Monday morning at the workshop
Twelve bikes are booked in for Monday. The head mechanic picks up the e-bike with the motor error because nobody else is trained on it. The junior mechanic starts a full service on a road bike and finds the bottom bracket is seized. The third mechanic is halfway through a wheel build from Saturday. By eleven, four bikes have not been touched, and one customer is at the counter expecting to collect by lunch.
On Wednesday the diary is thin, two mechanics tidy the workshop and the owner wonders why the week felt so busy.
Nobody plans the day, only the diary
Most bike shops plan when bikes arrive, not who will work on them. Mechanics pick up the next tag. That works when the jobs are similar and the mechanics are interchangeable, which in a modern workshop they are not. E-bikes, suspension, hydraulic brakes and wheel builds need particular skills.
- Jobs are not sized in time, so the day's load is unknown until it is done.
- Skills are in people's heads, so specialist jobs queue behind one person.
- Bikes needing parts are started before anyone checks the parts are in.
- Promised collection times are not visible to whoever picks the next job.
- Half-days, training and holidays are not reflected in the day's capacity.
Promises missed and time wasted
The first cost is broken promises: bikes not ready when the customer arrives, because the job that mattered was picked up last. The second is lost time. Mechanics start bikes that cannot be finished, set them aside and begin again later. The third is uneven load, where your most skilled mechanic is overloaded while others wait.
A bench plan for each mechanic, each morning
We build a daily bench plan that works from your workshop bookings.
- Each job type has an estimated time from your own records, and each mechanic has a list of the job types they are trained for.
- Each morning the planner allocates the day's jobs, starting with those promised earliest, to the right mechanics by skill and available hours.
- Jobs with parts not yet in stock are held back, so mechanics do not start what they cannot finish.
- Each mechanic sees their list on a workshop screen or tablet, in order, with the promised time for each bike.
- As jobs finish or overrun, the plan updates and the counter sees any promise at risk before the customer arrives.
- Actual times are recorded, so estimates improve and the booking diary gets more accurate.
| Mechanic | Skills | Today's list |
|---|---|---|
| Head mechanic | E-bike, suspension, wheels | E-bike fault, fork service, collection 12:00 |
| Mechanic two | Servicing, hydraulics | Two full services, brake bleed |
| Junior | Basic servicing, tyres | Three safety checks, punctures as they come |
The plan is a starting point, not a rule. The head mechanic can move jobs around, and the plan follows.
A workshop that finishes what it promised
Mechanics start the day knowing what is expected. Bikes promised for lunchtime are worked on first. Specialist jobs are spread across the week instead of piling up on one person. The counter can see what is running late and warn the customer. Over time the recorded job times show where you need another trained mechanic.
There is a training benefit as well. When the plan shows that every e-bike job waits for one person, you have a clear case for training a second mechanic on that system, and you can see which quieter weeks would suit the course. Junior mechanics can be given a step up in a planned way, with a harder job placed on their list on a day when the head mechanic is around to help.
Signs your workshop needs a daily plan
- Some days are frantic and others are quiet with the same number of bookings.
- Bikes are not ready when promised because they were picked up late.
- One mechanic is the only person who can do certain jobs.
- Bikes are started and then set aside for missing parts.
- Nobody knows how long each type of job really takes.