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.
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
DRPs, Here We Come?
With standard operating procedures in place that support our team vision, our DRP goals may be attainable. Part 7 of a series.
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?
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.
“I Can’t Make Money on Paint!” (a.k.a. Why Johnny Kicked the Dog.)
Too many shops post their entire jobber bill to materials – even though much
of it isn’t paint. Shops then sell these items as miscellaneous parts, with the sale going to parts and the cost to paint. To make matters worse, shops are working off adjuster estimates – which can easily cost them hundreds of dollars per RO.
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.
