As equipment brands continue to update models and introduce new and even more complex products, mechanics at dealerships need access to a pretty broad base of information on how to repair them. Digital technology, with a growing reliance on artificial intelligence, is starting to play an increasingly important role in providing that.
In early 2024, tech startup visorPRO launched its “dealer-centric” Vi by VisorPRO, which compiles a digital library of service manuals and other information to help technicians not only find the best way to conduct a repair, but find it quickly.
For dealerships that have signed onto the web-based service, mechanics can find all the information they need in one digital location.
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“It’s not an app; it’s a website,” says visorPRO’s industry consultant John Schmeiser. “A dealer signs up and all their technicians and parts people are given a user name and password.
“What’s loaded in there is all the service manuals for all the brands that a dealer carries, and we work with their business system provider to pull out work order information.
“We put that information into what we call the dealer vault and only the dealer has access to that vault. A Case IH dealer will not have access to like a John Deere dealer’s vault. That’s all protected. A dealer has information only on the specific brands he sells.”
As is the case with Alexa or Siri, “Vi” is the name given to visorPRO’s “bot,” says Taylor Veilleux, visorPRO’s marketing specialist.
Unlike an OEM system, which might offer online access to service data, visorPRO can be customized to contain information on all the equipment a dealership sells across all the brands it carries, including short lines.
“We’ve seen some mainline brands dabble in this just for their own system,” Schmeiser says. “Dealers said ‘We need this to cover all the products we sell.’ We had an example of a dealer saying (the mainline brand) is only 40 per cent of their service business. They have another 60 per cent for the other lines they carry. So (a mainline) solution doesn’t work for them.”
A key advantage of an AI-based system like this is speed. It provides instant access to exactly the right service manual and related information with just a few keystrokes.
“visorPRO will spit out the safety precautions needed and itemized steps needed to do that repair,” he adds. “In addition, visorPRO will also read all the service bulletins and all the previous work order information on that type of repair.
“The end result is, visorPRO is increasing efficiency in the dealership, getting answers to customers quicker and giving technicians, no matter their level of experience, an itemized list of what they need to do.
“It’s saving that technician 30 or 40 minutes reading through service manuals and the (previous) work orders let them know what parts are needed.”
Given an industry-wide shortage of mechanics, making each one more efficient can go a long way toward serving more customers in a day with existing staff.
“It’s about an hour per day of savings per tech,” Schmeiser says. “If you take a large, multi-store operation that has eight to 10 techs per location, or more, and you’re getting an extra hour out of each of them, a dealer can see the (return on investment) is pretty real and pretty substantial.
“At the end of the day, it helps us with our technician shortage.”
The system also allows mechanics to input annotations about their experiences with similar repairs, suggesting shortcuts or adding details not included in the manuals. visorPRO will include that information in a search — so the knowledge of experienced staff can be passed on to junior technicians. That also helps ensure a lot of competence is retained in a service department as older, more seasoned employees retire or move on.
With more detailed information immediately available on repairs, technicians can be more prepared before heading out for a field repair, making sure they have all the parts they’re likely to need.
Participating dealers report that has often eliminated the need to return to the dealership on a parts run, Schmeiser adds.
And visorPRO isn’t just compatible with ag equipment dealerships.
“This is not only for ag equipment. It’s construction. It’s industrial heavy duty. For any dealership that has a service department, visorPRO works.”
