A Journey, Not a Destination
Lean is about a process of continually ‘getting it’ because you never stop trying to get there. But you must begin with understanding where you’re going and why you’re going there.
MLOs on the Grow
New research suggests that consolidation will continue and multiple-location collision repair operators will continue to gain favor as insurers push DRP performance.
Small Steps Toward ‘Better’
Relentless, incremental, small improvements to the way you work are more effective than occasional big changes. It’s about gradual, daily movement toward a better way. It’s about continuous improvement.
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.
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.
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.
The Process of Efficiency
Our industry has focused on gross profit issues for far too long. The key to success lies in the way we work, not in what someone else is doing to us. It’s time we shift our focus to ‘fixed’ costs — repairing more cars with the same ‘fixed’ cost or repairing the same amount of cars with a lower ‘fixed’ cost.
Seeing the Big Picture
You can’t improve individual pieces of your business and expect overall improvement. Instead, you must examine the relationship between all the steps and begin to incrementally improve problem areas.
Kaizen Part II: Pulling the Value from Waste
Simply put, the objective of a lean business is to continually identify and eliminate waste. As waste is eliminated, more value is produced, which means a more efficient model.
