If you fall into that category or are just looking for a less complicated way to track re-sprays, here is a simpler but extremely effective approach for tracking and determining the material costs of re-spraying panels.
When using any type of manual tracking system, I always follow three simple rules. The system needs to be visual, easy to understand and simple to administer.
Your job is to track how many panels are sprayed each day. Require your painters to use a black marker on a whiteboard to count each panel that is sprayed. Use a different-colored marker, in this case red, to count panels that are being re-sprayed. Each week count the panels and the re-sprays. Add up the total number. Next, calculate the cost of materials, by taking the total from your paint and material invoices for the month and divide that number by the total number of panels sprayed.
For example, say a shop has a material bill for the month of $5,000, and the total number of panels sprayed (sprays and re-sprays) is 200. The cost per panel sprayed is $25.
Next, determine the cost of paint and material cost for re-sprays. For our example, we'll assume that 50 of the 200 total tracked panels were re-sprays. The cost per panel multiplied by the re-sprayed panels gives us a cost of $1,250.
Although our example may be a bit extreme, consider the fact that if the shop had $6,500 in paint and material sales for the same month, the difference in the gross profit increases from 23 to 42 percent if all the re-sprays are eliminated. The total $1,250 is removed from the invoices. You can further break down re-sprays based on their origin. Some shops I've worked with have gotten pretty creative using different colors to determine the origin of re-sprays, for example green for body, blue for detail, etc.
Another advantage of using the visual scoreboard is being able to visualize the impact that unbalanced scheduling has on re-sprays. For instance, if the in-Monday-out-Friday scheduling system is used at a shop, you will typically see most panels painted on Wednesday and Thursday. You also will see a higher occurrence in re-sprays on Fridays and Mondays as a result of the pressure being put on the paint department to produce in a short time span. Realistically, you want a steady number of panels painted each day and you will if the shop has good production flow.
Although we have not addressed the additional cost of labor associated with re-spraying vehicles (in this month's article) or the lost opportunity because of the re-work, it is easy to see that using a simple system to track re-sprays, can pay big dividends. Measurement creates awareness, which leads to solutions and improvement, followed by greater profits. What isn't there to like about that?
