Why 5 Technicians in 5 Bays Will Give You 5 Different Processes
Put five technicians in five bays and ask them all to do the same tire rotation. There's a good chance you'll get five different processes back. One checks tire direction before pulling anything off. The others don't. One checks wheel and stud condition while it's up in the air. The others skip it. One documents everything they noticed. The rest just keep it in their head and move on.
I used to think that kind of inconsistency was a people problem. It took me a while to realize it wasn't. It was a process problem.
Employees Follow the Process They Were Shown — Or the One They Made Up
When I owned my tire and service shop, this was the lesson that actually changed how I ran the place: people follow the process they were either shown, or the process they built for themselves out of necessity. And the process I actually wanted mostly lived in my own head — what needed inspecting, what needed documenting, when the service advisor needed to be looped in. None of it was written down. So every technician was working from their own version of "the job."
What a Real SOP Actually Does
- It defines what "done correctly" actually means.
- It gives a new employee something to follow instead of interrupting you every five minutes.
- It gives you a fair standard for training and accountability. You can't hold someone accountable to a process you never explained.
What This Looks Like Written Out — Tire Rotation, Start to Finish
- Vehicle preparation before it goes up on the lift
- Lifting the vehicle, including lift point notes for that vehicle
- Tire removal
- Rotation pattern — changes depending on staggered, directional, or asymmetrical tires
- Reinstallation and torquing — to spec, so nothing works loose
- Post-rotation checks — tires aired up, TPMS sensors reset
- A quality checklist before the car leaves the bay
- Safety notes throughout
You Don't Need to Hire Five People Who Think Like You
Consistency doesn't come from finding five technicians who all think exactly like the owner. It comes from giving good people a clear process they can actually follow — and improving that process as your team uses it. Start with one service you perform every day. Document it. Train it. Improve it. That's exactly what the SOP Generator inside ShopDocs is built for.