Since Ford began mass-producing vehicles
in the 1920s, folks have needed a way to keep them running. The method has been pretty much the same for the last 100 years, with slight variations as the world got busier. You take your vehicle to your local mechanic shop and wait. In simpler times, you may have waited by chatting with the mechanic as he completed the work. As life got busier, you may have dropped off your vehicle and retrieved it after hours. Mechanics and dealerships began making it easier on their clients by providing courtesy cars and shuttle buses, but by and large, the process remained the same: drop off and wait.
So how come, while most other industries are adopting new technology to revolutionize and streamline the way they do business, your local mechanic shop stays true to tradition? Most likely because it's still getting customers – people need to have their vehicles fixed.
Or maybe it just doesn't know how to change. In what ways can a garage – or other traditional businesses like painting and house cleaning – adopt new technologies to compete in today's society?
