Managing Standards Across 1,000+ Locations: How OEMs Can Build Stronger, Smarter Networks

For Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), brand standards are the backbone of reputation. Every dealership, collision centre and service bay is a customer touchpoint, and customers expect the same high-quality branded experience, no matter where they go.

But consistency becomes exponentially harder to enforce as networks grow. Scaling standards across hundreds or even thousands of sites is a significant operational challenge that OEM leaders face today. Consequently, they’re often left wondering how they should quality assure their network most cost-effectively.

The key to solving this challenge lies in rethinking the way Manufacturer Operating Standards (MoS) are managed and measured. Legacy systems have reached their limits. It’s time for a smarter, more innovative combination of digital and subject experts. 

Why Legacy Approaches Struggle at Scale

Traditional methods, such as manual, once-a-year audits, static checklists, siloed and snapshot reporting, and fragmented systems. Characteristics that no longer cut it with today’s large OEM networks, an ‘always-on’ digital operating environment, and extensive and changing local and national operating requirements.

Common ways the need for change manifests itself are:   

• Bottlenecks in auditing: With hundreds of sites, it can take months to cycle through audits. By the time reports are consolidated, compliance drift is a reality.

• Inconsistent application: Different auditors and regions often interpret standards differently, resulting in uneven compliance outcomes.

• Data fragmentation: Insights are buried in spreadsheets and email chains, making it impossible to view network-wide trends in real-time.

• Rising Costs: The cost of quality-assuring the network is rising, and/or the Return on Investment (RoI) for the OEM is static or falling.

The result? A network that feels fragmented, where nobody sees the big picture, where business insights are only retrospective, and where too much of the QA budget is unnecessarily consumed doing things manually and in the same old way.

A Smarter, Tiered Model for Scaling Standards

Modern OEMs are moving beyond reactive, paper-heavy methods to adopt systems that make standards easier to measure, maintain, and scale.

Here’s what that transformation looks like:

1. Continuous Self-Assessments

Instead of relying solely on quarterly or annual audits, digital tools allow locations to run ongoing self-assessments. This keeps standards at the forefront, drives accountability, and fosters a culture of continuous improvement. In an average quarter, it’s common to have network engagement levels above 90%.

2. Remote Auditing at Scale

Technology enables OEMs to conduct a significant share of audits remotely by verifying self-assessment evidence provided by the network. The Auditor utilises subject matter expertise to confirm that the evidence fulfils the OEM’s standards.  This expands coverage while reducing travel costs.

3. Utilising the Power of AI for Smarter Validation

AI validates self-assessments, automatically flagging anomalies or inconsistencies. More importantly, it provides auditors with a priority list of sites that require closer attention, ensuring resources are directed where they are needed most. Leading SaaS solutions utilise powerful AI tools to analyse network behaviour and previous audit outcomes to prioritise future audits – who and why. It’s common to see accuracy levels exceeding 95%.

4. Onsite Audits

On-site audits are expensive and provide limited insight on a single day of the year. However, they still play a crucial role in the overall QA strategy when deployed correctly. For example, why waste time, money and resources performing an on-site audit to verify shop equipment and training records when this has already been done remotely? Instead, an onsite audit that’s preceded by self-assessment, remote and AI assessment, enables the OEM to prioritise audits by risk profile, refocus the auditor away from check-box activity towards repair quality and save on unnecessary Auditor travel and expenses.      

4. A Tiered Approach to QA

Leading OEM Network Managers have adopted a tiered QA strategy. Instead of trading off the benefits of one approach against another, they utilise all methods of verification. This way, they retain all the benefits of each approach without the inherent downsides. What’s not to like? First, set the MoS and have the network self-assess with the required evidence. Then, remotely assess the provided evidence and create Action Plans. Enable AI to provide risk profiles and prioritise further audits. Finally, perform onsite audits based on the risk profile.   

This is the Tiered Audit Model:

By moving from blanket, resource-heavy audits to a tiered, technology-enabled process, OEMs save time, money, and effort while improving consistency and accountability across the network.

5. Centralised Data Dashboards

With digital platforms, compliance data from every site feeds into a single, centralised dashboard. Network Managers can see trends, benchmarks, and risks instantly, enabling faster intervention and the avoidance of ‘Compliance Drift’.

Why OEMs Can’t Afford to Wait

The automotive sector is undergoing massive change: electrification, digital retailing, and evolving consumer expectations are raising the bar for consistency and performance against rising Manufacturing Operating Standards. The ability to manage and measure standards at scale without increasing complexity will define a network's competitive advantage.

By adopting this tiered, digital-first model, OEMs can:

• Standardise brand experience globally with fairness and consistency.

• Detect and resolve risks early, before they affect customers or brand equity.

• Reduce operational inefficiencies by streamlining audit cycle times and eliminating manual reporting.

• Empower leadership with real-time visibility to make faster, smarter decisions.

Managing the Smart Way

At MONITRR, we’ve seen OEMs transition from reactive, spreadsheet-driven compliance to proactive, technology-enabled network management.

One OEM partner replaced annual onsite audit visits for the entire network with a tiered QA model using MONITRR, our purpose-built, SaaS-based network compliance system. Within months, they dramatically reduced audit cycle times, created transparent benchmarks across 3,000 network sites, reduced audit costs by over £1 million, and provided executives with live visibility into network health for the first time.

The lesson is clear: quality assurance for large networks is no longer about adding more auditors, more paperwork, or an overreliance on just one approach to compliance verification. It’s about embedding compliance into daily network operations through more intelligent technology and verification using multiple and the most appropriate methods, turning compliance from a burden into a strategic advantage.

The question for OEM leaders isn’t if digital-first compliance is the future. It’s how quickly you’re ready to make it a reality.