With the current decline in accident rates and miles driven, it’s more important than ever that collision shop owners and managers focus on ways to maximize the efficiency and performance of their operation.
Attending business training courses is one way to pursue that effort, yet those opportunities are now more limited. Recognizing the current situation, PPG is conducting a series of “MVP Virtual Learning Lessons”—online webinars that incorporate the collision repair business development expertise of its MVP Business Solutions team.
“Our aim was to give a collision center’s staff a way to further improve the business without having to leave the facility,” explains Mike Gunnells, PPG senior manager for MVP Business Solutions.
Subject matter for the lessons has covered a wide range of topics which, together, are designed to benefit all those shop employees who can play a role in improving the business—from estimators and production managers to technicians and parts people. Some 16 topics are currently offered with plans to add more in the future.
MVP Virtual Learning Topics
- Estimating Destructive Weld Tests
- Understanding Estimating System Procedure Pages
- Paint Booth Optimization
- Organizing Profit & Loss for Managers
- Measuring Profitability for Managers
- Improving Profitability for Managers
- Accurate Meticulous Disassembly
- Discovery … The Missing Link!
- Estimating & OE Repair Information—Welded-on Panels
- Estimating Welded-on Panels
- Estimating Refinish #1
- Identifying, Sourcing & Locating Collision Parts
- Parts Cart Standards
- Parts Mirror Matching
- 5S Implementation
“We’ve designed these sessions to provide ‘meaty’ content, not just basic overviews of the topic,” adds Gunnells. “As a result, participation has been outstanding. The webinars began last April, and since that time we’ve conducted more than 100 sessions with upwards of 7,000 people attending, including shop personnel, distributors, and PPG staff. We even had one collision shop take time out for their entire team to participate in a learning session.”
Feedback from D&V Autobody’s Ron Maharaj, for example, further underscores the success of the initiative: “This training will greatly help grow our business. We cannot wait to implement these steps in our shop to improve our cycle time and profitability.”
The MVP Virtual Learning Lessons are offered every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. Each session is one hour long and time is allowed for questions by the participants, making the learning truly interactive.
As an added bonus, the learning sessions are approved by the I-CAR Industry Training Alliance for annual training credits—especially helpful for those collision repair facilities seeking annual Gold Class status.
If you’re interested in participating in one of our virtual learning sessions, contact your local PPG sales representative.
