Everyone can use a phone. At least in the UK.
When I was a workshop controller, I would see people get out from under a car, grab their glasses, clean them, put them on and find the information they needed on the job card.
None of those actions is difficult. None of them repairs the car either.
Put the information where the work happens
Give that technician a login to see the job details on a phone and he can check the detail without leaving the vehicle just to find the card.
The car, the requested work, the notes and the latest instruction are already on the job. The technician should not need to walk to the office, unlock the vehicle or find the only paper copy to see them.
A phone is familiar
This matters because going paperless does not need to feel like an IT project in the bay. The team already knows how to open a page, scroll, read a message and take a photo on a phone.
Use that familiarity. Do not make a technician learn a complicated desktop system just to answer a simple question about the job in front of them.
Do not squeeze a printed page onto a small screen
Mobile access is not useful if the phone displays the same dense job card with smaller text. Show the registration, vehicle, immediate work, important notes and latest change first.
Let the full history stay available, but design the first view around what somebody under the car is actually trying to find.
The point is fewer interruptions
A mobile job card is not impressive because it is digital. It is useful because a person can get the answer without leaving the work.
Things that seem simple are what make the difference in this industry. Remove one repeated interruption and the workshop gets a little easier to run every time that job comes around again.
Mobile job card check
- Open a live job on the smallest phone your team uses.
- Check that the vehicle and immediate work are visible first.
- Make important notes look different from ordinary history.
- Keep buttons and links usable with one hand.
- Give the team a workshop device if personal phones are not appropriate.