A recent study conducted by I-CAR revealed that shops that took its training courses improved their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Jeff Peevy, I-CAR’s senior director of field operations, unveiled this study’s results at the 2012 I-CAR Annual Event in July.
Prior to the study, I-CAR attempted to determine how much training is going on among shops industry-wide. Using their own data along with information from the Industry Training Alliance, they determined that, from the total number of shops in the U.S., approximately 69 percent of them have no consistent technician training, while 20 percent have some level of consistent technician training and 11 percent are Gold Class shops. Approximately 7 percent of the shops that said they had no consistent training went out of business in 2010-11, according to I-CAR.
I-CAR then selected eight shops to take I-CAR training courses and then studied them for six months to see if there was any noticeable improvement in their operational performance. Each shop had an average of 12 technicians/estimators and gross sales of $2.1 million. The shops’ KPIs were monitored, including CSI, cycle time and touch time. Each shop had to commit to maintaining its existing equipment, software, paint system and work processes.
Each estimator, non-structural technician, steel structural technician and refinish technician was trained with role relevant I-CAR or Industry Training Alliance training. I-CAR benchmarked where their records showed each individual to be, then offered equivalency tests to eliminate any knowledge they may have had that was not in I-CAR’s records. Once that was established, I-CAR once again benchmarked the final results. From that point, I-CAR began using the I-CAR Professional Development Program as the role relevant guide.
The study revealed that CSI scores improved 5 percent, cycle time improved 14 percent and touch time improved 45 percent. All of the shops saw an increase in monthly revenue. Half of the shops averaged a 5 percent revenue increase, and the other half averaged 10 percent.
I-CAR is currently conducting a similar study on 26 shops that will run through 2012.
“This larger, more comprehensive study is under way in order to continue to better understand the link between training and operational performance,” says Peevy. “Our plan is to improve our course and service offerings to the industry based on the output from these studies.”
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