3 minute read
OEConnection’s RepairLogic Platform Helps Auto Body Shops Find Accurate OEM Information
Autobody News
Exclusive SEMA Coverage
About four years ago, a small group at OEConnection (OEC) set out to drive safety, trust and transparency into vehicle repair. The result was the creation of RepairLogic, a repair planning platform designed to help shops find accurate OEM repair information quickly and efficiently.
During a Guild 21 webinar this past fall, Tanya Sweetland, general manager, Advanced Repair Technologies Division, and Pat Blech, director of Collision Products, shared information about RepairLogic, a new product that formally launched in September.
Blech also discussed OEC’s new product for the collision repair industry at the 2022 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, NV.
Q: Why was RepairLogic created for the collision industry?
Sweetland: While vehicles are becoming more complex, there is more to do and fewer skilled professionals to do it. According to information from Collision Advice, only 20% of vehicles are fixed according to the OEM repair procedures. Our goal was to create a tool to raise that percentage to 80% or more.
We recognized that you can’t tell a shop how to do business. At the same time, we want customers to get what they expect and know their car is safe to drive.
Over many months, we collected feedback from the industry on documenting and defining key terms in collision repair. We talk about a “documented safe and proper repair” but what do those words mean? We set out to define them.
A documented safe and proper repair is the action of fixing a vehicle in accordance with the OEM’s expected standard of safety and delivered at the repairer’s stated level of quality, scope, timeline, expense and efficiency.
We gathered information to find the common reasons why OEM research isn’t performed and why it takes so long. Technicians shared various reasons, such as they already know the repair, it’s a hassle to learn the sites, they can’t remember the password, someone else locked the record or they are too busy to spend the time they don’t get paid for.
We also found that repair teams were missing about 40% of one-timeuse parts because of the enormous number of notations in millions of pages. Many types of repairs are skipped because of the perception that it will take a long time to check the OEM procedures. It’s like searching for a needle in a haystack. If shops must go to two or three resources for a typical repair, they spend a lot of time just navigating different tools.
We stepped back to determine how we could make a difference and remove some obstacles to help shops better access and utilize OEM repair information. The team wanted to design a digital planning tool with direct data from the OEM that had open collaboration and could be documented and shared.
OEC team members at the 2022 SEMA Show included, left to right, Pat Blech, Tom Durkin, Austin Bell, Laney Holloway and Farzam Afshar
Q: What type of field studies were conducted?
Blech: We tested and measured key components from our initial hypothesis to help better understand and validate the problems we were solving.
We utilized information from three OEMs, covered 50+ locations and worked with more than 100 participating users and on hundreds of different types of repairs.
To ensure we understood the needs and challenges of all shop segments, we reached out to MSOs, certified repair networks, independent facilities and franchise and dealer body shops.
Q: What were the learnings?
Blech: We saw first-hand the time
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