The next time you're considering ways to upgrade your business, think about coffee, specifically Starbucks. The coffee giant generates over $16 billion annually selling a product that not long ago Americans would brew themselves for far less than the Seattle-based company charges. Starbuck's secret? There is none.
Volumes of business articles have explored how this coffee stop succeeded so spectacularly where others fell short. Many analysts fall back on Starbucks finding a new way to promote a traditional product. Chairman Howard Schultz, who purchased the original six stores in 1987 and took the brand nationwide, disagrees. His response: "Starbucks is not an advertiser; people think we are a great marketing company, but in fact we spend very little money on marketing and more money on training our people."
That includes training, both classroom and hands on, at every level, from shift managers who greet you at the door to district managers and farther up. At the store level, baristas are schooled on dozens of different drink combinations, along with every area of customer service. The goal is consistently providing customers with a quality product paired with a gold standard experience. This training has convinced millions of Americans to regularly drop $5 on a cup of joe they could make themselves, most times with pocket change.
Of course, repairing vehicles is far more complex than making coffee and therefore requires at least an equal devotion to training. Shops usually have access to a wide range of learning resources, from formal classrooms to online modules and hands-on, in-house instruction. With these choices come tough decisions of where shops would do best to put their training dollars and time. One terrific guide is following in the path of the 2015 Top Shops. These businesses climbed to the top of the industry using the resources available to most repairers combined with their own unique spin.
Traditional route: I-CAR
I-CAR sits at the center of the collision industry's training efforts and for good reason. It offers proven courses often not available anywhere else. Insurers have come to demand I-CAR training as part of DRP requirements. OEM certification programs, says Doug Trulock, owner of South Broadway Collision Center in Lexington, Ky., often require I-CAR gold classification and additional training. For example, he notes that Audi certification also involves attending special I-CAR classes, along with OEM training. That's critical for a Top Shop that works extensively with dealers.
Some shops incorporate I-CAR even further. D&S Automotive Collision and Restyling in Mentor, Ohio constructed its corporate headquarters with classrooms dedicated for I-CAR training. Vice President C.J. Paterniti says the setup not only keeps the training accessible, it also makes it more convenient. "Since the headquarters is near all our shops, employees can come over right after work, have refreshments while they learn and be home by 10 o'clock," he says.
Other shops have present or former I-CAR trainers on staff. Jim Caron, manager of first time Top Shop winner Acme Auto Body in Leominster, Maine, previously taught welding and steps in at times in his own shop to provide instruction.
Jim Guthrie, owner of multi-Top Shops winner Car Crafters in Albuquerque, NM, also taught welding for I-CAR. Car Crafters staff member Carl Peet is a current I-CAR instructor and teaches classes at the shop. Guthrie sits on both regional and national I-CAR boards, including the Inter-Industry Segment Advisory Council (ISAC), which helps set the direction of industry instruction. Being this close to I-CAR has aided Car Crafters in making training decisions that have helped it add its fifth location in just the past two years.
Industry trade, training shows
Industry trade and training shows across the country also offer great opportunities for education. The inaugural Automechanika Chicago took place in April and trained 2,000 collision and service repair technicians during its three-day training course offerings that covered both technical and shop management topics.
During SEMA, the Society for Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) again hosted its Repairer Driven Education Series, which included OEM Collision Repair Technology Summit sessions. Events like these not only offer education for the shop owners and technicians, but also feature a trade show component that allows access to exhibitors who can help boost, streamline or improve a shop's business.
Those elements add up to an education opportunity second to none, says Aaron Schulenburg Executive Director for SCRS.
"I can't think of a better venue to train in," says Schulenburg. "You're already excited and inspired, and you're in a class surrounded by likeminded people who are more receptive to the information and likely to implement it when they get back home."
Schulenburg notes other benefit. Repairers have access to many of the most respected subject matter experts in the industry. They also have access to an extensive and comprehensive course list, all available in one place. There are cost savings as well. All inclusive passes allow repairers to attend every program they want.
NACE, of course, provides its own extensive series of cutting edge courses from I-CAR, the Automotive Management Institute and manufacturers. A host of forums and symposiums give repairers additional insight on areas where they need to prepare their businesses. Among the numerous offerings at NACE 2015 were Advanced Steering and Suspension Systems Damage Analysis, Aluminum Repair on the Corvette Stingray, Technology in the Sales Process and Carbon Fiber Usage and Structural Repair. An MSO symposium examined issues like hiring, financing and the future of DRPs.
Vendors and consultants
Next to I-CAR, the second most popular training resource typically has been vendors, along with independent consultants. In the case of the former, South Broadway regularly receives painter training from its vendor, bringing in trainers in for four-day sessions covering safety, changing environmental laws, mixing and application. For the latter, Total Auto Body in Grafton, Wis., makes use of its lunchroom to screen videos by renown consultants like Mike Anderson.
Total owner Bob Gibson also attends Greenbelt lean courses from his paint vendor and takes those lessons back to his business. This practice has become a popular trend as some owners are using these classes to remake their entire operations. Paterniti has attended Greenbelt training four times now. He considers the first run-through an introduction and retook the coursework to get a better grasp on how he could implement the lessons at his shop.
Today, all D&G employees take the one-day Whitebelt lean course. "It helps with getting their buy-in for the changes being made," says Paterniti. Along with explaining the operational benefits of lean processing, the course was critical in helping nervous employees understand how transitioning to team based pay plans would increase their income. The move paid off quickly. In just one year, the shop increased throughput by 17 percent, boosting tech paychecks and reducing the hours D&S locations needed to stay open.
At Warrensburg Collision in Warrensburg, Mo., manager Casey Lund used lean classes from his paint vendor, with lessons taken from business classes and books, to reinvent his shop. Lund's father started the business in 2001 and immediately instructed his sons to stay out of the industry and instead finish their education and move on to other businesses. While finishing his MBA and working in fundraising and development, Lund learned his father was ill and decided to take the reins of the business.
For the first several years, he struggled mightily, and in 2012 realized he had to make drastic changes. Lund put his MBA and lean training to work. The first step was having most of his staff take four-day Greenbelt training. Then the shop held a number of kaizen events. From there, Lund empowered his entire staff to make changes. In February of this year, he built on that movement by instituting daily improvement sessions.
Every day, from 7:30 to 8:30, the shop doesn't fix cars; it fixes processes. Employees identify one area where they can cut waste and create a new work standard. The change must offer improvements in one of four ways — making a task faster, safer, simpler or producing better quality — without diminishing any of the other three. "Sometimes an improvement is as simple as finding a standard place for a pen so you don't have to waste time looking for one," says Lund.
At 8:30 employees assemble to share their findings, sometimes through demonstrations and other times with video. For the next half hour the entire staff also reviews the day's production plan, continues talks on spotting waste and discusses a “topic of the day,” which can be anything from lean production and management to finding ways to inspire others. The shop then makes use of huge 65 in. TV monitors to demonstrate its management programs so all employees learn how to utilize them.
"Our goal is to help them work on the business and make their own decisions," explains Lund. "We're teaching them to self-manage." Hitting that goal will help the shop reaching another, putting its management "out of a job," according to Lund. As employees become better able to make their own decisions, processes become more efficient, with far fewer problems.
"Our production manager doesn't need to put out fires," Lund explains. "He can dedicate his time to being more hands-on and working on vehicles."
Since he's put these changes in place, Lund says employees are happier and more engaged with the business, allowing them to take better care of customers. Those changes also have translated into a much healthier bottom line. During the past three years, Warrensburg has tripled its revenue.
OEM certification rush
The most popular growing trend in training for this year's Top Shops, and probably most of the industry, is gaining OEM certifications. Some owners declare that repairers eventually will need this training to stay in business. Over half of the 2015 Top Shops possessed multiple certifications and are pursuing more. South Broadway should complete its eleventh certification by the end of 2015. Car Crafters counts Tesla among the multiple OEMs it is now certified to repair.
Certification isn't without its drawbacks, especially it's often prohibitive costs. Paterniti points to the expense of adding arguably the most common certified work, Ford aluminum repairs. "It's a $100,000 capital expense that a lot of shops can't afford to entertain," he says. His shop did make the investment and to date has had three new Ford F-150s pass through its doors, none of them needing structural repairs.
In time, that investment very well could pay off, but some Top Shops are content to wait until certifications become a necessity. G&C Auto Body, a Santa Rosa, Calif.-based multiple Top Shops winner, has no current plans to pursue OEM certifications. "It's not what our business model is right now," says Chief operations Officer Shawn Crozat.
In house bonanza
A far more affordable training option is in-house learning, which is proving its worth in a range of implementation formats. Some shops have turned to internal training as part of MSO expansion. After Car Crafters recently acquired Hoffman Body Shop, it began cross training the business's new 50 employees at its other locations. In some cases the business sent established employees to Hoffman to conduct training there.
Other Top Shops pair up new hires with veteran workers. At CSI Collision Center in Houston, senior employees take new techs under their wing to teach them the business's standard procedures. New estimators work directly with General Manager Trey Purdue until they're ready to fly on their own.
Classic Accident Repair Center in Mentor, Ohio puts most of its training focus on in-house development. The business utilizes DCR Systems lean repair model, which utilizes training modules covering every aspect of the shop's operations that can be viewed at any time.
New employees kick off their Classic careers by viewing these online learning sessions. Next, they work with a senior staff member who teaches them the business's unique multi-stage repair process that Store Leader Marty Roberts describes as a fundamental departure from traditional collision work. For example, eight different techs typically work on each vehicle at clearly defined operational points before a repair is "validated." Tools are provided for particular operation and stored only in specific areas.
Classic does require its employees to go through I-CAR training, scheduled through an on-staff I-CAR instructor. It also carries OEM certifications (Classic services a 17 dealer network) and provides vendor training, all of this overseen by a national training support manager and a store leader who match employees with learning opportunities.
Classic incorporates all these resources under an umbrella operation aimed at predictable, problem-free, speedy processes. This setup permits Classic to regularly bring new hires with a variety of work backgrounds and place them throughout the business to handle increasing workloads.
G&C uses a comparable home grown, in-house process that develops new hires and boosts sales. New estimators pair up with veteran writers and are marched through G&C boot camp, a rigorous months-long course where trainees work on multiple management systems. Crozat calls the training " fairly brutal," noting that only 50 percent of participants make it through. Those that fail usually do so, he says, because they either are unable to master the work or give up after facing the difficulties associated with a front line shop position.
The attrition is necessary to weed out less than stellar performers. "We only want our best people writing," says Crozat.
Training lasts 5-11 months depending upon how long it takes a graduate to meet the program's requirements. Those that do can earn $90,000 their first year. Mentors receive incentives in the form of a $2500 bonus for each graduate they help make the cut.
New techs likewise work with an experienced body tech who spends several months conducting training (techs and other employees additionally receive I-CAR instruction). Mentors here also earn incentives to turn out capable workers. G&C initially pays the new employee for the first three months. After that, they're on the "tech's dime," explains Crozat. By helping the senior tech be more productive, both workers bump their pay.
Crozat notes that a freshly trained tech can help a mentor make an additional $18,000 annually. "I tell them they can use that to max out their 401(k) and in 20 years have millions of dollars for retirement." he says.
This system ensures G&C maintains a talented workforce capable of sustaining its business trajectory. It's working out quite well as the family-run MSO prepares to open its tenth location with more growth in sight.
Maintaining the investment
Considering the rising costs of training, especially instruction provided by OEMs, shops are under increasing pressure to ensure that education remains under their own roofs. Some have responded by asking employees to sign contracts agreeing to stay with the business for a set period of time or reimburse the shop for the costs. Results for this practice have been mixed, say owners.
Some employees are more inclined to stay. Others believe they still can walk away from the deal with little fear of repercussions. "If someone does break the contract, you have to ask yourself if you're really going to go to the expense of enforcing it," says Perdue.
A better solution could lie in, appropriately enough, training. Training isn't simply about adding or honing technical skills. Owners and employees also have the opportunity to pick up new business ideas for reshaping a shop. Those changes can make a business a more inviting workplace that keeps employees around. That includes transforming it into an ever evolving environment where employees can test the limits of their potential. With that in place, there's little reason to take those hard won skills elsewhere.
Just something to think about over your next cup of coffee.
