During the late 1980s and early 1990s, as computers played an ever-growing role in automobiles, equipment manufacturers responded by developing new test tools with computer diagnostics capabilities. This extended Snap-on family brought to its customers access to information and the means to integrate and share information between shop equipment and computers. According to Beronja, that really means providing access to accurate, reliable information and then putting the information to its most effective, productive use. Linking computers in a shop means nothing if there isn't a measurable impact on quality, accuracy, productivity or customer satisfaction. However, in the real world, technicians often have to leave their workstations to look for parts, to find repair information, to participate in training or to try to find an answer to a sticky diagnostics problem.
Integrated shops eliminate the problem by bringing information to the technician's workstation.
Let's start with an example of a technician performing brake work on a late model sport utility vehicle. As soon as the vehicle drives in, the technician instantly accesses all the latest service bulletins from a computer next to the bay. By typing in the vehicle identification number, the technician also retrieves a complete repair history of the vehicle and the manufacturer's service recommendations and bulletins. Searching the vehicle's repair history, the technician notices that the manufacturer recommends an anti-lock brake inspection at 50,000 miles. Seeing that the inspection has never been done, he transmits the information to the service writer, who takes the information to the customer in the waiting room.