Through more than 30 years in this business, I can personally attest to one thing: Operating a collision repair center is a complex job. It's probably one of the most random businesses you can manage. No two repairs are the same; no two products match. There are different causes, materials, solutions and procedures. And with the introduction of new vehicle designs, alternative power plants and advanced materials, it just keeps getting even more random.
So how on earth can a collision shop realize true operational efficiency — and the profit-boosting benefits that efficiency offers — when the job variables keep changing?
One way our industry can realize greater efficiency in the operation is to stop focusing on the effectiveness of individual tasks that make up the process and start focusing on the process as a whole and the cause-and-effect relationship between everything we do.
Value stream mapping (VSM) is a key lean manufacturing technique that can help you analyze the current state of your operation. This tool offers valuable insight on improving the overall integration of information, materials, tasks and actions that are vital in getting that vehicle from your front parking lot quickly and safely back into the customer's hands.
Value stream mapping gives you the power to document, analyze and work on a set of actions designed to improve the entire workflow in your operation, thus making it more systemic.
The importance of VSM
Why is VSM so important? Well, I'm sure you'll agree with me that, from an owner's perspective, the never-ending, day-to-day minute management details of the business often distract us from stepping back and taking a wide-angle view of the entire operation. As owners and managers, we fall into that habit (or trap) of assessing what individual items need to be accomplished on any given day, and working our tails off to accomplish those particular items.
VSM forces me to momentarily pause and ask myself and my team for better ways to get a vehicle through our process. It's the “continuous improvement” byproduct of lean manufacturing that helps to identify roadblocks, bottlenecks, redundancies and other restrictions that impact workflow.
Just as important, VSM shines a spotlight on the various forms of waste in the operation, which affects customer value, adds to stress and lack of predictability, and drains profit from the bottom line.
Waste not
The two key components defined by the VSM equation are value and waste. Simply put, value is anything your customer will pay for. Waste is anything your customer will not pay for.
The main cause of waste |
An inefficient process doesn't get that way by itself. Here are the leading causes of waste in a traditional collision repair environment.
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Why is that important? Well, its simplest form, VSM, is all about making your process as efficient as possible, which improves customer service, production, timeliness, quality, staff morale and customer satisfaction. That's all.
The traditional shop environment experiences an average of two to six supplements per vehicle in the repair process, caused by a variety of factors including inaccurate preliminary diagnostics, finding additional damage during the repair process, and a host of other variables. Through VSM, the goal is to identify and eliminate those waste factors to reduce the number of times the vehicle traverses the shop floor.
Getting started
Initiating the VSM process involves a series of steps that begin with taking a long walk through your entire process sequence, beginning at the front end where you receive customers, through the waiting area and front lobby, into the management and communications area, onto the shop floor, through the repair process, through paint and reassembly, and right out through the delivery door.
It's important not to initiate this action by yourself. Take along your management team and technicians and make sure every member has a say as you physically walk through the process. Pretend to virtually strap yourself, the file folder and information flow to the car. Believe me, if you let your team participate freely and openly in this step, you'll learn a lot about production deficiencies, physical layout constraints and even communication breakdown points.
Tips to re-designing your process sequence |
A process-centered environment begins with the critically important pre-op, or diagnostic, step, which if performed accurately can help eliminate waste throughout the repair process. Here are other steps you can take to uncover opportunities in your operation.
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After the shop tour is complete, sit down with your team and sketch out a floor plan of what you just walked through. On that floor plan, draw a line to indicate an average vehicle's actual path through your shop. That line represents your current workflow plan.
As you draw that line, take notice of how many times you have to re-trace over the path you just drew. Those re-traced lines are telltale signs of waste. How many times do you have to pull the vehicle in and back out during a repair? How many times and how long does a vehicle sit on your lot before it's retrieved? How many vehicles are backed up in front of the paint booth? How many empty spaces are there in certain production areas on the shop floor, and how often are those spaces empty?
The workflow map will expose a number of deficiencies (waste) in your process sequence and serves as a discussion guide that you share with your team to determine the causes for each instance of waste. Sometimes you and your team will need to delve deep into a particular waste area to uncover the root cause (or causes) for the deficiency you've identified, to fully address the issue.
Pre-Op: The critical component to the revised workflow plan
If the only thing we repaired at our shops were 2012 Camrys that needed a hood, fender, bumpers and refinishing, we'd have the most efficient assembly line system in town. Unfortunately, that's not the case. And, unfortunately, an assembly line operation just isn't doable in our business. But what if you could standardize a vital process component up front, which would help take production a step closer to assembly line-like efficiency?
The “pre-op” process is just that step. Correctly carried out, pre-op can greatly reduce the number of variables in the repair process, and make each process virtually similar in scope.
Pre-op involves thorough diagnosis of the vehicle, including written analysis, verbal instruction and supporting photos that not only are provided to the technician, but in many cases are sent to the vendor to ensure accurate parts ordering. When done properly, the pre-op process will lead to thorough assembly of the vehicle's initial repair kit, correct tooling and materials, a single parts request from the vendor and a steady progression of the vehicle through the repair sequence. Your technicians will be the first to tell you that.
If you can master the pre-op diagnostic process at your shop, you're well on your way to eliminating much of the waste that was identified in the value stream mapping exercise.
The value of VSM
Sure, collision repair is a complex business. But just imagine your customers dropping off their vehicles and telling you, "I will pay you whatever you need to fix my vehicle ONE time. If you mess up that one time, we're done. If you over-bill me, we're done." With that level of demand, you'd surely rethink your operational strategy to repair that vehicle.
The truth is that's exactly what every customer thinks when they visit your shop. And value stream mapping will get you closer to a process-centered operational strategy that will deliver on those expectations.