Intellectual property...

[Jim Warman]

Almost a follow up to "Free advice"....

 

On another venue, I'd almost grazed the surface of the idea that we have what can be considered "intellectual property".

 

This can be almost anything... like knowing the procedure for checking crankshaft endplay without refering to a manual to knowing that there is a procedure for checking endplay... Those things that we have etched into our minds through our tenure in this trade.... things that many manuals take as "common knowledge" and don't mention.

 

And it doesn't stop there - even knowing that there is a document that addresses a particular concern and knowing where and how to find that document could be considered as intellectual property....

 

What we know can, at times, be more important than what we do. This is one of those things that we need to be sure that our employers know and appreciate... this can be a thing that will set us apart from "the crowd"...

 

I realize that none of us wants to take our job home with us... but that doesn't mean we can't take our careers everywhere we go. Got a stinker in your bay that refuses to be fixed? Leave the frustration at work but take the puzzle with you. Turn the TV down and study what you have - fixing something that others couldn't is going to be a feather in your cap and how you got from "broke" to "fixed" will be your intellectual property to do with as you please.

 

Read BroadCast Messages like they were a religion.... too many of them are valuable yet never get turned into an SSM or TSB. Be aware that there is a lot of good stuff on fleet.ford.com.... Go to BBAS (body builders advisory service) and find a lot of good info on SEIC and fuel systems along with other trivia that comes in useful from time to time.

 

Know how to find SVB bulletins... check them occasionally... There's info about Rotunda tools, training courses and requirements.... good stuff to know.

 

I hope everyone reading this knows that you can get "as built" data from OASIS, now.... I have guys that look over my shoulder while I retrieve it for them and they still think it's magic...

 

Intellectual property... know that it is valuable, flaunt it... don't leave home without it....

[JAKE_MORSE]

Hey Jim, Just a comment about advancing your skills and knowlage as much as you can to be above the crowd. I really take training and studying to heart, to the point of sitting up at night reading anything I can get to make me a better diesel tech. After I aquired all this knowlage and am the only one in my shop of 8 techs that will touch these beasts, I approched my SM about a slight pay increase,(offered a position at another dealer), me SM started about how he could probly get a young kid in here for $10.00 an hr and train them. what do you say to that and what would you do if in my shoes?

[snw blue by you]

10 dollars Canadian? Damn thats like 6 dollars here, Cheap bastiges!

 

Sorry!

 

Excellent question though, when someone comes up with an answer, I'll be all ears, because I have yet to meet a service manager or service and parts director that gave 2 craps about my intellectual properties.

[Keith Browning]

Well, depending on how good you are and your confidence level the ideal thing to do is call his bluff. I don't know what the technician pool in Canada is like but here in NJ you cant build a new diesel tech! Hard to find anyone willing to do this that isn't already at a dealer that takes care of them. There are some guys that float from dealer to dealer but they typically cant fix lunch let alone a diesel truck. Tell him to hire a kid for fifteen bucks and give him ALL of your work for a week... see what happens.

[ErickBaker]

I admire you guys that have been able to stick it out with Ford for years and years. I only made it a little over two years. Maybe you guys had better managers than I had. There was just no respect from management for anyone, young or experienced. Any time you approached them with a problem the responded with a giggle and a shrug. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/boxing.gif

[Jim Warman]

My sentiments are pretty much an echo of Kieths.... If you are confident in your abilities and have a track record that backs it up, then blow your own horn (to a point....).

 

But let's consider some things your SM has overlooked.... like "technician competency". Having a diesel cert attached to your technician ID doesn't come easy... and it certainly doesn't come cheap considering the investment that your dealership makes in training costs....

 

Our local McDonalds pays kids 10.50/hr for full time work.... they have no tools to buy and all they need to learn is "DING.... fries are done...".

 

My son is 19 and makes about $25/hr in the oil patch running a wireline truck - his work boots, gloves, cold weather gear - all supplied by the company... As his experience grows, so will his wage....

 

Faced with that.... does your SM truly believe that anyone willing to work for a pittance will have the ability or the talent necessary to learn these complex systems???? Look at the techs around you.... sure there are many that insist they "wont" work on diesels..... how many of them and how many others "can't" work on diesels because they lack the (for want of a more politically correct term) "smarts" to understand them?

 

Alberta is crying for techs... especially diesel certified techs, right now. Low paid shops seem to start at about $28/hr and most have perks..... Our shop gives a 50 cent raise for each bubble on your plaque.... Book a hundred hours in a two week pay period and get a $2/hr bonus - we have two techs with full plaques that usually make $38/hour (including the bonus).

Ever wonder what it's like to earn 6 digits a year????

 

Am I blowing my own horn? Damned right.... I work in a shop that isn't afraid to pay good wages to good people. If your zebra wont change it's stripes, it might be time to look around for a new zebra.... Life is too short to spend it being miserable.

[JAKE_MORSE]

I like the idea of calling his bluff. But I also don't want to get into a pissing match with him and the GM. Our service managr is fresh off the floor and is a gas engine driveability ford senior who does not belive in training status, he holds 4 specialties and I hold 6.(including auto trans) I don't like to blow my own horn but I don't get any comebacks.(yet!!!) any further advice guys?

[Keith Browning]

But I also don't want to get into a pissing match with him and the GM.

Okay. I completely understand that and calling his bluff can be an unnecessarily balls-out approach. I think the point here is to assert the fact that you are valuable and back it up with your performance. If you are relatively productive, have very few come-backs (we all have one from time to time) and your success is preventing angry customers in management's faces - trust me, unless they have their heads up their asses they they know what they have in you.

[JAKE_MORSE]

Thanks Keith, those are good points to consider we we talk again about this situation.

[DwayneGorniak]

Ask him if he would like some treatment for "pennypinchitis". Preperation H, maybe? Just kidding man. Allthough I do live by the rule that you will never know unless you try. I originally came from Saskatchewan before I landed out here in Alberta six years ago. And I learned that I had to overcome my fear of the unknown. I am used to getting the brainwashing tactics that the dealerships like to shove down your throat. Meaning that they like to brainwash you into thinking there is nothing else better out there. The dealerships out here seem to be more afriad of losing techs due to a shortage in manpower.It doesn't hurt to scare them a bit. You will find out where you stand. Good luck, I hope it works out for you.

[Jim Warman]

Jake, I can understand your trepidation and what I suggest isn't a course of action to be taken lightly.... diplomacy (something I just don't possess in great quantity) is a key element.

 

Here comes a little dissertation and I pray it doesn't get too "windy"....

 

Some back ground..... I'm 29 years old (and I've gotten good at it since I've been 29 for a total of 27 times, so far.... that's 56 in mechanic years).... a grade 8 drop out and was self employed for about 15 years (which is when I finally discovered I'm a lot better tech than I am a businessman). I'm lucky enough that I found a DP looking for a crusty old bastuhd that wants happy customers more than anything else - first we make the customer as happy as he's gonna get with any given circumstance - then we worry about the "in house" crap....

 

Now... if you are going to go on the attack.... you need some ammo.....

 

Product knowledge.... #1 in my book..... little stuff can be good stuff ( I turn on RDS when I do PDIs or a radio replacement.... customers like it because they never knew it was there... our local FM ststion displays "PLAYING ALL KINDS OF STUFF" ).... but that's not all about remembering details. It is about learning how to use the resources we have. Not one person in our dealership can navigate the manuals well - I think nearly everyone has commented how "bad" they are. But they aren't... and, with a little study and practice, you can become "the information guy" in your shop. "Go ask Jake... he'll know". Already, you will stand out from the crowd.

 

Similarly... getting to know FMCDealer and Powerstroke Central will help. There's tons of info to be had... we only need to be able to find it.

 

Broadcast messages.... I read them every day and I know what is happening long before most others around our shop. The new Escape recall - that one actually was a message at least one day ahead of the news media for a change. I started saving them in MicroSoft Office (a simple copy and paste operation) which makes them "searchable". SVB bulletins are recommended reading, too.

 

Eavesdrop at times.... There are many times you get to drop an Easter Egg in someones lap "Oh, yeah.... there wa a message about that concern...". I like to get personal with my customers - it's a great source of necessary diagnostic info - they feel like they are more than just an RO number.

 

When I come across things like "leaked" documents or the flamethrower video, I often (but not always) burn them to a disk and drop them off for the DP or sales staff to enjoy.

 

Pretty soon, you stop being a valuable member of the staff and become an essential member of the staff. Might sound like "brown nosing".... but there isn't one single thing I've described here that isn't something we should all be doing.... We have the same sales dept./service dept./parts dept. crap going on that every other store has.... I simply refuse to become involved. Spend 15 minutes of your day helping another department... be frank but not brutal if you are out of "help" time....

 

There is a pecking order. I sign the back of the cheque..... There is a guy that signs the front of the cheque.... it is important for him to know that I know where he gets the money from.... our customer.... This is the "glue" that binds the store together. Forget the crap... concentrate on the customer. I keep saying "make the customer happy" - when, in reality, it often turns into making him "less unhappy".

 

Let's make a last comment on our toys.... and I am certainly pleaed for those that have stuck it out this long....

 

Starting with ESSTs (essential special service tools). These are dropshipped to your store. We use the MicroSoft spreadsheet software to catalogue them - good if you have a "geek" or two on staff. Tool crib is good but still requires a certain level of "geekiness" to keep up to date. The idea is to know which ESSTs you have, where to find them quickly, and to recognize when they will save time or effort.

 

Moving on to scan tools.... this is where we absolutely need to "play with our toys". An IDS can be the worlds most expensive code reader - or we can almost make it jump through hoops (and I am still learning this tool). Used with the VMM, the labscope can become a valuable tool. I'm not sure what the engineers were thinking when they added the "#" sign to some actuators but learning to use these active commands to our best advantage is of prime importance.

 

Sorry to turn this into a classroom lecture.... Obviously, there are those of us that desire to advance in this trade and I hope I have given food for thought.

 

Long story made short.... we have the ability to make ourselves into "value added" employees. This adds clout to our statements and desires. Avoid confrontation (big words coming from me).

 

Hidden assets.....

 

I am one of threee diesel certified techs in our shop.

 

I am the only tech licenced for ambulance inspections, commercial vehicle inspections or bus inspections.

 

I am one of two techs licenced for out of province inspections.

 

I am the only tech in our shop that can adjust an automatic choke (hell, I'm the only guy in our shop that knows what a choke is).

 

I'm the only guy in our shop that understands the relationship of wheel alignment angles and will actually "stoop" to performing alignments (this is damn near a licence to print money and I'd do it all day, if they let me...).

 

And we have only grazed the surface of "intellectual property".

[JAKE_MORSE]

Jim, I love reading your posts and getting your view on the specialty we share. thanks guys for the input! Guess it's up to me now to use the "ammo" I carry and bring it to the table. ( If this fails are you hiring in Slave Lake?) just kidding!!!

[ktmlew]

Jim...take a gander at what they are offering for pay in the states by looking at the "Jobs" forum...

 

 

You and I are cut from the same cloth but we just can't get paid here. If I could EARN 30+ an hour then I could AFFORD to do all the things we "should" be doing...actually I was doing all the above and the GM decided I was spending too much time on the computer and took out the wireless router and decreed "no laptops"...SM offered me $500.00 for my 3 week old $1150.00 one.

 

I left them shortly after and I was the only diesel tech that new they didn't have spark plugs...just started at an independant this week that services Ambulances. Not sure I'm going to make it though. Spent too long sitting around...it's tough to get old bones moving again. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rolleyes.gif

[DieselD]

Jim, very good post. I have learned to do alot of the things you are talking about throguhout my short career. I am only 25 but been in the business since 18. Ive worked at 3 dealers, the first for about 6 years and was kinda in the same position of no respect whatsoever, sometimes you just need to make the hard choice to go elsewhere. I am finally at a place that thinks highly of me and I see a future here. It was the best choice I could have made. I just finished my senior master cert the end of last year. Take Jims words of advice to heart, he speaks the truth and it will really help you gain respect in the trade and your store. Become that go to guy. Be efficient in getting the trucks done but also make sure its right and no evidence of you being there. I love the personal aspect of talking with customers. sometimes having them talk with you face to face will insure you get the "right" info for the concern. It also makes them feel a little more appricated when the tech takes time to explain something to them.

 

Sometimes with management you need to call their bluff. At first I had a few run in myself. there for the first few months of the new job they question my ability, knowledge or concern for the customer. I was prepared with plenty of ammo to back myself up, once this respect became established it was a no brainier for them. they let me do my thing because they know it will get handled as it should as quick as it can.

 

Good luck to you and I hope it works out.

[ktmlew]

Jim? Was reading a post on another board about high gas prices. A reader from your neck-o-the-woods mentioned that Canadians pay 48% income tax PLUS 15% sales tax on EVERYTHING? Any truth to that? Guess you would HAVE to make 100K a year to be able to eat... /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/poke.gif

[Jim Warman]

Lew... someone is blowing smoke.... I'm in the 26% income tax bracket with the highest being about 28% (for those that earn truly obscene amounts of money).

 

There are tax breaks that some can qualify for. My wife is receiving a disability pension but is allowed to earn a certain amount above her pension... she doesn't earn that so I can transfer the unused deduction to my income. RRSPs (registered retirement saving plan) are an easy way to defer taxes. Medical and education costs can qualify for a deduction in some cases. I live in a "semi-remote" area and get a tax deduction for that. New this year is a $500 tool deduction (apprentices can qualify for up to $1000) There's probably other deductions to be had but I ain't no tax lawyer....

 

Alberta is the only province without a provincial sales tax... I still pay the 6% GST (federal gouge and screw tax) on those things that aren't on the "necessities of life" list. Other provinces have sales tax that may be as high as 7% but I can't be sure.

 

Capital gains tax can be hurtful but I haven't been self-employed for over 10 years now (and I don't miss it like I thought I would). And, if I won the lottery, I wouldn't have to share the proceeds with the tax vampires.

 

Canada is a pretty good place to live....