Manufacturing mindset earns Eurotech Refinishing and Collision Inc ACE Award from VeriFacts Automotive

With its main location in Bellflower, Calif., and a second site on Studebaker Road in Cerritos, Calif., the company was recently honored as the ACE Award winner by VeriFacts Automotive, designated as the top-performing collision repair facility in the nation.

“It is all about effectiveness and efficiency,” explains CFO Debbie Hoenecke.

“For example, we have a separate building for disassembly, mechanical repair, re-assembly, parts management and storage. That way none of those parts are exposed to dust from sanding operations, which saves clean-up time and delivers better results for our vehicle owners. And the tear-down process is a step-by-step standard operating procedure (SOP), followed the same way by each employee, every time.”

Staffers specialize in a specific area of the process as the vehicles are run through each department much like a manufacturing plant. “The benefit is that each employee becomes an expert in the job that they perform, increasing their speed and quality,” according to Hoenecke.

“Every operation is done exactly the same way every day, based on the SOP for that area,” she elaborates.

“There are many benefits from this approach. One is consistency. We strive to produce a predictable outcome every time, and our philosophy is to repair each vehicle as if it were our own,” says CEO  Keith Myers, “Another benefit is that whenever we have a bottleneck in the workflow, we can load-level the people instead of the vehicles because each person simply follows the process and SOP for that area.”

A unique parts system is utilized to track and organize the parts as they flow through the system. “We are able to identify issues earlier in the process in order to reduce any delays when the vehicle is ready for reassembly,”  he points out.

“Of course, we still run into parts delays, back orders and miscommunication with our vendors like everyone else,” adds Myers . However, “a continual-improvement mindset” allows the company to greatly “streamline our internal process.”

As part of this unique approach to the repair process, “Our workflow, standard operating procedures and specialization -- combined with a philosophy of continuous improvement -- allows us to deliver consistent quality to our customers, and that is indeed our biggest strength,”  he notes.

Referencing receipt of the coveted VeriFacts Automotive 2018-2019 Ace Award for Outstanding Shop of the Year, Myers  further observes that “we have worked hard to arrive at this point and recognize that we still have many opportunities for improvement.”

Problem-solving together

“Our customers are very important to us. We spend time up front understanding the customer’s needs and expectations so that we can communicate those to our shop technicians. Our goal is to repair every vehicle as if they are our own, Hoenecke says. We work very hard to stay current with all the latest equipment and technologies, and our partnership with VeriFacts Automotive helps us do that: Our No.1 goal is our customers’ safety and satisfaction.”

Based in Newport Beach, Calif., VeriFacts Automotive provides high levels of collision repair business coaching, evaluation and verification, serving thousands of shops across North America. The company reports that these services assist their clients as they adopt advanced technologies, deliver higher quality repairs, showcase their quality with a third-party review process, achieve OEM certifications and ultimately provide higher customer satisfaction.

The firm helps shops stay up-to-date on the latest techniques, including the training of technicians and obtaining the proper equipment needed to correctly and efficiently repair vehicles with advanced technology. Their coaching team works closely with repairers across the continent to conduct facility evaluations, offer hands-on and virtual guidance, and provide technical support.

“VeriFacts is a great partner for us and has made a big impact on our business,” according to Hoenecke.

“VeriFacts Automotive has been instrumental in helping us achieve our goals,” she emphasizes. “Over the years we had developed a good process, but once we partnered with VeriFacts Automotive it just continued to get better. They come in and evaluate the process and are continually looking for opportunities for us to improve it. Many of the suggestions they make we incorporate into our SOPs -- most of which they helped us to create,” says Hoenecke.

“Everyone knows that there is a technician crisis in our industry, and while we experience it as well,” she continues, “we believe it is to a lesser degree because of our process.”

With the complexity of today’s vehicles, “it’s difficult to find and train people on the entire repair process, but much easier to train on a specific part of the process. So we hire good people who can follow procedures and become specialists and experts in their area. Because our process is so unique, most of our employees are hired at an entry level and trained on our process versus traditional collision repair roles,” Hoenecke reports.

“Our culture encourages our employees to contribute to the solution and utilizes their expertise in their area,” she says.

“We value the creativity of our people because we understand that they are the ones working in the process and they have creative solutions. We seek and develop leaders who are also team players and can work together with integrity, holding to their word, supporting the overall goal of the company and following through with commitments.”

Training workers from within the company “ensures that our processes are preserved and our employees are well-versed in the process as they move through the organization. In turn, our employees feel valued and enjoy working with us. We have had some employees leave at some point only to return to us because of our culture,” says Hoenecke.

“We value and have worked hard to build a loyal relationship with each of our primary vendors, sending them the majority of our parts orders. In turn, they have provided us with excellent service,” she says.

“We have designed our ordering system for our materials to minimize deliveries from our vendor,” adds Hoenecke, bringing about an upgrade that reduces emergency deliveries while “streamlining the process for both parties involved. As we continually improve our systems, we found that a system that benefits everyone will be sustainable in the future.”

Insurance providers are viewed as “our partners in serving our mutual customers,” according to Hoenecke.

“If we can create an exceptional experience for our customers, it is a win-win for everyone in the process,” she says. “Our estimators and CSI representatives are in constant communication with our insurance partners, working through issues that may arise in order to minimize any surprises at the end. Our goal is to prevent issues with open communication early in the process and problem-solving together.”

A need to be creative

Eurotech was established in 1988, by Keith Myers and Kevin Kirchner, across the street from its current Bellflower location.

“Over the years, our business grew at a steady rate; our focus on quality and customer service started to build a good reputation in the surrounding community,” Myers recounts.

“In 1998, we needed to find more qualified technicians, which was difficult to do. We knew we needed to be creative and find a better way to run the business without the dependency on as many metal technicians -- thus began our journey,” he reports.

“In 2002, it became apparent that we needed to work on our supporting systems as well to yield a higher production rate. We realized our way of thinking about production would have to change, so that started the transformation of our core systems.”

Upon opening the Cerritos shop in 2010, “Our new systems were immediately implemented at the second location.”

In the meantime, “We were outgrowing our Bellflower location and we knew we needed to do something to make that location more efficient. This came at a time when many of the OEMs were opening up their certification programs,” says Hoenecke.

“We were able to utilize this information to further enhance the capabilities of our new facility. After a year of planning, we began construction in 2018. It has not been an easy road but to see the progress has been very rewarding,” she points out.

“We have been in business in the local community for more than 31 years and have worked hard to build a good reputation. We have a strong customer base that continues to utilize our facilities as well as refer many of their friends and family to us,” says Myers

“However, we realize that the landscape is changing and we have recently started communicating on social media,” Hoenecke notes. “As the technology continues to advance, we find ourselves updating all our processes and marketing techniques to stay current with our customer.”