Designning a Model for Measuring the Effectiveness of Faraja Car Repair Centers

<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Abstract</strong> <p style="text-align: left;">One of the most critical challenges faced by organizations is ensuring the maintenance and repair of vehicles and equipment at minimal cost, while maintaining permanent readiness for the execution of assigned missions. Hence, the purpose of this research was to provide a model for evaluating the effectiveness of Faraja car repair centers.This research is applied in terms of purpose and qualitative-quantitative in terms of method. Documentary analysis and interviews were used to collect the data for the qualitative part, and a researcher-made questionnaire containing 55 items was used for the quantitative part. The community of the quality department was the managers of the General Net and Transport Departments of Amad and Faraja Support and the Repair Center of the Tehran Police Command. A purposive sampling method was employed, and theoretical saturation was reached after conducting interviews with 14 participants. The statistical population of the quantitative part was the experts of the Net, Transport and Repair Center of the Greater Tehran Police Command, comprising 120 people, all of whom fully completed the questionnaire. To analyze the interviews, the theme analysis method was used, and to analyze the questionnaire data, structural equation modeling and the best-worst BWM decision method were used. The analyses showed that the model for measuring the effectiveness of Faraja repair centers in the western provinces of the country includes eight components:1-economic, 2-standard quality,3-manpower,4-space and location,5-maintenance planning. and repairs,6-monitoring and control, 7-process and technology and 8-agility, in addition to 55 indicators. Additionally, the results of applying the BWM method revealed that, according to experts, "economy" is the most important and "space and location" are the least important components in measuring the effectiveness of Faraja repair centers. By employing the proposed model, repair centers can implement effective measures that go beyond mere forecasting and offers necessary solutions to strengthen their effectiveness. The basis of the studies in maintenance and repair research in the field of industry and automobile is the same, but the subjects studied in these two sectors are different. Therefore, the current research will open a new door to the issue of maintenance and repairs in Faraja, armed forces and other organizations that use cars on a large scale. <p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Key Words:</strong>effectiveness,maintenance and repairs,repair centers,BWM method <p style="text-align: left;"><strong>1.Introduction</strong> <p style="text-align: left;">According to recent statistics, one of the most expensive sectors is the provision of light transport fleet vehicles in the police force, which has required the allocation of substantial financial resources. Due to the nature of the police force's missions, investigating the effectiveness of the car repair center in this organization is more important than other organizations. Since the vehicles and equipment in this organization are not 100% operational at any given time, it imposes irreparable costs on the country compared to other organizations (Nusrat Panah, Hamdani &amp;Yousefi, 2016). Despite the research that has been done in this field, there are dissatisfactions with the way of evaluation and rankings methodologies employed. Hence, reviewing the components and indicators for evaluating the effectiveness of car repair centers and designing a model to measure the effectiveness of these centers are the main issues and problems of the present research. <p style="text-align: left;"><strong>2.Literature Review</strong> <p style="text-align: left;">A number of researches have been conducted in the field of the effectiveness of car maintenance and repair centers. Among them, Aghaei and Darvishi (2016) used five variables of the planning process, the acceptance process, the inspection process, the parts supply process, and the repair process to measure the effectiveness of Faraja repair centers. In another study, the proposed hybrid model of Net Faraja by Aghaei (2015) comprised a combination of the three dimensions of Net Agile, Clean Net, and Comprehensive Productive Net. Aghaei, Aghaei, Hosseini and Najizadeh (2014) also identified the key indicators affecting agile maintenance and repairs in Iran's automotive industry. <p style="text-align: left;"><strong>3.Methodology</strong> <p style="text-align: left;">This research is applied in terms of purpose and employed a mixed method approach including both qualitative-quantitative methodologies. Documentary analysis and interviews were used to collect the data for the qualitative part, and a researcher-made questionnaire containing 55 items was used for the quantitative part. The community of the quality department was the managers of the General Net and Transport Departments of Amad and Faraja Support and the Repair Center of the Tehran Police Command. A purposive sampling method was employed, and theoretical saturation was reached after conducting interviews with 14 participants. The statistical population of the quantitative part was the experts of the Net, Transport and Repair Center of the Greater Tehran Police Command, comprising 120 people, all of whom fully completed the questionnaire. To analyze the interviews, the theme analysis method was used, and to analyze the questionnaire data, structural equation modeling and the best-worst BWM decision method were used. <p style="text-align: left;"><strong>4.Results</strong> <p style="text-align: left;">The analyses showed that the model for measuring the effectiveness of Faraja repair centers in the western provinces of the country includes eight components: 1- economic, 2- standard quality, 3- manpower, 4- space and location, 5- maintenance planning. and repairs, 6-monitoring and control, 7-process and technology and 8-agility, in addition to 55 indicators. Additionally, the results of applying the BWM method revealed that, according to experts, "economy" is the most important and "space and location" are the least important components in measuring the effectiveness of Faraja repair centers. <p style="text-align: left;"><strong>5.Conclusion</strong> <p style="text-align: left;">The basis of the studies in maintenance and repair research in the field of industry and automobile is the same, but the subjects studied in these two sectors are different; The current research will open a new door to the issue of maintenance and repairs in Faraja, armed forces and other organizations that use cars on a large scale. In some cases, the results of this research are consistent with the findings of Aghai and Darvishi (2016). The planning variable identified in their research is also one of the main components of the current study. However, while the variables of the processes of acceptance, inspection, supply of parts and repairs were treated as main variables in the mentioned research, in this study, these processes were considered part of the research indicators. The model presented by Aghaei (2015) includes the three dimensions of agility, clean and comprehensive productive. The first dimension, agility, encompasses the components of human factors, strategic factors, technological factors and organizational factors, among which the human and technological factors align with those examined in this research. The second dimension has the components of strategies, infrastructure, structure and capabilities; The third dimension comprises the components of focused improvement, independent (autonomous) activities, education, safety and environment, planned networks, and administrative and support activities. Among these, only the components of education and planning overlap with this research and the rest of the components in the third dimension have nothing in common with the current study. According to the findings, repair centers in the provinces should recruit and employ agile and skilled workers who demonstrate both high speed and accuracy in their tasks to minimize vehicle downtime and accelerate the repair process. Faraja's Deputy for Preparedness and Support should act on the timely handing over of maintenance and repair credits up to the approved ceiling. Additionally, efforts must focus on attracting expert and experienced personnel to reduce maintenance costs, improving employee welfare services and fostering a culture to promote the sense of responsibility of employees, providing specialized and on-duty courses for staff, and paying serious attention to the planning of maintenance and repairs of the centers using preventive net standards. These are the actions that Faraja maintenance and repair centers should focus on to improve efficiency and effectiveness. <p style="text-align: left;">&nbsp; <p style="text-align: left;">Conflict of interest: none <p style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;