Longtime body shop owner, trainer and consultant Ron Perretta talked about lean principles at the Auto Body Association of Connecticut (ABAC) meeting held Nov. 18, 2014.
Perretta stated how everyone in the industry has either gone through or read something regarding the lean process, but that it hasn’t translated into improved performance.
“Lean is more than cleaning up, painting, writing on the car and making a facility pretty,” said Perretta. “Lean is not only about discussing the concept, but being able to implement it. Even those out there training the lean process do not understand all of its facets, or we would see an improvement in performance.”
Perretta highlighted the importance of staging the vehicle for production, but most of all how to create the culture with your people to increase performance to a level that will delight customers. He explained how he has been on the lean path since the early 1990s when shops didn’t have any idea what lean was. He built his first store from the ground up in 1994 around lean processes, and then changed those processes as vehicle design changed.
“I’m not taking anything away from industry trainers, but I do it on a daily basis,” Perretta said. “I train based on real-life experience, not just theory. I understand all aspects of the process, from the sale to the repair to delivering a great product. Some will tell you they used to run a shop and that’s why they’re able to train. I say if you aren’t doing it every day and understand the changes, you’re doing more talking than teaching.”
Perretta emphasized he has been training and consulting throughout the industry for the last 18 years and has some of the most up-to-date materials to consistently improve shops with quality control in mind.
James Gray, account manager at Albert Kemperle, Inc., attended the meeting and said, “I would like to equip my customers with the tools to work on their business – not in their business – by following Ron’s lead with a workplace culture.”
Added William Romaniello of ABAC, “Ron shared his expert knowledge and proven results strategies on lean processes for daily shop operations. His proven innovative processes can be applied to any size facility to achieve improved performance, profits and customer satisfaction as well as customer retention. Ron’s information was well received by those in attendance.”
More information:
Email Ron at [email protected].
