All of these "worth their weight in gold" parts are carefully stored in an organized storage space in your shops, categorized, and meticulously labeled – or not. More than likely, they are tucked into corners, or on shelves, adding to the clutter that has taken your 10,000-square-foot facility down to about 7,000 square feet. You know you will use them some time for sure.
Meanwhile, you have been thinking about adding on to the shop, or maybe building a new one because you seem to have outgrown this one. The reality is that maybe, just maybe, you aren't making optimum use of the floor space you have in your facility right now. Does this sound familiar? I would guess it does to most everyone.
In the world of collision repair, bigger isn't always better. Becoming more efficient and making the most out of the available space you have is the smart way to go. Even very successful companies like Toyota, have been re-thinking the big shop idea in favor of less space used more efficiently. Don't worry, we aren't going to get into full-blown lean in this article, but we are going to touch on some basics that will help you produce more money from your current space, and get you thinking more about efficiencies, and lean operation. There are five basic steps you will need to follow to begin maximizing your space: clean, organize, eliminate waste, calculate and continually improve.
Clean
First, clean the shop thoroughly. Throw away all old parts and all that junk you have been saving. Believe me; you will more than likely never need that 1999 Honda dogleg. Throw it all out. Get rid of everything that you don't need to do your repairs. Once all that junk is gone, you will be amazed at the space you will rediscover. Power wash the floors and walls. Paint them if needed. Really spruce up the place. Contrary to popular belief, there is no unwritten law that collision shops need to look like the local dump.This process doesn't cost anything, other than time. Once the shop is thoroughly clean, have a meeting with your staff. Let them know this is the new look of the shop, and you expect everyone to become involved, every day, with maintaining this new look. Stay on top of it. It will be a lot easier to maintain the new look than it will be to create it again six months later. Make sure it becomes a habit that every employee adopts. As an additional benefit, a clean environment is much safer as well.
Organize
Every shop is different. Some are square boxes; others are various odd shapes. Some may be cut up into many different sized smaller rooms. Whatever shape your shop is, take a good look at it and consider how the work flows through your shop. Does it move in a sensible pattern? Do cars have to be moved all the time to gain access to the frame rack or aisle way? Is your equipment in the correct areas? Do you have an area to store welders and equipment?To organize, you should rethink the layout of the shop, considering while doing so, the flow of cars from department to department. This can be easier said than done, since most of us aren't experts in this area. Fortunately, most paint companies have access to, or even have on their payroll, someone who is an expert in shop layout. If you can, utilize them as a resource to help you lay out your shop in relation to its shape and your needs.
If you are not able to enlist the opinion of an expert in this challenge, common sense is the rule of thumb. Consider the path a car should take as it works its way through the shop, making deliberate stops in each department. Remember, your stall space on the shop floor is prime real estate. Each stall is a money-making, hours-producing work space. Work stalls are not meant for storage of dead cars or piles of parts. Always follow this rule: Don't put a car in a stall unless you intend to work on it right away.
With this in mind, try to lay out your shop with clearly delineated stall space, aisles and storage space. A brightly painted or striped line should mark each space. This is actually pretty easy to do without painting, by using special floor striping tape available through 3M. (Your paint jobber should be able to order this for you.) It is easy to apply and sticks very well. The idea of using tape allows you to be flexible in your layout as well, in case your first try doesn't work as well as you would like. You can simply pull up the tape, change the layout, and stripe it all over again.
The idea is a place for everything, and everything in its place. Outline tool storage areas, prepping areas, body stalls and even mark a place for the garbage cans. It may sound like overkill, but if you carefully design your shop layout and it's highly organized with everything in the right place and easily accessible, your staff will spend more time fixing cars than finding tools.
Eliminate waste
Now that you have organized the shop, making sure everything is neat and clean, look at it again. When a tech needs fasteners or parts, does he or she have to walk across the entire shop to get them? How about the simple basic supplies like sandpaper? Are they in an area that is easily accessible?
I have been in shops where techs spend literally more than an hour a day, walking back and forth through the shop on a quest for supplies. If your tech was in his or her stall for that additional time, more productive work would occur, helping you deliver more cars. Waste in general is rampant in the collision industry, and not just on the shop floor. Part of reorganizing the shop involves the office as well. How much time does your staff spend looking for another member to ask a question? As an example, what if a tech needs a supplement? Something as simple as supplying a supplemental sheet along with every work order may help save lots of wasted time. Again, the key here is flow and organization. You want to achieve the maximum productivity with the minimum of steps. You might want to consider a "KanBan" type of system, where every tech has a cart with their tools and supplies on it, which they can move with them as they move from car to car.
After you have re-organized, if you don't do so already, you should begin to monitor your techs efficiency. This sounds hard, but in its simple form, it's pretty easy. Efficiency is hours produced divided by hours worked. A body tech that produces 100 labor hours in a 40-hour week is 250 percent efficient. Make sure all of your employees clock in and out and that you track the labor they produce every day. If you have a management system, this is super easy, but you can do it by hand if you need to.
As you tweak the shop, and start trying different things to help streamline your operation, monitor the effect of the changes by keeping a close eye on the efficiency of your staff. If you implement a change and you see a pattern of increased efficiency, keep the idea. If not, try something else. Not all shops are the same, so what works in one may not in another. Simple, common sense ideas work the best. For example, don't bring a vehicle in to start repairs if you don't have the parts to repair it. The stall that dead car is sitting in could be utilized for fixing another car, not for inside storage.
Calculate
Do you know what your shop is capable of producing based on its footprint, or its square footage and the technicians you currently employ? You should. You won't be able to accurately calculate this number if you don't track all the numbers. By saying that you should calculate, I mean that you need to be able to know your cycle time, your capture ratio, your hours produced per tech per day and your supplement ratio. You cannot improve your performance until you can measure it.
The least painful way to begin accurately measuring these metrics is to utilize a management system. Yes, they cost some money to get going, but the benefits of using one are staggering. Your office efficiency will increase dramatically, as well as the performance of your techs. I don't believe any modern shop should be operating without one. In reality, many of the newer systems are web-based, and are relatively inexpensive to use. In years past, a management system required a huge up-front investment in software and equipment. That simply is not the case today.
You might wonder how adding a management system can increase stall efficiency. Do you remember handwritten estimates? How long did a car sit in a stall while a handwritten estimate or supplement was being done? How about parts ordering? Couldn't you get things done much faster if you were at the car with a laptop computer, fully loaded with the estimating software, management system software, and you were able to write the supplement, import it, and order the parts while at the car? Wouldn't the estimate be more accurate and flow through the shop more quickly?
Continually improve
Every week, look back on the changes you have made in the shop, and consider what results those changes created. As I mentioned earlier, if one idea doesn't work, try another one. Get your staff members involved in this. Your people are out on the floor every day. Ask them what is working or what is not. Encourage them to become involved in these improvements. Listen to their suggestions and use them if they are worthwhile. You won't believe the positive that will result if you get your staff involved in this exercise. Hopefully the effort will snow ball, and every one will want to get better. If everyone improves, so will your customer service, your business and your bottom line. This process isn't easy, but the potential rewards far outweigh the negatives.
