Stand Out from the Competition – Gates Auto Body
Gates Auto Body believes that standard operating practices allow companies to do what their competition doesn’t – turn their employees into top performers and maximize results.
Think Tortoise, Not Hare
Many who attempt to implement ‘lean’ become frustrated when, initially, the business seems more chaotic than before. The key is to create operational stability and organizational discipline – and to be patient.
Busy But Broke
Repairing cars is only a part of what we do. Ultimately, we run a collision repair buisness – which means we need to make a profit on the cars wedo fix.
Are You Throwing Away Money?
Every day, shops across the country donate their labor and product free of charge. Are you one of them? If you’re relying on a computer and the P-pages to do all your thinking for you, you’re losing revenue – and lots of it.
Re-Inventing Collision Repair
DCR Systems is using standard operating procedures to drive consistency, quality and continuous improvement.
Standard Procedures: A Tool for Improvement
In lean organizations, standard work is used to support the objective — continual improvement. If you’re ever going to get any better, you must start with a standard way. It’s the baseline for improving your results
Re-Thinking the Shop Manager Role
In ‘lean’ organizations, the process itself is the ‘manager,’ freeing up your actual shop manager to be a leader instead — someone focused not on problem solving and putting out fires, but on building a better business.
A Few Good Techs
Is there really a technician shortage or just a misappropriation of qualified techs? Is the pool of technicians shrinking faster than the collision repair market?
Will the end result be higher door rates?
“I Can’t Make Money On Paint!” (a.k.a Why Johnny Kicked The Dog)
At first, this shop owner thought his problem was paint, but after working with his jobber and accountant, he realized it was actually a sales problem. Now he’s making good money on paint and focusing on improving other areas of his business as well.
Examining the State of the Industry
Too many shops, not enough work, not enough profit, too much insurer involvement and not enough business expertise on the part of shop owners are all contributing to the sorry state that is the collision repair industry.