LaMettry’s Collision focuses on quality, diversification through expansion

He should know. LaMettry has been working at the company since he started sweeping floors as a kid, and his watched his parents literally grow the company from a mom and pop shop to a successful MSO. A family business, the first LaMettry's location opened in 1976, a home-garage operation run by Rick LaMettry that specialized in Corvettes. Once the business grew big enough to need a more traditional facility, Rick's wife Joanne began working at the shop.

But Rick LaMettry eventually turned his attention to other pursuits in construction and commercial real estate. Joanne then took over the autobody business and was soon at the helm of a thriving, multi-location operation.

The company has grown almost exclusively through new builds (Rick LaMettry has overseen the construction of all of the new facilities) or buying vacant buildings and converting them. According to president of operations Darrell Amberson, the company hasn't made an acquisition yet, but would be open to one if the right opportunity came along. "We've primarily done greenfield openings in the past, though," he says.

Both of Joanne and Rick's sons now work for the company. Justin graduated with a mechanical engineering degree, while Randy (also a vice president) has a degree in management and finance. Both worked their way up, eventually becoming shop general managers before moving into the company's corporate leadership team.

LaMettry's now has nearly 250 employees in eight locations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, the latest being the New Brighton shop that opened last spring.

"We look at markets that have potential," LaMettry says. "All of our locations have been ours from the ground up. We're always open to any opportunity as long as it's the right one and meets the needs of the business."

Shared responsibilities
In some ways, LaMettry's is still in the midst of transitioning from a traditional family business to an MSO. Standard operating procedures and the corporate structure are continually evaluated and tweaked, and the company is still developing a formal training program for personnel. "Becoming more uniform has been key," LaMettry says. "We're trying to standardize all of our processes, so that everything runs the same way at all the locations. It's been a joint effort with the managers and the leadership team."

Amberson describes the company's management structure as in flux at the moment. "We're evolving and trying to centralize more operations," he says. "Right now we have a call center, and we've set up a central billing department. Most of the administrative work happens at the shop level, but once the files are complete they are sent to central billing."

LaMettry's has chief operations officers, a CFO, a human resources director, and a CIO. Purchasing is largely handled at the COO level. "We don't have a set contract with the paint company, but we have a great relationship with BASF and purchase all of the paint and body supplies through them," Amberson says. "We also have a person on staff that goes to each shop and takes inventory and places orders each week."

The company has also standardized its technology using CCC One shop management software at all locations. Equipment varies from location to location, but Amberson says they have tried to keep operations as consistent as possible.

A compliance team audits the locations for DRP compliance and provides a central point of contact for insurance carriers. "That department handles most of the insurance relationships, but there are situations where either I or Joanne LaMettry, or someone else from the leadership team will interact directly with insurers," Amberson says. "Maintaining DRP relationships is an important component of what we do."

Developing talent within
Hiring new employees involves both central management and the shop managers. "For the most part, the HR person places the ads and does the preliminary work, and the COO will do an interview depending on the need," Amberson says. "Then the shop mangers get involved."

The leadership team is also actively involved at the shop level. "It’s a bit unique to us, in that each person on the leadership team is a coach for a specific shop," Amberson says. "While we have responsibility for all the shops, we focus on one in particular and work with the GM there to help with bigger decision and to help them grow professionally."

Grooming employees internally to take positions at new or existing locations has always been a focus at LaMettry's, but the company is now trying to formalize a training program to help employees advance and ensure that staff is available to work at new locations when they open. "We're setting up our own training program, but using what we refer to as resident experts," Amberson says. "You might have a resident expert parts manager or production manager that we utilize to do some work with the other shops, and they would be involved in reviewing and interviewing new hires for that category as well."

"It's important to us to train within versus trying to hire," LaMettry says. "That's not always possible when you expand too fast. This training program is a newer thing for us, and we're trying to identify who are the best teachers already in place in the business. We're looking for advice from outside to help us figure out the best way to structure it."

There's more growth ahead for LaMettry's. Another facility is expected to begin construction later this year, and the company continues to look for other opportunities.

Diversifying the business
According to Amberson and LaMettry, careful placement of shops has helped the company remain successful, along with maintaining strong DRP relationships and customer relationships. "We also have great relationship with the local dealerships, and a lot of OE certifications," Amberson says. LaMettry's fixes all makes and models, but has particular OE certifications for high-end vehicles like Audi, BMW, and Mercedes. Industry certifications are another key strategy, and LaMettry's technicians adhere to I-CAR, AMI, GLASURIT, ASE and others.

They are also the only autobody operation in the area that is certified to fix Tesla electric vehicles, as well as the only facility authorized to perform Audi autobody aluminum repairs in the five-state area. The company has also diversified its operations into glass, mechanical repairs, and paintless dent repair (PDR).

"One of the challenges in this market is identifying new areas and new lines of business in the auto world to expand into," LaMettry says. "And getting into DRPs is not the easiest thing to do, especially when there are bigger operators right in our back yard."

The company's growth as an MSO has also been beneficial for its relationships with insurers and vendors. Load leveling helps keep every shop busy, and ensures customers get their vehicles in a timely manner during busy periods.

"We do a lot of reporting, and we've set some standards about the amount of work we want to see in the shop as far as work in process and scheduled," Amberson says. "The GM will make the call in terms of workload. We use the call center to communicate with each shop so they know what the other shops need. There's a standard operating procedure they go through to orchestrate a move, which includes calling and getting the customer's permission."

Remaining successful, particularly given some of the systemic challenges of the autobody industry and competition from other MSOs, won't be easy. Keeping up with rapidly changing technology, both in the shop and in the vehicles, remains an ongoing challenge. "We're seeing more in terms of electronics and new substrates," Amberson says. "Because of our OE certifications, we have a leg up on the competition because the new technologies are introduced on some of the higher-end cars first. The Ford F-150 aluminum shift is not a challenge for us. We have a lot of welders and rivet guns and knowledge about how to fix aluminum."

LaMettry says that finding new technicians has also been daunting. "The crop of technicians coming out of the schools is dwindling," he says. "There aren't as many people as there once were. It's difficult to find and hire the truly exceptional technicians."

As far as future opportunities, LaMettry says the company is focused on growing its internal customer base by delivering great service.

"One of our core goals has been trying to deliver the 'wow' factor to the customer and getting them to tell their friends and keep them coming back and providing referrals," LaMettry says. "We like to pride ourselves that we have a lot of technician certifications, we do a very high-quality job with everyone's car when its here. A lot of shops are just trying to get the work in and out the door, turn and burn it. That's not what we're about."

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