“Same old, same old” is history. It’s time to accept
change as the new normal. Performance and
productivity are the new benchmarks for the industry.
These were some of the messages attendees received at
the PPG
MVP Business
Solutions Spring Conference held recently at the
Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa in Palm Springs,
Calif.
The conference, based on the theme “Journey to
Excellence,” drew more than 250 PPG-affiliated
collision center owners and managers who came from
across the United States and Canada to learn how to
succeed in the industry’s current highly demanding
and rapidly changing climate. “It’s a challenging
environment today for collision centers and the
traditional paths to success just are not as
effective anymore,” said Jim
Berkey, PPG Automotive Refinish, director, MVP
Business Solutions, in his opening remarks at the
conference. “It doesn’t matter how big or how good
you were under the old rules. When those rules
change, everyone goes back to zero.”
Keynote speaker Greg Smith built on Berkey’s
thoughts. Smith, CEO of Chart Your Course
International and a recognized authority on change
and talent management, discussed the importance of
collision centers setting a business course that
could address the need for continuously adapting to
changing business models. According to Smith, being
successful today requires a high-energy workplace
that increases performance, generates more profits,
and delivers exceptional customer service.
One factor in achieving this is keeping morale and
motivation high to avoid employee turnover which, in
turn, compromises quality and productivity. “You need
the right leadership to get staff to do just about
anything,” he said. “People are not your most
important asset, the right people are.”
Smith also presented “Hire the Best, Forget the
Rest!” a seminar offering insights into hiring and
retaining the right people. Other speakers included
Michael McMillan with a presentation entitled “Pink
Bat: Turning Problems into Solutions,” in which he
showed how situations perceived as problems are often
unrecognized solutions or opportunities.
Teamwork expert and author Tom Heck’s seminar, “The 7
Qualities of the Leader as Coach,” centered on
employee motivation, the changed nature of the
current multigenerational workforce, and the need for
a new leadership approach for teams and individuals
working together. The conference also heavily
emphasized lean production with interactive workshops
that provided participants with practical
applications for increasing performance levels in
their collision centers.
PAGE 2Workshop topics
included The Lean Journey in Collision, Load
Leveling, and Value Stream Mapping. In The Lean
Journey in Collision workshop, Berkey portrayed the
journey as tough, but rewarding. He offered a road
map to lean implementation and discussed leadership
and training, implementation planning, X-Ray Repair
Planning™, 5S and workplace organization.
The Value Stream Mapping and Load Leveling workshops
were led by MVP Business Solutions, senior managers
Mike Gunnells and Mark Mueller, respectively. Value
stream mapping helps identify changes that obtain
cycle time improvement and aligns the organization
around the right changes in the process that
capitalize on eliminating the greatest sources of
waste in the process.
Workshop participants used their own shop data to
develop a map to recognize improvement opportunities
and gauge performance. The Load Leveling session
addressed the negative effect variation in work
volume and mix have on the repair process and the
positive impact that load leveling systems are having
in collision centers today.
MVP Value Added Programs senior manager Norm
Angrove and John Martin, manager performance
learning, leaders of the 360º Marketing Systems team,
spoke about marketing opportunities that go beyond
traditional channels. They discussed strategies for
effective multigenerational marketing, the use of
social media, and more. “Marketing is part of the
journey,” said Angrove. “Marketing today is different
than it’s been, and it will continue to evolve. And
relevant marketing is one of the most important tools
for the journey.”
Attendees’ reaction to the conference was positive.
Tom Tracy, president and owner of Tracys Collision
Centers, Lincoln, Nebraska, said, “PPG did a great
job putting this conference together. It showed me
how committed PPG is to helping its customers. If
you’re serious about succeeding, PPG is serious about
helping you.” For more information about PPG MVP
Business Solutions and future conferences, please
visit www.ppgmvp.com.
