With 2022 now in the rear view mirror, we can look to the road ahead and to what 2023 will bring. Mitchell 1 is already hard at work creating value for our customers and finding new and innovative ways to help technicians and shop owners speed up efficiency and value for the coming year.

New opportunities on the horizon

Despite predictions that the trucking industry will face challenges in the first quarter of 2023, trucking remains the most widely used mode of freight transportation in the United States. Additionally, increased spending on infrastructure could provide a potential benefit to the industry.

At some point, each and every one of these trucks will need mechanical repair, and even though there are many competing repair shops in most cities and towns across America, the number of shops equipped to manage heavy duty repairs is quite small.

This is a great opportunity for shops to grow into a new market. This prospect can help add additional revenue and new customers. Mitchell 1 has the tools available right now to help your shop take on this market, you should look at becoming a heavy-duty repair leader in your own community. In our next installment, we’ll look at what changes your shop might need in your growth to working on medium and heavy duty vehicles.

Truck Labor Estimating

The TruckLabor module in TruckSeries helps service professionals estimate commercial truck repair times faster and easier than ever before. You’ll find everything you need to estimate a job in a few clicks, saving time and getting more trucks through your repair shop faster. When you eliminate the guesswork, you work smarter and can write more accurate commercial truck repair estimates with confidence.

TRUCK SERVICING: If you are working in the lucrative Medium Truck arena, then you need Mitchell1’s TruckSeries for access to comprehensive service information for Class 4-8 trucks, including estimating, repair procedures, repair information, photos of components and locations, and color wiring diagrams – all in one application

Interactive Wiring Diagrams

The powerful wiring diagrams in TruckSeries include interactive features that build on intelligent navigation that takes you directly to the specific diagram for the component you searched for — with traces automatically highlighted! Get into the diagnostic fast lane — wiring diagrams have never been so complex or so easy to navigate! Click here to find out more...

ProDemand: Enhanced Estimate Guide

ProDemand’s Estimate Guide has been overhauled to optimize your experience when building an estimate. Using the same category organization that you’re familiar with, ProDemand now brings together labor times, OEM parts pricing and part diagrams viewable in a single page – making it simpler and faster to navigate directly to the auto repair information you need.

Here’s what it looks like in the software:

Figure 1: View labor times, OEM parts pricing and parts diagrams on the same screen.

Estimate Guide Improvements Include:

Streamlined navigation throughout the Estimate Guide module to reduce clicks needed to access items.
Labor times, OEM parts pricing and parts diagrams viewable on a single page.
New breadcrumb function to navigate to previous categories quickly.
Improved display of maintenance and fluids information including updated labels, auto-expand capability, search and mileage interval display.
Ability to add or subtract part quantities to the quote with a single click.
Indicator appears when new items are added to the quote, for easier tracking of completed items while writing a quote.
Increased download speed and faster delivery of information.

The ProDemand Estimate Guide is integrated with the Mitchell 1 shop management software, Manager SE™, giving shops instant access to maintenance schedules, TSBs, recalls, tracking and industry-leading labor guides directly from the system’s dashboard.

Service writers and shop managers will benefit from having labor times, OEM parts pricing and part diagrams consolidated on a single page, making it faster to find the information and elements needed to kick off the repair process with an estimate that paves the way for an efficient, profitable job.

Wiring Diagram Enhancements

The latest enhancements to ProDemand’s wiring diagrams redefine electrical diagnostics with patent-pending interactive features.

Exclusive to Mitchell 1, our interactive wiring diagrams let you navigate the diagram directly to component information without a secondary lookup. Component names shown in the wiring diagrams are active links that take you straight to information like component location, connector views, replacement procedures, and more.

We’ve also made some navigation improvements specific to wiring diagrams: The interactive features build on the recent component-level enhancements for our wiring diagrams.

The full set of interactive features includes:

Component names in the diagrams are active links that connect directly to complete component information.
After performing a 1Search, ProDemand takes you directly to the wiring diagram associated with your search term.
When you open that diagram, all wires from that component will automatically be highlighted.
The ability to toggle highlighting of associated wires for any component without having to click each wire separately.
When performing a deep dive into a wiring diagram, hidden wires appear faded but do not disappear entirely, providing detail while preserving the big picture view.