Blueprints for Success: A Plan for Profits
Floor plans lay the groundwork for production, but other factors build on this foundation. To construct a solid business – brick by brick – learn how four shops implemented a plan for profits.
Reducing Hazardous Waste
Managing waste should be done with the same care and attention to detail as any other integral part of your business because, after all, it affects your bottom line.
Multiple Shops, Multiplied Profits
Name: Alamo Body & Paint, Inc. Location: San Antonio, Texas Owners: Wayne Baker Established: 1973 Square Footage: 80,500 (total of three locations) Number of Employees: 152 (total of three locations) Repair Volume: 1,150 cars per month (total of three locations) Average Repair Ticket: $1,300 They say everything’s bigger in Texas. Take Alamo, for instance. (No,
A Well-Rounded Painter
If your customer-service index is high and your marketing efforts are giving your shop a healthy backlog of work, you know that what happens when vehicles reach your paint
department is critical to your continued success. And what goes on in your paint department is highly dependent upon the quality.
of painters you employ.
Strategic Partnerships
No business exists in a vacuum, least of all a collision repair shop.
More Than an Estimate
It used to be so easy to write an estimate. Easy, that is, until the ARMS people announced to the country: "A customer doesn’t need an estimate. The customer is in pain and wants his vehicle made whole again." This tiny piece of information had a huge – and dramatic – effect on many leading
Body Shop Boot Camp
While the collision shop of today is repairing existing vehicles, the cars of the future are off the drawing board and plans for production are underway. Increased use of aluminum and plastics, computerized navigational systems, crash-avoidance computers and sophisticated adhesives are all becoming part of our reality.
School Profile/Alfred State College
At Alfred State College (ASC) – a technical college in Western New York with a student body of 3,200 – an emphasis on work ethic and a real-world shop atmosphere combine to assure plenty of job opportunities for every graduate, including its autobody program grads.
The 1997 Industry Profile
That was then … On Nov. 14, 1896, Britain abolished the Red Flag Law, a crazy, crazy mandate that forced motorists to drive behind a person who waved a red flag and walked ahead of the vehicle. While arguable – and in no way based in fact – this very well could have been the
Internet Insight
You’ve no doubt heard about the Internet. Whether it’s those commercials with guys in suits surfing in the streets, Al Gore talking about the Information Superhighway or somebody on the radio telling you about "dot com," it’s all around you. You may even be a “netizen” yourself.