In a previous column, I wrote about the importance of using your shop management system to look for areas in which you can improve your business. If you know how many parts orders you are placing per repair order, for example, and how many parts you are returning and why, you can start to create the "ideal state" in which your parts person can get all the right parts the first time.
Creating the "ideal state" for any process in your business starts with some measurements. If your detailing department is a regular bottleneck for production, for example, measure how much time a detailer is spending on each vehicle.
The next step would be asking your employees what would be the ideal state in which they would be doing their best, most productive work. Your detailer might tell you he wouldn't have to spend 20 minutes vacuuming the interior of a vehicle if the body technician did a better job protecting it when sanding body filler.
He might say it would help if the painter would wipe the compound out of the jambs before the body tech reassembled the vehicle, so detailing didn't require using a toothbrush to painstakingly get compound out of small gaps and spaces.
Similarly, a painter might say the "ideal state" to paint cars more quickly and requiring less buffing would include having the vehicles pre-washed, having body technicians finish off to a specific grit with no pinholes, and having all the parts there and easy-to-locate.
A body technician might tell you the "ideal state" for him to do his best, most productive work would include having all the parts readily available and checked-in as correct, having all approvals received, and having a work order with the vehicle.
While these conversations might start out as one-on-one, they quickly should expand to include more of your team – because each department plays a role in creating the "ideal state" for the others. Employees start to better understand how they are actually internal customers for the others, and that just as they need the others to help create the "ideal state" for their own work, they also impact the "ideal state" for others.
So let's say you find you're averaging three parts orders per repair order, and returning 23 parts per month – including many returned because they were incorrect. Start by asking your parts person why this is so, and how the shop can create the "ideal state" to help him get all the right parts needed the first time.
He may tell you the estimators aren't consistently providing the information needed, such as an accurate vehicle identification number, production date and paint code. Perhaps not enough detail is being entered into the system to ensure the right clips are being ordered. Maybe having good photos would help to assist with checking-in parts if the vehicle is not there. Maybe vehicles aren't being adequately (100 percent) disassembled to ensure that every part that will be needed is discovered upfront.
Once you have your parts person's ideas, bring in the others who can help create the "ideal state."
Make sure that the estimators know what information they should provide, and that the body technician or blueprinter understands the importance of a complete teardown.
Don't overlook the role you can play as owner or manager. Are you providing a work area that facilitates rather than hinders your parts person's work? Is there adequate lighting where he is mirror-matching new parts to those removed from the vehicle?
Does he end up on his hands and knees on the floor trying to sort and check parts, or are there padded tables on which to organize and mirror-match?
Getting to the "ideal state" for all of your employees to do their best work requires touching bases with them to understand what that "ideal state" is, and then helping your team understand the role that each one of them plays in helping their internal customers.
If you have an business issue or question you'd like Mike to address, email him.
