One could easily debate that an auto body shop is an unlikely place to see an assembly line, especially when you try to visualize “assembly line” in the traditional sense. However, there are many more similarities between collision repair and the assembly line than you may realize. When Henry Ford introduced the assembly line [...]
“You would not believe how good it felt to throw that insurance adjuster out into the street!” In complete disbelief, I continued listening to this shop owner describe his recent proclaimed victory. “If they won’t let me put new OEM parts on this lady’s Pontiac, they can take it to one of their damn [...]
For collision shops that want to improve cycle time and decrease unnecessary work-in-process (WIP), scheduling is a necessity. However, I also believe far too many shops over-complicate scheduling, spending hours trying to predict the future using unstable labor hours. What I mean by unstable is that some people and even electronic scheduling systems attempt [...]
As I write this, I am on a long flight home from Australia where I had the pleasure of speaking to shop owners facing many of the same challenges as those in the U.S.A. You know the usual topics – labor shortages, pressures dealing with insurance companies, speed of technology, etc… I also heard [...]
There are many commonalities between the homeless living on Skid Row, the mediocre, and the successful. Each may have received a low or high-degree of education. Each may have been born into a humble or affluent family. And the universal commonality: each has been knocked down many times in life. The homeless man has [...]
Make it a game. In the popular 1980’s book, The Game of Work, author Charles Coonradt wrote, “People will pay for the privilege of working harder than they will work when they are paid.” He was referring, of course, to the fact that people will put tremendous effort into recreation, when it may be [...]
A common practice I have noticed among hugely successful collision repair shops is that they hold daily production meetings and discuss an accurate delivery list. The list is shared between all members of the team. It is like holding a huddle prior to snapping the ball in a football game. The list represents your [...]
In a world where there is so much marketing information and so many so-called advertising solutions, it is easy to get lost in all the minutia and forget that the number one form of advertising has always been, and always will be, “word of mouth” advertising. This organic formula for growth involves giving customers [...]
What is Continuous Improvement? Continuous Improvement. Another buzz word? Worthless Lean terminology? I don’t think so. Yes, the term has been used for a couple decades now by Lean gurus and companies like Toyota, but I want to ask you to think of ‘Continuous Improvement’ from a real world, practical, and much-needed perspective. Forget [...]
Do you run your shop or does it run you? I spend many hours in collision repair businesses and unfortunately what I see is usually the latter. The collision repair businesses that are really getting it done these days take a systematic approach to success. Today’s article focuses on how successful shops own their [...]
