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Tech Efficiency & Productivity

Are your techs billing what they should? Measure the two KPIs that drive shop output.

Productivity %

87.5%

Available ÷ Clocked

Efficiency %

110.7%

Billed ÷ Available

Overall %

96.9%

Billed ÷ Clocked

Productivity vs Efficiency — They're Not the Same

Most shop owners use these terms interchangeably, but they measure very different things. Understanding both is critical to diagnosing bottlenecks.

Definitions

  • Productivity: Available hours ÷ Clocked hours. Measures how much of a tech's paid time is spent working on cars (vs. breaks, meetings, waiting for parts).
  • Efficiency: Billed hours ÷ Available hours. Measures how fast a tech completes jobs relative to book time. Over 100% means beating book time.
  • Overall: Billed ÷ Clocked. The combined output measure that directly impacts revenue per tech.

Benchmarks

  • Productivity target: 85–90%. Below 80% means too much non-wrench time.
  • Efficiency target: 100–125%. Below 90% signals training gaps or diagnostic struggles.
  • Overall target: 85–110%. This is the number that directly drives your ELR realization.

Benchmarks referenced from leading automotive coaching groups including ATI, Elite Worldwide, Transformers Institute, Shop Fix Academy, 180BIZ, DRIVE, and the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence.

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