About ATcon
Overview
ATcon is a team of professionals that specializes in providing high quality management consulting services to the transportation service industry. ATcon is committed to optimizing the operations of its more than 4,000 individual clients through application of the advanced management techniques it has pioneered since 1983.
ATcon believes in "pure" consulting, which is characterized by custom design programs. We believe that there are "ways" rather than one "way" to achieve success and that no two dealerships or corporate clients are alike. ATcon consultants never try to force rigid, predetermined programs, but endeavor to apply ATcon’s advanced concepts to suit the challenges faced by individual service, parts and body operations.
ATcon’s objective is not to simply identify problems and make recommendations, but to go beyond the traditional approach to consulting and provide the knowledge, manpower and materials necessary to implement a recommended program of change.
In addition to ATcon’s expert analysis and skillful implementation of change is a commitment to active and long-term follow-up. ATcon’s services and pricing policies reflect its desire to cultivate lasting relationships with its clients.
ATcon’s professional consultants have a distinguished history of retail service, parts or collision center experience, a passion for teaching and an enthusiasm for promoting excellence in the automotive fixed operations environment.
Our Purpose
The purpose of ATcon’s efforts is to provide our clients with a series of methods that, when properly employed, allow fixed operations to function in a more customer sensitive and profitable manner.
At no time during our involvement with our clients will we attempt to separate the issues of customer satisfaction and departmental profits. It is our belief that it is impossible to run a successful long-term business venture without both of these elements.
If you don’t make and keep customers happy, your business will not survive. As well, if you focus only on making customers happy while neglecting your responsibility as a profit center, the end result is just as predictable. Short-term, either of these approaches is viable yet not sustainable. It is our belief that the first rule of a successful business is:
You must have satisfied customers and be profitable to survive.
Our Background
ATcon was formed in 1983 when seven individuals with strong automotive fixed operations backgrounds and a dream to form a "pure" consulting firm came together in Birmingham, Alabama. The company was owned then and now by the employees who are committed to its success.
ATcon’s mission in its early days was to impact individual dealership clients sufficiently to establish a presence with manufacturers. ATcon’s success with individual retailers led to engagements with many manufacturers that allowed us to deliver our message on a broader scale.
ATcon’s consulting philosophy evolved as the company’s business increased. Originally a highly systematic company, ATcon’s consultants grew to realize that there are a host of ways to accomplish relative improvement in fixed operations.
ATcon’s renowned Performance Groups, then called "Profit Groups," were instituted in the mid-1980s. Thereafter, the demand increased not only for Performance Groups but also for other types of training and instructional seminars led by ATcon consultants. Another milestone was ATcon’s development of grid pricing in 1985.
ATcon’s Society for Service Excellence for Automotive Management (SSE) program began in 1990 as a way to certify service management professionals on ATcon’s advanced techniques. SSE is the first certification platform in the industry to offer programs in four operational categories—marketing, production, personnel and financial. The SSE program has grown to become the industry’s most recognized certification format.
National training initiatives with several major manufacturers were launched in the mid-1990s. Ford and DaimlerChrysler programs, together with ATcon’s existing clients, established ATcon as a presence with more than 50% of the dealerships in the U.S.
ATcon’s archive of relevant information grew dramatically during the 1990s with the introduction of its Special Operating Procedures series, which is tied to the SSE program, and publication of three books.
The Special Operating Procedures, a series of more than 40 publications, provide in-depth information on topics relevant to service management professionals. Many of these techniques, such as The Moulder Approach, Pharris Techniques and The Thrasher Equation, were developed in the dealership environment and named for the contributing managers.
The Evolution of Traditional Service Departments, by Forrest "Skip" Vanderwall, was the first publication on the subject since 1946. Ron W. Stoner’s, The Seven Controllables of Service Department Profitability, was the first attempt to reduce these controllables to a business format. The third book, The Service Advisor’s Sales & Survival Guide, by Forrest "Skip" Vanderwall, is a comprehensive guide for service advisors.
Today, one-on-one dealership consulting still represents the core of ATcon’s activities. ATcon’s policy of designing programs to the client’s system, people and customers allows it to interface with virtually any strategic initiative.
ATcon is a team of professionals that specializes in providing high quality management consulting services to the transportation service industry. ATcon is committed to optimizing the operations of its more than 4,000 individual clients through application of the advanced management techniques it has pioneered since 1983.
ATcon believes in "pure" consulting, which is characterized by custom design programs. We believe that there are "ways" rather than one "way" to achieve success and that no two dealerships or corporate clients are alike. ATcon consultants never try to force rigid, predetermined programs, but endeavor to apply ATcon’s advanced concepts to suit the challenges faced by individual service, parts and body operations.
ATcon’s objective is not to simply identify problems and make recommendations, but to go beyond the traditional approach to consulting and provide the knowledge, manpower and materials necessary to implement a recommended program of change.
In addition to ATcon’s expert analysis and skillful implementation of change is a commitment to active and long-term follow-up. ATcon’s services and pricing policies reflect its desire to cultivate lasting relationships with its clients.
ATcon’s professional consultants have a distinguished history of retail service, parts or collision center experience, a passion for teaching and an enthusiasm for promoting excellence in the automotive fixed operations environment.
Our Purpose
The purpose of ATcon’s efforts is to provide our clients with a series of methods that, when properly employed, allow fixed operations to function in a more customer sensitive and profitable manner.
At no time during our involvement with our clients will we attempt to separate the issues of customer satisfaction and departmental profits. It is our belief that it is impossible to run a successful long-term business venture without both of these elements.
If you don’t make and keep customers happy, your business will not survive. As well, if you focus only on making customers happy while neglecting your responsibility as a profit center, the end result is just as predictable. Short-term, either of these approaches is viable yet not sustainable. It is our belief that the first rule of a successful business is:
You must have satisfied customers and be profitable to survive.
Our Background
ATcon was formed in 1983 when seven individuals with strong automotive fixed operations backgrounds and a dream to form a "pure" consulting firm came together in Birmingham, Alabama. The company was owned then and now by the employees who are committed to its success.
ATcon’s mission in its early days was to impact individual dealership clients sufficiently to establish a presence with manufacturers. ATcon’s success with individual retailers led to engagements with many manufacturers that allowed us to deliver our message on a broader scale.
ATcon’s consulting philosophy evolved as the company’s business increased. Originally a highly systematic company, ATcon’s consultants grew to realize that there are a host of ways to accomplish relative improvement in fixed operations.
ATcon’s renowned Performance Groups, then called "Profit Groups," were instituted in the mid-1980s. Thereafter, the demand increased not only for Performance Groups but also for other types of training and instructional seminars led by ATcon consultants. Another milestone was ATcon’s development of grid pricing in 1985.
ATcon’s Society for Service Excellence for Automotive Management (SSE) program began in 1990 as a way to certify service management professionals on ATcon’s advanced techniques. SSE is the first certification platform in the industry to offer programs in four operational categories—marketing, production, personnel and financial. The SSE program has grown to become the industry’s most recognized certification format.
National training initiatives with several major manufacturers were launched in the mid-1990s. Ford and DaimlerChrysler programs, together with ATcon’s existing clients, established ATcon as a presence with more than 50% of the dealerships in the U.S.
ATcon’s archive of relevant information grew dramatically during the 1990s with the introduction of its Special Operating Procedures series, which is tied to the SSE program, and publication of three books.
The Special Operating Procedures, a series of more than 40 publications, provide in-depth information on topics relevant to service management professionals. Many of these techniques, such as The Moulder Approach, Pharris Techniques and The Thrasher Equation, were developed in the dealership environment and named for the contributing managers.
The Evolution of Traditional Service Departments, by Forrest "Skip" Vanderwall, was the first publication on the subject since 1946. Ron W. Stoner’s, The Seven Controllables of Service Department Profitability, was the first attempt to reduce these controllables to a business format. The third book, The Service Advisor’s Sales & Survival Guide, by Forrest "Skip" Vanderwall, is a comprehensive guide for service advisors.
Today, one-on-one dealership consulting still represents the core of ATcon’s activities. ATcon’s policy of designing programs to the client’s system, people and customers allows it to interface with virtually any strategic initiative.
