How AI Can Help Your Techs’ Efficiency

The technician shortage isn't going away, and no single fix can close the gap on its own. Trent Broberg makes the case that AI's real job in the shop is protecting the billable hours and job satisfaction of the techs you already have, not asking them to work faster.

The tech shortage isn’t new to anyone in heavy-duty repair. Shops have been struggling to find qualified techs for years, and there’s little reason to believe that challenge is going away anytime soon. According to the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), 65.5% of heavy-duty repair shops reported being understaffed in 2025.

We absolutely need better recruiting, better training, and clearer career paths for the next generation of technicians. But none of those things solve the problem a shop owner or manager has today: There’s work that needs to get done, and they may not have enough people to do it. That makes the time of the techs they already have incredibly valuable.

The question I think shops need to be asking is not, “How do I get my technicians to work harder?” It’s, “How much of their day is actually spent on billable hours?”

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