A History of Success and Change
The time: 1894. The place: Boston, Mass. The body shop: Fitzpatrick Brothers.
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.
The Tale of One Shop Continues…
….with Paul and Teresa Slate
Legal Insight: Know Laws that Affect Your Business
As a body shop owner, you have a lot to worry and think about. If you’re successful, though, you probably make the time to check the quality of the paint work leaving your shop
– even though you employ painters.
Ask the Executives
There’s no better place to go for advice than to those who’ve reached the top. To help you climb your ladder of success, we asked Clark Plucinski and Russell Verona – both industry leaders and BodyShop Business Executives of the Year – questions ranging
from productivity to customer relations to future trends:
Starting Over
Russ Manley and his father, Ron, have run Manley and Son Auto Body and Paint in Forsyth, Mo., for 34 years. In the early years, custom work was the bread and butter for the shop, but because of poor work conditions, paint jobs that went wrong were as prevalent as the ones that went right.
Paint-Shop Smarts
To increase production in the paint shop, you can do one of two things: Buy more equipment – the object here being to do more work in the same time period by mechanizing
the task. Or, you can produce more by better utilizing your present facility and equipment – the old “work smarter not harder”
school of thought.
Need Money? Renovations
When running a successful business, a shop owner will – at some point – utter the word “renovations”. In his next breath, he’ll shake his head and utter the words “need money”.
Like a Rock: Southwest Collision of Alsip, Ill.
Ask anyone in the collision-repair business in suburban Chicago about the work and reputation of Southwest Collision of Alsip, Ill., and the adjectives they’ll use can be
summarized in two words – rock solid.
Is High-Tech Worth the Cost?
When computerized measuring systems first became available, most shop owners considered them luxuries that only the biggest, busiest and best shops could afford.