figure 3) These carts are used to collect and organize all components removed from a vehicle during service, as well as a central location for all ordered parts for a job. This small detail helps avoid the scenario where a trim piece or engine cover reappears mysteriously after the car is picked up.
By placing everything on one mobile cart per job, nothing gets misplaced. You know exactly where it came from and what needs to go back on. It also helps the front office confirm that all parts have been reinstalled when doing a post-repair quality control check, and it prevents customer complaints or rechecks for missing items.
Procedure-specific tool carts
Beyond general tool access, we’ve created procedure-specific carts that further streamline how we operate. One of the best examples is our alignment tool cart (Figure 4), a single cart that holds everything needed to complete an alignment, all in one place.
This kind of setup makes a huge difference. In shops where technicians bring their own tools, this might seem impractical. But the truth is, a basic cart and a few essentials are far cheaper than the downtime associated with searching for tools, moving between bays, or reconfiguring the alignment rack. Compared to the cost of the alignment equipment itself, outfitting one cart is barely a drop in the bucket.
We’ve also built out carts for vehicle inspections (Figure 5), stocked with tablets, flashlights, mirror tools, and safety gear. Our wiring diagnostics and repair cart contains heat shrink, wire, terminals, zip ties, and all the associated tools we need to do clean and consistent electrical repairs. (Figure 6) In fact, this cart gets so much attention that visitors to our shop regularly photograph it as an example of how wiring setups should be organized.
Letting your flag fly
Now here’s something that may seem small, but has been one of the most effective tricks we’ve implemented. In our facility, we have 20 flat bays, and that means up to 20 vehicles inside at any given time. With that many cars packed in, it’s incredibly easy for a cart to disappear. Even if it’s five feet away, it can be blocked by a lift, a vehicle door, or another technician’s setup. You’ll spend 10 to 15 minutes just walking around looking for it.
To solve this, we added six-foot-tall color-coded flags to each cart. (Figure 7) It sounds ridiculous until you try it, but once those flags went up, the problem vanished. You can now spot any cart in the building with a quick glance. No wasted motion. No frustration. No wasted time. It’s such a simple fix, but the impact has been massive.
Be intentional
At the end of the day, this isn’t about carts or flags or fancy tools. It’s about observing how your people move and then eliminating friction wherever you can. Watch your shop. Study it. Ask questions. Where do technicians walk most frequently? What are they waiting on? What tools are shared that could be duplicated? What delays are happening every single day that nobody talks about?
Once you see those patterns, you can start making changes. Most improvements aren’t giant renovations. They’re usually a series of tiny adjustments that eliminate a few steps, shave off a few minutes, or reduce a little bit of frustration. When you do that over and over, the results snowball.
Efficiency is a game of inches. There’s no silver bullet. But there are things you can do right now that can start saving you time and money immediately. Add a parts cart for each job. Set up a mobile computer station. Create dedicated carts for key services like alignments or inspections. Attach a tall flag to every cart. Supply frequently used tools centrally, even if not every tool is company-supplied. Observe your team, refine their flow, and cut the wasted steps.
Every one of these tactics is a result of watching our shop closely, listening to our technicians, and constantly refining the way we work. They’re not about spending more money. They’re about being intentional and smart with the tools and layout you already have.
At the end of the day, the real strategy is to pay close attention to how your technicians, your support staff, and even you move through the shop. Watch how tools, information, and people flow, and start trimming the unnecessary steps, motions, or search efforts. Each little improvement, though it might seem minor in isolation, adds up in a big way over time. So start looking at how you can supercharge your shop’s efficiency with simple, repeatable improvements like these. And don’t forget to share anything that really works for you on your favorite social media platform. You never know who else might benefit from a better way to work.
