WORKS TIMING

• US 20150262114A1
• Filed: 03/14/2014
• Published: 09/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tower Rock Technologies, LLC
• Original Assignee: Kabi LLC
• Inventors: Ming, Garrett Russell
• Granted Patent: US 10,891,565 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group

Abstract

The system and/or processes described herein are configured to help an entity operating one or more service facilities manage the timing of service jobs across work stations. The entity manages the timing based on receiving, and tracking, job status information received from the work stations. For instance, after receiving the job status information, the entity may implement timing mechanisms to estimate or predict a time when a service job is likely to begin. The entity may also use the timing mechanisms to estimate or predict a time when the service job is likely to be completed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing, by one or more hardware processors, first timing information for a plurality of started jobs currently being performed at a plurality of work stations, the timing information including an estimated amount of time until each respective started job is completed;

accessing, by at least one of the one or more hardware processors, second timing information for a plurality of waiting jobs, the second timing information including an estimated duration of time to complete each respective waiting job based at least in part on a job type; and

determining, based at least in part on the first timing information and the second timing information, an estimated starting time for a next job to be performed on an item of a customer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving service information indicative of the next job to be performed on the item of the customer;

correlating the service information to a pre-defined job type;

identifying an estimated time duration to complete the next job based at least in part on the pre-defined job type; and

determining, based at least in part on the estimated time duration, an estimated completion time for the next job.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the item is a vehicle, the service information comprises a year and a model of the vehicle, and the pre-defined job type is one of a diesel vehicle inspection or a gas vehicle inspection.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing the estimated amount of time until each respective started job is completed to be output on a display screen coupled to a device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the device is located at a service location comprising the plurality of work stations.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing the estimated starting time for the next job to be performed on the item of the customer to be output on a display screen of a device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the device is a customer device associated with the customer and the estimated starting time for the next job to be performed on the item of the customer is communicated to the customer device via one or more networks.

8. The method of claim 1, further wherein the estimated duration of time to complete each respective waiting job is determined based at least in part on an average of actual durations of time to complete previous jobs of a same job type.

9. One or more computer-readable storage media comprising instructions that, upon execution on the one or more hardware processors, perform the method of claim 1.

10. A method comprising:

receiving, from a work station, an indication that a job has started, wherein the job is associated with an estimated duration of time to completion;

determining, based at least in part on the indication and the estimated duration of time to completion, an estimated amount of time until the work station completes the job; and

causing the estimated amount of time until the work station completes the job to be output on a display screen or to be communicated to a device.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining, based at least in part on the indication and the estimated duration of time to completion, a next available start time for a next job.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining the next available start time for the next job is further based on another estimated duration of time to completion of another job waiting to be started.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the estimated duration of time to completion is based at least in part on a pre-defined job type.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein jobs of the pre-defined job type include work that is the same from a first job to a next job.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the pre-defined job type is based at least in part on item information.

16. One or more computer-readable storage media comprising instructions that, upon execution on the one or more hardware processors, perform the method of claim 10.

17. A method comprising:

receiving, from a work station device, job timing information indicating a first time when a job was started and a second time when the job was completed;

generating, based in part on at least one of the first time or the second time, a performance report indicative of timeliness with respect to completing jobs; and

causing the performance report to be displayed or communicated.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining an actual duration of time to complete the job based on the first time and the second time;

storing the actual duration of time to complete the job with other actual durations of time to complete other jobs of a same job type; and

determining an average duration of time to complete jobs of the job type based at least in part on the actual duration of time to complete the job and the other actual durations of time to complete the other jobs of the same job type.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the average duration of time to complete the jobs of the job type is determined with respect to an individual technician.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the average duration of time to complete the jobs of the job type is determined with respect to multiple technicians associated with one or more service facilities.